The 51st Festival of Whales will be back in full swing this year after muted events during the pandemic and is expected to draw thousands to Dana Point Harbor this weekend.
The annual celebration of the gray whales that migrate past the seaside community will also honor the late Don Hansen, who popularized whale watching in Orange County when he thought to use his sportfishing business in the harbor to also take people out to see the sea life.
The weekend’s activities will start with the Welcoming of the Whales kickoff ceremony and reception at sunset on Friday, March 4, at the Ocean Institute. The evening will include a ceremony by members of the local Acjachemen Nation and a surfers’ paddle out from the beach behind the institute.
On Saturday, the Magical Migration Parade starts at 10 a.m. from the harbor’s Richard Henry Dana sculpture on Island Way and travels across the bridge. It turns right onto Dana Harbor Drive and ends at Dana Point Harbor Drive and Golden Lantern. Good spots to see it are from the Island Way Bridge and Dana Harbor Drive.
Also on Saturday, the Ocean Institute has a full array of offerings planned to inform visitors about gray whales, which typically migrate north this time of year after breeding in the warm lagoons of Mexico. Wildlife experts say the gray whales use the Headlands, a massive rock cliff on Dana Point’s northern end, as a navigational point.
Some of the topics the Ocean Institute’s activities include are how to measure a whale and how whales use blubber to keep warm. There will be a presentation by Ari Friedlaender, an ecologist who primarily studies whales in the Antarctic, at 4 p.m.
At Baby Beach, a fun little cove on the harbor’s north end just a quick walk from the Ocean Institute, the Cardboard Classic and Dinghy Dash activities start at 8 a.m. with people building their crafts from corrugated cardboard and duct tape. At 1 p.m. age divisions races start to see which of the homemade crafts do best. The event is put on by Westwind Sailing and benefits the Dana Point Aquatic Foundation and educational boating for at-risk youth.
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Other events in the harbor Saturday include a street fair, an art show, live music and a clam chowder cook-off.
On Sunday, folks can help clean the beach behind the Ocean Institute. There will also be more art shows and live music, and classic and sports cars will be on display behind the harbor walkway, west of the Island Bridge.
A lecture series will be featured on both weekend days.
On Saturday, Alisa Schulman-Janiger, who, with a team of 80 volunteers, counts the gray whales as they pass the Point Vicente Interpretive Center on the Palos Verdes Peninsula, will give details about this year’s whale count – since Dec. 1, they’ve counted 296 southbound gray whales (including 28 newborn calves), and 255 northbound gray whales.
On Sunday, Kirsten Donald from the Pacific Marine Mammal Center will talk about sea lion entanglement, rehabilitation and research. The Laguna Beach center, which last year celebrated 50 years of rescuing and rehabilitating marine mammals, is treating 26 sea lions now – December was three times as busy as in past years, center officials said, and February saw an increase in the number of dead mammals.
Both of the lectures start at 10 a.m. at Harpoon Henry’s Seafood Restaurant. The lecture series costs $10 for adults; children are free.
Also all weekend long, Dana Wharf Sportfishing and Whale Watching and Capt. Dave’s Dolphin and Whale Safari will have boats going out to look for marine life.
To get a full view of the schedule, check here.