The Best of CA Highway 1: The Whale Trail
Delight in Whale Watching From the Shore and Learn About All The Marine Mammals
That Inhabit The Pacific Ocean
January 20, 2017 San Luis Obispo County, CA -- The CA Highway 1 Discovery Route(H1DR) invites visitors to marvel at the Pacific Ocean’s amazing marine life from the shore atsix new Whale Trail sites. The H1DR is compromised of 10 coastal townsalong Highway 1, located half-way between Los Angeles and San Francisco, featuring breathtaking natural beauty, preeminent wine regions, amazing outdoor adventures, a variety of lodging options, delicious restaurants boasting culinary excellence and more. The Whale Trail can be added to that list. The Whale Trail is series of sites where the public may view orcas, other cetaceans andmarine mammals from shore. Today, there are more than 90 Whale Trail locations along the west coast, including the six new locations along the H1DR: the Avila Beach Pier, Cambria, Cayucos, San Simeon, Oceano Nipomo and at Montaña de Oro State Park in Baywood-Los Osos. The 6 sites in Coastal San Luis Obispo County represents the largest cluster of sites on the Pacific Coast as itspans from California to British Columbia, and plans to extend from Baja California to Alaska by 2018.
“The mission of The Whale Trail is to inspire appreciation and stewardship of whales and our marine environment by establishing an ever-growing network of viewing sites, increasing awareness that our marine waters are home to whales, dolphins and other species,” explains Donna Sandstrom, Founder of The Whale Trail. “Our goals are to connect coastal visitors and residents to marine mammals and their habitat, inspire stewardship, build community and promote land-based whale watching. Shore-based whale-watching is at once a deeply local and widely shared experience. At Whale Trail sites along the west coast, people might even be watching the same whales at different points on their migrations.”
How to Spot Whales from Shore
If you’ve never seen a whale before, it can be hard to know what to look for. Here are some tips that may help you see and identify them, and what they look like at the surface.
Where to look:
- Scanfrom left to right, slowly, and then back again. Look close to shore, and look out across the horizon.Watch for anything that breaks the surface of the water.
- Look for boats, especially if they are stopped. Sometimes the best way to find marine mammals is to find the other people who are watching them.
- Is it a log, or is it a whale?Marine mammals are on the move – typically, they will surface, dive, then come up again in a different place.
What to look for:
- Spouts, orblows. These plumes of water are formed when a whale exhales at the surface. They can look like puffs of smoke on the horizon. The shape of the spout can tell you what kind of whale you are watching. Gray whale spouts are heart-shaped, while orcas are short and bushy. Blue whale spouts rise in a tall single column as high as 30 feet.
- Dorsal Fins.All cetaceans have dorsal fins or ridges. The size, shape, and location on their backs differ. Gray whales have small dorsal ridges, while orcas have pronounced triangular fins that can grow to over 6 feet high on males and 2 to 3 feet high on females.
- Tail Flukes.Cetaceans have powerful tail flukes that propel them through the water. The shape and size of the tail flukes is different for every species.In some species, like humpbacks, the markings on the tail flukes are unique, and can be used to identify individual whales.
- Behaviors.Cetaceans display a wide range of surface behaviors. A big splash may indicate that a whale has just jumped out of the water, orbreached. A large field of splashes and ripples may be the clue that dolphins are passing by.Whales or dolphins may also stick their heads out of the water and look around, in a behavior called a spyhop.
Where and When to See Whales
The marine mammals you will see around The Whale Trail along the Highway 1 Discovery Route depends onwhat time of year it is, and how likely it is for that animal to be in coastal waters.
Gray whales travel along the central California coast during their annual migration between their feeding grounds in Alaska and calving grounds in Baja California. The best months to see them are December and January on their southbound migration, and March through April when they are headed north. Mothers and new calves stay closer to the coast on their northbound journey and may be easier to see from shore. Gray whales are identified by the coloration and patterns on their tail flukes. The gray whale population is estimated to be between 22,000 and 26,000 animals.
