At The Backroads

Gray Whale, San Diego Coast

Let me stray away from hiking in this post, and share one of the popular activities here in San Diego during the migration season of gray whales, which is December – March, but I think the best time is January- February. As I had mentioned previously in my Hiking and Tidepooling at Cabrillo National Monument Post , gray whale pass this side of the West Coast every winter. After spending their summer in the food-rich water of the Arctic, the gray whales swim South along the coast to the bays of Baja, California, Mexico, where they mate and nurse their young. Of course, experiencing these whales in the Arctic (Alaska) or in Baja, California (Mexico) would be a lot better, but for now, while those places are still in my wish list to visit someday, I just content myself first with what San Diego has .

San Diego from the Coast

Though we can spot gray whales from afar on top of the bluffs at Cabrillo National Monument and at Torrey Pines , but whale watching on board a yacht is different since we get a chance to be really closer to the whales and also get a glimpse of what else San Diego has from the coast.

San Diego Bay and Snow Capped Mountain

There are a lot of local operators which service the whale watching cruise. The prices range from $25 to $40 for a 3.5 hour boat ride. However, we only paid a total of $17.00 since we purchased our tickets from Goldstar ( http://www.goldstar.com/ ), through them, we boarded the Hornblower Cruise . We paid even cheaper than the senior citizen and children. We have been using Goldstar in purchasing cheap tickets for San Diego and other Southern California events like watching Cirque du Solei shows, theater plays and concerts at a much discounted price. I am not paid by Goldstar at all in this post but just sharing this opportunity to save some money for recreation. Membership in Goldstar is free, we do not actually only use Goldstar for getting cheaper tickets, but also as our alert in finding what is going on in San Diego and Southern California.

Military Ship and the San Diego Bay

When we left the San Diego Bay on board the Hornblower Cruise, we started to see more military ships. We can usually see these military ships from the shore, but again, not that very up close. Here are some more pictures we took as we cruised along the bay going out to the Pacific Ocean:  

San Diego Bay and Snow Capped Mountain,

gulls following our yacht,

pelicans,

and more of them.

Other wildlife putting in some appearances were:

Pacific White Sided Dolphin

Sea Lions

And the main draw of the tour, otherwise we would have to hop in the cruise again for free if we did not see any, the gray whale.

Gray Whale

Now, at this time of the year, there is no more whale watching tour here in San Diego, instead a 1 hr or 2 hr cruise tour of the San Diego Bay and Coast. Most likely, you would still see the same wildlife, except for the gray whales. The gray whales are now back in the Arctic, and I could only dream I am in Alaska seeing more wildlife there. A closer alternative for San Diegans to go whale watching in the summer is at Long Beach and Oxnard where the blue and humpback whales are common in the summer.