An especially friendly gray whale came up next to boats off Dana Point and Laguna, allowing passengers to get up close in a way typical off Mexico but rare here. (Photo courtesy of Ryan Lawler/Newport Coastal Adventure)

An especially friendly gray whale came up next to boats off Dana Point and Laguna, allowing passengers to get up close in a way typical off Mexico but rare here. (Photo courtesy of Ryan Lawler/Newport Coastal Adventure)

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A passenger got a rare touch from a boat run by Capt. Dave’s Dolphin and Whale Watching Safari on Monday, Feb. 10, 2020, an encounter common off lagoons in Mexico but rare in Southern California. (Photo courtesy of Capt. Dave’s)

A gray whale comes up alongside the Dana Wharf Whale Watching boat on Feb. 10, 2020. (Photo courtesy of Robin Lowe/Dana Wharf)

An especially friendly gray whale came up next to boats off Dana Point and Laguna, allowing passengers to get up close in a way typical off Mexico but rare here. (Photo courtesy of Ryan Lawler/Newport Coastal Adventure)



A gray whale comes up alongside the Dana Wharf Whale Watching boat on Feb. 10, 2020. (Photo courtesy of Kathie Perino)

A playful gray whale hung out close to boats off Dana Point and Laguna on Monday, Feb. 10 2020, behavior rare off local waters but common off lagoons in Mexico. (Photo courtesy of Dana Wharf)

“Oh my gosh, that’s her face.”

The gray whale popped its large head up next to the inflatable boat, Monday, Feb. 10, as a passenger aboard a Capt. Dave’s Dolphin and Whale Watching Safari splashed her hand on the water’s surface, tapped the boat’s side and blew kisses to the 35-foot marine mammal.

She talked sweetly to the whale, as if calling for a small puppy.

Then, the woman got to do something few people have had the chance to experience — she pet a whale.

It’s an up-close encounter rare in local waters, though common in warm-water lagoons in Mexico, where tour companies take passengers out in small boats to interact with the whales — petting and scratching them, even rubbing their tongues.

Typically, in Southern California, passing whales on their annual migration between Alaska and Mexico keep a distance from boats and mostly mind their own business, determined to get south to breed and bask in the warm-water lagoons or get up north to the Arctic to feast.

Sometimes, they’ll roll around or spy hop near boats during their journey, and sometimes scratch their bodies on sand near the shoreline. Once in awhile, they’ll get curious and cruise up next to unsuspecting surfers.

But longtime captains said in their years on the water, they’ve never seen a gray whale as friendly as this particular one, a northbound whale slowly sauntering from Dana Point to Laguna Beach on Monday.

Dana Wharf Whale Watching captain Steve Burkhalter was the first to find the whale — south of the harbor and about a mile and a half from shore — just as his boat departed on its 10 a.m. trip.

“It was pretty awesome,” said Burkhalter, who has been a captain locally for nine years. “It was definitely the most friendly gray whale we’ve ever had.”

On both the 10 a.m. and noon trips, the whale circled around the boat for about 20 minutes, spy hopping with its head out of the water and swimming between the catamaran’s hulls.

Burkhalter watched as passengers on Capt. Dave’s zodiac stretched their arms out above the water, calling to the whale to come up beside the boat.

“She said ‘oh (expletive), I just touched it!’ We all started laughing,” he said. “It almost shocked her that she touched it.”

On video, one of the passengers calls it a “magical, out-of-body experience.”

“She wanted to be scratched, you could tell,” said Capt. Dave’s boat captain Tom Southern. “They put their hands on the whale and were touching its nose. This is what they do in San Ignacio. … It’s awesome, I’ve been waiting for this to happen.”

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Because of the interactive tourism in Mexico, whales have become used to people, he said.

“The whales don’t know there’s a border between California and Mexico. People pet these whales all day in Mexico when they are in the lagoons,” said Newport Coastal Adventure owner Ryan Lawler, who also brought passengers to see the playful whale.

Lawler said gray whale populations have doubled in the last few decades, and more gray whales are being exposed to tourists rather than hunters.

“They realize boats don’t have harpoons anymore, they just have people with cameras,” he said. “And I think that’s pretty notable, it’s a pretty cool thing to think about. There’s more and more whales having good experiences with boats and this natural friendliness is evident.”

Commercial whaling brought Pacific populations to near extinction, until international conservation measures were enacted in the 1930s and 1940s to protect whales from over exploitation, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. In the 1980s, the International Whaling Commission instituted a moratorium on commercial whaling.

But other threats, such as entanglements and changes in climate and food sources, have had a dire impact on the species.

Gray whales make one of the longest migrations of any mammal, each year traveling about 12,000 miles round-trip. Adults can reach lengths of up to 50 feet and weigh 30 to 40 tons, according to Capt. Dave’s. The gray whale migration can be seen off Dana Point from late November through May.

Diane Alps, director of WhaleSAFE, a group that promotes responsible whale watching, notes that there’s a fine line when it comes to close encounters. While it’s not technically against the law to touch a whale, extreme caution must be used as the law states that a person can’t change the whale’s behavior or it would be considered harassment.

Monday’s interaction definitely didn’t look like harassment and is reminiscent of whale behavior seen in Baja lagoons, she said.

“I think the most important thing is for other folks to not be under the impression that they should approach a whale with the expectation that they will get to have a similar encounter,” Alps said. “This appears that the whale approached the boat, not the other way around.”

Lawler, also on a small zodiac inflatable boat, said the whale came up so close it blew spray in passengers’ faces and came eye-to-eye with whale watchers.

“The whale would make a 90-degree turn and go to the boat, at which point you stop the boat because you don’t want to hit the whale,” he said. “The whale is going straight at you, it would barrel roll and swim toward us on its back. It would spy hop, its head out of the water. It was non-stop action. It lifted its head, we were staring right into the eye. And he was looking right back at us.”

The whale was so friendly Lawler and fellow boat captain Alex Shaw decided to go back to see the creature off Laguna Beach after they dropped off their last passengers at the dock in Newport Beach. Lawler wanted underwater footage of the whale, so he jumped in, one hand hanging onto the inflatable.

Being in the water with that size sea creature gives him a “fearful respect,” he said.

“That tail was so big,” he said. “It was such an opportunity. … If this whale keeps coming over to investigating boats, we want to investigate the whale.”

These encounters help showcase what these “gentle giants” are all about, Lawler said.

“You wouldn’t have that experience with any land animal of that size, nothing beats the friendliness of a whale,” he said. “They are so gentle, despite how big they are.”

Love whales?

Dana Point will celebrate gray whales and other marine wildlife during the 49th annual Festival of Whales on March 7, 8, 14 and 15. Ocean-theme events, food and family-friendly activities that have an emphasis on education and environmental responsibility attract nearly 100,000 visitors to the event each year.