Humpback Whales. Commonly seen from spring through fall, humpbacks feast on schools of anchovies, sardines or krill. They often leap clear ofthe water, landing with a thunderous splash called a breach.Humpbacks have the longest pectoral fins of any cetacean, and are known for their long songs which change from season to season. Humpback whale populations are surging in the Pacific, and the animals are increasingly seen close to shore.
Blue whales can move along the entire California coastline during summer and fall searching for their prey-great swarms of krill. At an average of 80 feet long, these baleen whales are the largest animals that have ever lived, with hearts the size of small cars. Blue whales are endangered, and are especially vulnerable to ship strikes in busy shipping lanes. They depend on healthy krill populations to thrive.
Bottlenose dolphins are year-round residents and usually stay close to shore along sandy beaches, traveling just outside the breakers. You might see them sharing waves with surfers! Bottlenose dolphins feed on anchovies, sardines and other baitfish.
Orcas (killer whales) are the top predator in the sea and the largest member of the dolphin family. Three kinds (ecotypes) of orcas live along the Pacific Coast: residents, transients and offshores. The ecotypes are distinguished by their diet, range, and family structure. Transient orcas hunt marine mammals, and roam the central coast in search of prey such as gray whales, porpoises or seals. The resident orcas of the Pacific Northwest eat fish, and travel in large matriarchal pods, sometimes as far south as Monterey. Offshore orcas are rarely seen near shore though a large group was observed near San Diego in late 2016.
Noisy sea lions pack onto rocks or rest together in the water in rafts. Sleek andfast, they hunt offshore for fishes and squid. Sea lions may stick a flipper in the air in a behavior known as rafting.
Shy and curious, harbor seals rest on offshore rocks and often watch people on the shore. ln spring, they congregate on protected beaches to give birth and nurse their young. Mothers may leave their pups on beaches while they fish. Please don’t disturb or approach the resting pups.
Although they spend most of their time feeding offshore, elephant seals come to beaches to breed, pup
or rest. In winter, huge males battle to create territories of females, while new pups are born. The largest elephant seal rookery on the west coast is about a mile south of the PiedrasBlancas Light Station.
Sea otters use small rocks to crack open crabs, abalone and sea urchins. They rest wrappedin kelp to keep from drifting away and spend hours grooming to keep their fur waterproof. Once hunted nearly to extinction, the southern, or California, sea otter population now numbers about 3,000 animals.
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About the California Highway 1 Discovery Route – The Best of Highway 1
Midway between Los Angeles and San Francisco, approximately a 3-4 hour drivefrom each, in beautiful coastal San Luis Obispo County, an amazing number of ‘must-see’ and ‘must-do’ destinations can be found along the California Highway 1 Discovery Route. With 10 uncrowded beaches, 12 state parks, the Hearst Castle, three bountiful wine regions, restaurants featuring farm-to-table cuisine, unique wildlife habitats and more, the 101-mile stretch offers the best of Highway 1. Everything you could want for a relaxed and inspiring vacation can be found here including 500 lodging choices. Take an iconic road trip and enjoy breathtaking views through 10 diverse artisan towns and charismatic seaside villages along prime Pacific coastline. These scenic rural road trips are rich in character and history. Leaders in Stewardship Travel, the California Highway 1 Discovery Route offers 70 brief, award-winning experiences that enhance visitor’s immersion in the natural and cultural heritage of California’s central coast. There’s also amazing Wildlife Viewing from bird watching, elephant seals, and sea otters, to seals, whales, monarch butterflies and more.
Experience fun and relaxing rural road trips through the ‘Perfect 10’ CA Highway 1 Discovery Route destinations: Ragged PointSan Simeon, Cambria,Cayucos, and Los Osos/Baywood Park, to Avila Beach & Valley, Edna Valley, Arroyo Grande Valley, Oceano and Nipomo. Every January and February, the towns along the California Highway 1 Discovery Route celebrate Coastal Discovery & Stewardship, offering unique lodging packages, coastal activities, events and entertainment. For the latest news on the best of Highway 1 join us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter twitter.com/Hwy1DiscoveryRt and Instagram
For more information on the California Highway 1 Discovery Route, visit or contact Chief Administrative Officer Cheryl Cuming at 805-547-2243,
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Susan Hartzler
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