Another whale-watching outfit is reporting large numbers of blue whales this week off Dana Point, part of an influx of the giant creatures to Southern California seen in recent years.

And now you can whale-watch from your easy chair at home, by tuning in to real-time TV images online.

“In the last three weeks, it’s been over the top,” said Gisele Anderson, wife of Dave Anderson, who operates Capt. Dave’s Dolphin & Whale Safari in Dana Point. “We’ve seen blue whales 20 out of the last 21 days.”

Sightings of the massive creatures, typically 65 to 70 feet in length, have been as high as 12 to 14 in one day, with 16 seen on Aug. 1, she said.

“I’m out here looking at a blue whale right now,” Dave Anderson reported by cell phone about 11:25 a.m. Friday, when his boat, Manute’a, was nine miles off Dana Point.

The boat has seven cameras for live broadcasts of whale watching, two of them underwater, he said. The boat also has a glass viewing area below, allowing whales to be seen under water.

Anderson’s blue-whale-count is on track to surpass last year’s total of 167, he said; already, he’s counted 146, and expects the sightings to continue into December.

Last week, Davey’s Locker Sportfishing and Whale Watching out of Newport Beach also reported large numbers of blue whales. Anderson said he and Newport Beach whale watchers share information on whales they’ve spotted.

Blue whales have been turning up with greater frequency off Southern California since the 1990s — a shift in their movement patterns that might signal a return to pre-whaling migration patterns.

But in the past three to four years, larger numbers are being seen from Los Angeles southward, while fewer have been seen elsewhere on the California coast.

(Photos courtesy Capt. Dave’s Dolphin & Whale Safari.)

Related posts:

• Bonanza of blue whales spotted off O.C.
• Scientists: blue whales might be restarting pre-whaling migration

Latest posts:

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.