Young Gray Whale Lost at Dana Point Harbor – Orange County Register

The boat’s captain Steve Burkhalter didn’t have to travel far for his Wednesday morning whale watching excursion to spot its first gray whale.

A baby whale took a wrong turn into Dana Point Harbor, walking down the inner channel to the amazement of rowers and boaters enjoying the water.

“It’s like being right at the port. Burkhalter, captain of Dana Wharf Whale Watching, said to turn down the back channel, closest to the water, and then make a quick turn.

The young whale looks like it’s heading north with other gray whales on a migration from warm waters in Mexico back to their feeding grounds in Alaska. Many times, they will approach the shoreline off Dana Point while heading north.

The whale quickly figured out its wrong turn and returned 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 roughly 12,000-mile voyage between Alaska and the lagoons of Mexico, the longest migration of any mammal on Earth.