UPDATE, JAN. 4, 4:54 P.M.: Earlier this afternoon we shared Dana Wharf Sportsfishing video of a gray whale family frolicking in waters off the Orange Coast (see original post after the jump).
But now for something completely different: video of whales killing a sea lion in front of a catamaran sailboat, dragging the beast under the
vessel between the two hulls and swarmng to feed on the carcass right in front of the craft's underwater viewing pods, treating passengers to “the
thrill of a lifetime.”
And eight weeks of nightmares!
]
Yep, this also happened Tuesday afternoon, but this sightseeing cruise out of Dana Harbor was aboard the Manute'a sailboat that's part of Captain Dave's Dolphin & Whale Safari fleet. The fun begins around the 1:14 mark:
“The whales, which are not normally found in Southern California, stayed
with the boats from Captain Dave's Dolphin and Whale Safari until sunset,
then headed up the coast toward Newport Beach,” informs the company's still-stoked Shannon Christopher.
ORIGINAL POST, JAN. 4, 2:59 P.M.: Go to the Dana Wharf Sportsfishing Whale Watching page, look at the Recent Sightings column and you'll notice that since about the middle of December at least one or two gray whales have been spotted daily on the excursions out of Dana Point Harbor.
But Tuesday afternoon proved to be a bonanza as those aboard the Dana Pride spotted seven to 10 of the black-and-white mammals off the Orange Coast.
Yes, of course someone was there to snap photos and video.
Whale trackers believe most of the recent sightings are of two family groups searching the coast for seals and sea lions to munch on.
Ten were seen off the Palos Verdes Peninsula Sunday and Monday. There have also been recent sightings off Newport Beach, Ventura and the Channel Islands.
They are believed to be part of a larger migrating population that often hangs around Monterey Bay. Officials from the California Killer Whale Project based in that Central California town suspect the families seen off the Orange County coast are just visiting, attracted to the lack of competition for seal and sea lion snacks.
Here is Dana Wharf video of some of them playing in the water:
Friend the Dana Wharf Facebook page to see more photos shot Tuesday.
Read more about the recent gray whale sightings at News Science or Pete Thomas Outdoors.
OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.