See Whales Playing With Dolphins Off Orange County Coast

DANA POINT, CA — Ah! spring is in the air. Saturday in Orange County was just one of those sun-drenched days where the light sparkling off the Pacific Ocean. When Dana Point Whale Watching Captain Frank Brennan noticed these two gray whales, he sent up his drone for a better look at the magnificent creatures. What he found delighted even this old Salt.

The two whales were circled by a pod of white-sided dolphins who seemed to be engaged in a game of tag. Though the dolphins swam around, the whales continued doing whatever it is that big gray whales do.

"The pair of gray whales could care less about the pesky Pacific white-sided dolphin pod," Brennan said. "They could not be bothered."

Was it a courting ritual? Or were they just having fun?

"One can never be sure," Brennan said "The same pair were rolling around with a pod of common dolphins earlier in the day. One thing's for sure, these dolphins love the gray whales!"

Captain Dave Anderson of Captain Dave's Dolphin and Whale Watching Safari also noticed the cetaceans in action.

"It was a rarely seen energetic display," Anderson said. Whale watchers lined the boats off shore of Laguna Beach, witnessing the dance and spray of the in-love gray whales. According to Anderson, it was definitely courtship behavior.

Whale watchers on our catamaran watched from just a few feet away as the gray whales twirled around each other, slapping the water with their flukes and fins.

"I don't think I've ever seen whales play like this, and I've been doing this for 17 years," the catamaran captain said. "This is phenomenal."

The gray whales have left their breeding grounds in Mexico, and are making the long migration north to the Bering and Chukchi sea on the way to their feeding grounds. They tend to pause along the way, on the 12,000 mile round trip, according to Anderson.

Come and see the gray whale migration off of the Orange County coastline!

Visit: danawharf.com/whale-watching/

Photos, courtesy Dana Point Whale Watching