The blue whale is the largest animal to ever live on this planet. And for a long time what that meant to humans was that it yielded great mass of meat and blubber. Whalers pursued the blue whale without mercy and the slaughter only ended when their numbers where so low that it became unprofitable to hunt them. There was a time when hundreds of thousands of these giants roamed the oceans of the world; today the best estimate is that there are about 10,000 and probably fewer. Many blue whale populations are not recovering in spite of being protected since 1966. One exception is the population that spends its summers feeding off the West Coast of North America, it is now estimated to number about 2,500 individuals, probably over a quarter of all blue whales alive.

That fact makes California the best place in the world to see one of these magnificent creatures. With a little luck, you can walk up to the cliffs at Point Fermin or Point Vicente and see the 30-foot tall spouts of the blue whales just offshore during the summer and fall. Blue whales are here for one reason only: to feed on krill. Krill are tiny shrimp that grow in huge swarms and the whales will follow them wherever they bloom from Northern Baja California to the Gulf of Alaska, but mainly off Southern and Central California.

On Saturday, August 20 2011, I jumped on one of my favorite whale watching boats, the “Voyager” out of Redondo Beach Marina, for a trip to see the legendary blue whales. We left the dock just after 9 a.m. and made out way past the pelicans and cormorants lining the jetty and the California sea lions hauled out on the navigation buoy into Santa Monica Bay. We soon spotted a large pod of long-beaked common dolphins that stretched across the horizon. When we caught up with a few dozen of them, we saw that they were feeding. They were broken up into groups of four or five and were zipping along the surface in pursuit of bait fish. At one point a couple of dolphins directly in front of the “Voyager” swam upside down as they often do when they are herding prey.

We also passed a couple of mola mola or ocean sunfish that were swimming near the surface. These oddly shaped fish grow quickly and are the largest bony fish in the world, although the individuals we saw still had had a lot of growing to do. As we left the bay we saw another pod of dolphins heading north, accompanied by a large flock of shearwaters and gulls, which indicated that they were also feeding. And soon we spotted our first blue whales.

First there was a spout in the distance, then a back. But the whales were staying down long, so it took Captain Brad a while to settle in near a pair of blues about five miles off Rocky Point. It turned out to be a female and her calf and they were slowly moving southwest. They did show nicely and at one point the mother raised her enormous flukes on a dive, something that blue whales do only occasionally. The baby, as strange as it seems to call a 35-foot long creature a baby, kept surfacing on alternate sides of its mother, a clear sign that the animals were not concerned about the humans that were maintaining a respectful distance. 

We spent almost an hour with the pair, and just as it was time for us to turn back towards the dock, the calf began splashing and rolled on its side, a sign that it was likely nursing. On our way back the sun finally broke through the clouds and we passed some more long-beaked common dolphins which seemed to everywhere that morning. And as we were approaching the harbor, we were joined by a pod of about eight bottlenose dolphins that came over to ride the bow and the wake of the “Voyager.”

Captain Brad and crewmembers Nicole and Robert got a well deserved round of applause from the delighted passengers, as did naturalist Natalie. Natalie is volunteer with the Cabrillo Whalewatch program run by the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium and the Los Angeles Chapter of the American Cetacean Society. Training classes are held every Tuesday evening from October to March at the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium in San Pedro. You can find out more about the program by calling (310) 548-8397.

The “Voyager” will be going out as long as the blue whales stay within reach and there is minimum number of passengers for each trip, at noon on weekdays and at 9 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday. For reservations, call (310) 944-1219.

On Sunday, August 28, the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium is hosting a special blue whale watching trip out of Ports O’Call Village in San Pedro. Join aquarium wildlife experts for this the three hour trip that leaves at 9 a.m. More information is at the aquarium website or call (310) 548-7562.