Wednesday, February 18, 2009

The Gray Whales Are Coming, The Gray Whales Are Coming

Orcanetwork has been reporting sightings of gray whales in Puget Sound, and various stations along the coast are reporting their first northbound whales. GraywhalesCount saw eight today. These must be mostly the young solo males. The mothers and babies (cow/calf pairs) are still down in the lagoons in Baja. I quite like the idea of some adventurous young whale dudes exploring Puget Sound instead of staying on the main track north, heading efficiently for the Bering Sea.

Pretty soon I'll have to resume the practice of failing to see gray whales at First Beach. But I'm going to wait until the cows and calves begin to appear at least as far north as Point Piedras Blancas— they are the ones who hug the shore, and play in the surf at First Beach later on. (A ranger at the Park visitor center told me he's booked his family to stay at La Push to look for them the weekend of April 25th. And he thinks they are most visible at high tide.

1 comment:

Sky said...

keep me posted if/when they are going to be close enough to shore to see them well, please. we usually take a cruise out of everett to see the grays (and humpbacks and minkes, too!)fabulous fun.