Editor's Note: This article first appeared in the 2018 California Visitor's Guide.
Although I have lived in Los Angeles for eight years, I often forget that the ocean is less than 12 miles from my house. 事实上, I often overlook so many of the things that make Los Angeles a tourist magnet—Hollywood Boulevard, 格里菲斯天文台, 和, 当然, 海滩.
If I had once imagined spending my weekends learning to surf, 在沙滩上慢跑, or peddling a beach cruiser from Venice to Santa Monica, 那些日子是很久以前的事了. After another summer without setting foot in or near the water, I considered how little I know about the coastline—not just 海滩es but the ocean itself. And this, in part, is why I am st和ing at Dana Point Harbor at 7:30 a.m.，准备出海. I do not want only to see the ocean from the shore; I want to experience it.
When I initially decided upon this adventure, I had low expectations for whale sightings. 海豚,当然. 肯定是海狮. Seeing a whale—or rather, whales—just off shore? 不可能的. 但后来我点开了 戴夫船长的网站, where a link lists their most recent sightings. They were seeing whales, 和 not just any whales—blue whales.
Thinking about blue whales is, 对我来说, like contemplating infinity—something the mind can grasp only fleetingly. An animal with a heart as big as a car, a length of perhaps four school buses, 和 proximity to the coast of Southern California? 图像消失了. And yet on Captain Dave’s Dophin & 观赏鲸鱼 Safari, they’d seen blue whales at least 15 times the previous week. They’d seen 座头鲸s 和 the relatively petite minkes, too; but it’s the blues that I have come for.
The boat is a large catamaran, with something like a netted trampoline up front where you can lie down 和 stare at the ocean just past arm’s reach. There’s also a seating area in the back 和 an underwater viewing pod in the left front hull, where you can get up close to dolphins or whatever else you might be lucky enough to encounter.
bbin游戏官网船长的名字叫汤姆. He has a s和paper voice 和 the kind of salt-cured face that comes from years on the water. 当我问他, 我天真地意识到, whether or not we are going to see whales, he brushes my question off with a noncommittal grunt that I read as a no. I don’t know whether he’s being realistic or simply hedging in case we don't.
We glide out of the harbor past upright paddle boarders, 在浮标上晒太阳的海狮, 和 people who seem to me too far out on their rented kayaks. 水面很平静, the catamaran a smooth ride, 和 the sun that kind of SoCal perfect that reminds me to get out 更多的 often.
We’ve been on the water for about 30 minutes when Captain Tom slows the boat. The water is churning around us. We have arrived in the middle of a pod of 400 dolphins—twice the size of the average pod, bbin游戏官网被告知. 我对这次聚会感到敬畏, 和 by the crescent arc of the dolphins as they leap with the symmetry of synchronized swimmers. There are dolphins all around us—under the netting at the front of the boat, 在bbin游戏官网身后, dancing in front of the prow. There are even baby dolphins swimming in t和em with elders—not always a parent but often an uncle, 阿姨, 或者哥哥姐姐, bbin游戏官网通知. When it comes to dolphins, it takes a village.
We follow the dolphins for 45 minutes, due to the size of the pod—和 because where there are dolphins, 通常有座头鲸.....
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观鲸之旅
Check out these up-close tours along California’s coast
奇诺县—全船冒险 in Fort Bragg promises a 95 percent chance of seeing whales from its 45-foot charter boats (tours December to April).
旧金山旅游的 SF湾观鲸 take you to the whale action in the Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary from December to March.
圣克鲁斯—Moss L和ing is a magnet for 座头鲸s from April to October. Get up close with a kayaking tour by 企业的追求.
圣芭芭拉分校—秃鹰快车 explores the 圣芭芭拉分校 Channel year-round, with a focus on different kinds of whales depending on season.
文图拉—岛包装工 takes visitors to Channel Isl和s National Park, but they also do just-whale-watching tours to spot gray, 座头鲸, 还有蓝鲸.
长滩-登上双体船 Harbor Breeze Yacht Charters 和 Cruises. Tours run year-round, so even if it’s not prime whale season, you’ll at least see dolphins.
奥兰治县—Whales seem to be drawn toward the tall cliffs of Dana Point. 获得独特的视角 达纳码头钓鱼运动 & 观赏鲸鱼.
圣地亚哥—Winter tours stay closer to 圣地亚哥 Bay, while summer tours by H&M着陆 head toward the Coronado Isl和s to see whales, elephant seals, 和 orcas in a nature conservancy.
