willardguy - 4-8-2014 at 09:39 PM
oops, story at pete thomas....http://www.petethomasoutdoors.com/
willardguy - 4-8-2014 at 11:10 PM
mother and calf, at the pipe no less!
Whale-ista - 4-8-2014 at 11:34 PM
Very cool!
What's also impressive are the marine mammals that surf up the face of the wave and catch big air out the back. I've seen dolphins do this in Big
winter surf in San Diego.
It's rare, but amazing to watch them fly out of the back of a wave.
elgatoloco - 4-9-2014 at 09:18 AM
April 2011 my wife's niece got married at La Fonda. We were visiting with relatives from Pensylvania who were staying at Poco Cielo. While we were out
on the balcony of their room and I was telling them that they should be on the lookout for dolphins catching waves along that sandy beach and just
then we witnessed two gray whales come inshore and get into the waves while cruising north. I took some video with my phone. It was pretty amazing to
see and a first for all of us who saw it.
willardguy - 4-9-2014 at 09:27 AM
He said the whales were a mother and calf, and it’s possible that they were just playing, but it’s also possible that the mother was keeping tabs on
her stray calf.
sounds like the calf pulled in for a quick session and mom followed! sheesh, that breaks in about 5 feet of water, amazing!
Whale-ista - 4-9-2014 at 10:59 AM
Many northbound gray whale mom/calf pairs stay close to shore to avoid hazards such as predators, collisions with large boats, etc. I've seen them
less than 50 yards off La Jolla Cove in 30 feet of water.
It gives them a chance to rest in safer areas than open ocean. their progress is generally much slower than the southbound commute.
The funny/sad thing is, most people on shore can look right at a whale, and don't realize what they are seeing. They are accustomed to whales far
offshore, as this news report cites. When a pair swims near the beach, many people don't notice and/or realize they are seeing whales.
http://www.nbcsandiego.com/video/#!/news/local/San-Diego-See...
BooJumMan - 4-9-2014 at 11:27 AM
This year was amazing with whales in San Diego. I must've seen over 200 spouts in a few month period. Growing up here, I don't remember seeing nearly
that much. Been a full time surfer/beach-goer my whole life too. So cool to see so many! 
I saw my FIRST breech 2 months ago from the beach! I couldn't believe it!!
[Edited on 4-9-2014 by BooJumMan]
ElCap - 4-10-2014 at 07:44 AM
I happened to be there at Pipeline last Saturday - we were visiting our son who attends Univ. of Hawaii. He took a very similar picture, and for you
folks who do Instagram, you can look it up @tedconroy on Instagram. There is also a picture of the same whales on Surfline.com, in a news story
titled Springtime Score, about the perfect late-season swell at Pipeline that day.
As for the Pete Thomas story - it's a bit inaccurate. The whales were not 'surfing the wave' (as dolphins often do), but were rather just caught
inside in a building swell. As soon as that happened they were gone from the area. It did appear to me an adult and baby whale - so there might have
been some teaching going on, but I doubt it was intended to be a surfing lesson.
The rest of that day we saw plenty of blows and breaches much further offshore. It was certainly an amazing and unusual event to witness though. We
were standing next to the lifeguard tower when it happened, and the Pipeline guards (who have probably seen just about everything out there), were
blown away by sight of the whales so close in, and couldn't stop talking about it.
