Whales Whales they're heading south.

[TallDude]

We saw a few whales about a mile out of Dana Point Harbor on Thursday morning. There have been daily sightings since. Between whistle buoy, and A mark (flag buoy) is a good area.

[Zooport]

Did the same thing at the same location in a friend's boat a few years ago.  An awesome experience, isn't it?  Dived (dove?) with him for lobsters right there that same year.  

[Close SUP]

I have been getting out by the candle stick buoys a couple times a week looking for whales on the SUP (11 sightings and counting this year). It's a great experience. My closest encounter was captured on the GoPro, as well as from someone on a small boat.


GoPro

[Close SUP]

Saw 4 more whales outside of the harbor Saturday morning. One of them breached 6 times!!

[PonoBill]

They're here in droves. I had two of them under my board yesterday while I paddled out towards Molokini. Then while I was sitting on the board, talking to headmount on the phone, one came up about six to eight feet from me. I could have tapped it with my paddle. I held the phone out so Boyum could hear it breathing.

Lots of other stuff out too. the lifeguards closed the beaches around sorrentos when a woman got bumped of her board by a hefty tiger. I saw roiling in the water and a fin tip as I was coming back in and the lifeguards were getting people out of the water. A number of people on SUPs saw it up close and personal. Silly to close the beach and then reopen when it's "gone", but that's what people expect.

[covesurfer]

From MauiWatch:SHARKWatch Update: MAUIWatch's Malika Dudley spoke with the woman who had a shark encounter yesterday fronting the Mana Kai Resort. No stranger to ocean activities, she's paddled the Molokai channel, done competitions in Tahiti, dives and has been around other types of sharks before. She describes the shark she encountered as "aggressive" and a "beast" - the water was crystal clear that morning, lots of people enjoying the ocean. She said it came so quick, she saw it out of the corner of her eye. It rammed her board and she fell in the water. She thought "This is it. I'm going to die today." The shark then bit her board and started swimming toward her friend. Her friend screamed "The shark is over here, get on your board!" She got back on her board, yelled at her friend to get on her knees and started praying out loud, that's when the shark (which she describes as being bigger than her board, with distinguishable stripes) came back to ram her board again. She said she was in a state of shock. That's when two ladies, responding to their cries for help, paddled out toward them and, in her words, "they were big together" while paddling back to shore. She says the shark followed them all the way in. "I know I'll be back in the water, I just don't know when that is going to be. I feel sick to my stomach. My girlfriend saved my life and those two ladies are my heroes."

Background info:
The shark encounter occurred yesterday afternoon (2/9/14) a little after 1pm. DLNR closed the beaches from Ulua to Charley Young for 2 hours while Ocean Safety patrolled the area. The beaches were reopened a little after 3pm.

 

[jdmotes]

 That is just so frigging HEAVY! Glad this one had a 'Happy Ending'...  Paddle on,   JD

[sup_surf_giant]

We saw a few whales about a mile out of Dana Point Harbor on Thursday morning. There have been daily sightings since. Between whistle buoy, and A mark (flag buoy) is a good area.

What am I missing? All I know is the red buoy and the green buoy.

[TallDude]

The Flag buoy (Dana Point Yacht Club 'A' mark) is a small yellow buoy with an American flag on it. When you round the end of the jetty a the harbor entrance, the Flag buoy is about 1.25 miles 10 deg. due south of the green buoy. Almost straight out perpendicular to the coastline. Because it's small, you have to paddle out about half a mile before it comes in to sight.
The whistle buoy is red like the one just outside the harbor mouth, but it's 2-1/2 miles north, off the tip of the headlands or San Juan rock. The motion of the ocean causes a mechanism inside the buoy to produce a low frequency, fog horn like sound.

Good to see you getting into some distance SUP'n.....