The Gray Whales & A Whale Watching Tour Overview
The gray whales travel roughly 8 knots an hour so when we do come to the surface, we are able to see them and get close enough to watch them as they travel south. The whales will pause and play occasionally, breaching and sending huge sprays of water. The majority of sightings occur within five miles of the beach during the early part of the season.
In the latter part of the season, the whales are migrating north from Baja on their way back to the Bering Sea. During this time, they often travel further out to sea and in less concentrated pods. In order to maximize our view of the whales, we will sail as far out as 8 or 9 miles from the coast.
The gray whales are always the focus of our daily tours – however, we are often joined by large numbers of dolphins who swim with us beside our sailing yacht. There can be hundreds of dolphins in a school or herd and we often see 3 or 4 different dolphin species. On one memorable trip our guests saw what one little girl described as a “stampede of dolphins.” In addition to dolphins, we often see seals swimming or lounging on the bouys on our way out of the harbor or during our return. The seals are attracted to boats, especially if they think you are a fishing boat with excess bait to unload before going ashore.
Our whale watching sailing tours make for a fantastic day out on the water and many guests describe them as “picnics on the ocean.” Our sailing crew provides guests with a full cooler of sodas, waters & ice, as well as light snacks. We invite our guests to bring along their own alcohol, sandwiches and any other food or drinks that they would like. Imagine cruising on our gorgeous AMERICA yacht through the ocean on a beautiful sunny day, a blanket on deck, your picnic basket full with crackers, cheese and your favorite bottle of wine. This truly makes for lovely outing – watching the magnificent Gray Whales is a great bonus. America is an extremely stable yacht, meaning that very few of our guests experience any motion sickness at all. The whale watching season allows the public the unique opportunity to sail with us aboard the historic AMERICA.
Join us — you won’t regret or forget your whale watching journey aboard AMERICA! For more details, call us at 1-800-644-3454 or (619) 922-6215.
