Boat captain Steve Burkhalter didn’t have to go far for his Wednesday morning whale watching excursion to spot its first gray whale.

A juvenile whale took a wrong turn into the Dana Point Harbor, trekking down the inside channel to the surprise of boaters and paddlers out enjoying the water.

“It was kind of right at the harbor mouth. It took a turn down the back channel, closest to the water, and then kind of made a quick turn,” said Burkhalter, a captain for Dana Wharf Whale Watching.

The small whale looked like it was heading northbound with other gray whales on their migration from the warm waters in Mexico back to their feeding grounds in Alaska. Many times, they’ll come close to the shoreline off Dana Point while heading north.

This whale quickly figured out its wrong turn and headed back to the entrance before disappearing, Burkhalter said.

It was the start of a busy day of whale watching, with nine gray whales spotted.

About 27,000 eastern North Pacific gray whales make the long, approximately 12,000-mile trek each year between Alaska and the lagoons in Mexico, the longest migration of any mammal on Earth.

Related Articles