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This video was taken in upper Magdalena Bay, Baja, CA during Capt. Dave's family vacation. He used his GoPro camera attached to a broom handle to film this. These gray whales come over here just to be petted. No one feeds them or does anything to entice them. They simply come over for the physical contact. According to the naturalists who see them everyday, these gray whale calves enjoy having people touch them, even in their mouth and on their baleen. Even though these whales don't have teeth, perhaps it is like a teething child who enjoys having his gums rubbed.
Gray whales pass by Dana Point, California, where our unique whale watching boats see them on their annual migration as they travel from the Chukchi Sea near Alaska to the lagoons in Baja, where this was filmed, and back every year. You can see them or learn more about them by reading Capt. Dave's book "Lily, A Gray Whales Odyssey" or by coming out with Capt. Dave's Dolphin & Whale Watching Safari on one of our daily trips. Go to http://www.DolpinSafari.com.
Gray whales have one of the longest and most dangerous migrations of any mammal in the world. They have to watch out for killer whales which kill up to 35% of their calves, aboriginal hunters in Russia which are allowed to kill up to 140 a year, and they must avoid ships and getting entangled in fishing gear which kills nearly 1,000 dolphins and whales a day (308,000 a year) worldwide. Capt. Dave Captain Dave organized Orange County's only whale disentanglement group in 2008 and was hands-on with Lily the Gray Whale's disentanglement that made national headlines. He has been featured on the Ellen Show and on CBS Morning News for his conservation efforts and his success in disentangling whales.
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