Whale of a Good Weekend
At last, after two years of looking I finally saw my first whale. Saturday morning I was about two miles off shore on my way from CIH to oil platform Gina when a mother and calf surfaced about 300 yds in front of me. I quickly caught up and followed the pair from a safe distance for about an hour as they made their way toward Alaska. At first the whales averaged about two knots and I was able to follow along very easily until two morons in motor yachts noticed them as well and started trying to get close for a better picture. With the big boats in pursuit the whales stepped up their pace to about four or five knots and surfaced only half as much as they had been. Thankfully the motor boater's attention span and surprising inability to follow two gigantic animals soon caused them to loose interest and head toward shore leaving me alone to experience the whales in peace and quiet.

Amazingly, today I ended up being blessed with more of a good thing. Despite the cancellation of George's Pt. Mugu paddle I decided to go anyway. As nice as the weather was I'm kind of surprised that I was the only one that was there. Anyway, the paddle was fantastic with smooth water all the way out and a nice tail wind to bring me home. I actually ended up parking outside the park along the PCH where I carried my boat down the beach access stairs and launched from a cobble beach to the east of the permanent life guard tower. After the paddle I was sitting on those stairs enjoying the view and warm sunshine when a "pod" of at least four, maby six, whales went by just outside the kelp line. Being so close to shore the group made quite a stir among the surfers and beach goers as they went. I followed along on foot and in my truck as far as the Ventura/LA county line and watched them disappear in the distance.

All told it was a fantastic weekend of kayaking and I'm planning on a return whale watching visit very soon, perhaps next weekend.

Jake Stachovak

Submitted on February 28, 2005