23rd Annual Whale Watch Weekend at Cabrillo National Monument

Each year, an estimated 20,000 gray whales in the Eastern Pacific herd return from Alaskan feeding waters to warm, shallow lagoons in Baja California to give birth and find mates. Their round trip migration is the longest of any mammal in the world.

Cabrillo National Monument will hold its 23rd annual Whale Watch Weekend and Intertidal Life Festival this weekend, February 6 and 7, 2010, from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

This educational, family-oriented event celebrates the return of migrating Pacific gray whales to Point Loma and the intertidal life found in the tide pools on the
monument’s western shore. This year’s festival will also celebrate the ribbon-cutting for the park’s new Kelp Forest and Whale Overlook and will coincide with the park’s hosting of the temporary exhibit “Sea of Cortez.”

In addition to whales and sea anemones, this weekend will feature
guest speakers, films, and a puppet show. For more information, contact Rick Jenkins at 619-523-4573 or Rick_Jenkins@nps.gov.

Gray whales now migrating off the coast

The California gray whale swims 10,000 miles each year, the longest migration of any mammal, spending about one third of its life migrating from the cold, nutrient-rich waters of Alaska, to the warm, shallow lagoons of Baja California.

Along the way, these incredible animals can often be seen from the shores of Point Reyes National Seashore in Marin County northwest of Sana Francisco. What drives the gray whale to undertake this incredible annual round trip from Alaska to Baja? The basics of mammal urges, food and sex.

Jutting ten miles into the Pacific Ocean, the headlands of the Point Reyes Peninsula offer one of the finest spots along the California coast to view the gray whale. The Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary provides a twenty mile-wide "highway" through which the whales cruise.

Sometimes they swim well off the coast, but often traveling close in to shore, where they can easily be viewed from the high bluffs of the headland. The areas around Chimney Rock and the Lighthouse offer some of the best whale watching spots in the park.

At Point Reyes National Seashore, the peak of the southern migration usually occurs in mid-January and that of the northern migration in mid-March. Late April and early May afford the opportunity to see mothers and calves close to shore.