LAPUSH — The whale-watching season is now in full swing, with views of the gray whale migration available from all the usual spots along Washington’s Pacific Coast.
“Usually the best whale-watching times are in March and April,” said Nathan LaPlante, manager of the Quileute Ocean-side Resort in LaPush.
“But this year, you’ve been able to see them since the last week of February.
“I was just sitting out there on the deck and saw about 10 of them swimming by.”
About 20,000 to 30,000 gray whales travel north in the spring and south in the fall, between Alaska’s Bering Sea and Baja California, Mexico.
“Most of the whales migrate all the way up to Alaska,” said National Marine Sanctuary Research Coordinator Ed Bowlby.
“Some of them stop along the Washington coast, and others make it into Puget Sound.
“If a whale feeds in a certain place, chances are her calf will do the same,” he said. “They tend to feed where their mothers taught them to feed.”
The magic number for gray whales is 45 — reflecting both their average weight, in tons, and average length, in feet.
Twice annually
They pass Washington coast viewpoints twice annually, providing onlookers with an impressive demonstration of nature at work.
“This isn’t like the movies where you see a big splash,” LaPlante said. “Instead, you locate the spray and look nearby.
“Once you spot them, you get a feel for how powerful they are. It’s amazing.”
Gray whales migrate in two waves, Bowlby said.
The first wave, now in progress, consists of younger whales — both male and female — that do not have their own families.
A few weeks from now, the migration will slow down and then pick up again to include mothers and their young calves that spend as much time in the warm water as possible, Bowlby said.
Bowlby calls the gray whales “a success story because they are the only large whales that have come back from near-extinction.”
Extinction nearly resulted because of commercial whaling, which depleted gray whale populations between the mid-1800s and early 1900s, according to the federal Marine Mammal Commission.
Commercial whaling is different from subsistence whaling by aboriginal cultures that traditionally have hunted whales, such as the Makah in Neah Bay, who have the only Native American treaty with the United States that gives them the right to hunt whales.
That right has been challenged in court, and the Makah have held one legal hunt since the gray whales came off the national endangered species list. That hunt was in 1999.
‘Devil fish’
Bowlby said gray whales were once known as “devil fish” because of their ferocity, but this aggressive behavior was a direct reaction to whalers.
Specifically, a female gray whale would retaliate against any whaler who harpooned her calf.
LaPlante said whales are clearly visible from the Oceanside Resort in LaPush, and guests are pretty much assured of getting a glimpse of a whale or two during their stay.
But Mike Gurling, who manages the visitor’s center for the Forks Chamber of Commerce, warns that nothing is certain.
“It depends on water and weather conditions,” he said.
“If it is really windy, it will make the water choppy, and you won’t be able to see a thing, even if you are out on a boat. In good weather, you can see clearly.”
Bowlby advises potential whale watchers to find a high promontory over the ocean, preferably on a clear day.
“You don’t want to be on the beach,” he said. “The higher you are, the more you can see.”
There is also a common-sense tip that many people forget:
The best results are available in the morning, when the sun is behind you.
In the afternoon, the direct sun in your eyes will make whales harder to spot.
While many prospective whale watchers will want to just watch and enjoy, there is an option for those who seek a little context.
Ceremony April 15
The Quileute tribe will conduct its annual whale welcoming ceremony from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday, April 15, at First Beach in LaPush.
The ceremony is designed to show respect for the whales, using artwork, song and dance.
The public is invited but must secure advance permission to take pictures or shoot video.
To inquire about day-to-day whale spotting, contact the Oceanside Resort in LaPush at 800-487-1267 or the Forks Chamber of Commerce at 360-374-2531.
There’s also a Web cam overlooking First Beach in LaPush interested whale watchers can view at http://tinyurl.com/yzgk2fj.
There are several videos of whales off LaPush at www.youtube.com.
