Whale Hunting....... from Depoe Bay

 Lincoln City - the best place on the Central Oregon Coast for whale watching. Whale - watching is year-round activities in Lincoln City.

Gray whales migrate South from their feeding grounds in the Bering and Chukchi seas around Alaska from mid-December through January. They are heading to their breeding grounds in Baja California, Mexico, where warm-water lagoons become nurseries for expectant mothers. Then from late March to June the whales migrate North back to Alaska. On each trip, approximately 18,000 gray whales pass close to the Oregon Coast.

Some gray whales do not continue on to Alaskan waters but stay off the coast of Oregon between June and November. These part-time residents number about 200. About 60 whales are seen repeatedly off the central coast and have been photographed and identified. Of these, about 40 hang out between Lincoln City and Newport each year because that seems to be what the food supply will support.

So while we were there for the kite festival, we took a boat, Morning Star, ride out from Depoe Bay... whale hunting. Morning Star is a full time fishing boat and part time whale hunting, with eyes, not harpoon :) While we were waiting to get on Morning Star, the fisherman were actually unloading their catch....

Pacific ocean wasn't in a good mood that day, it was pretty choppy. The boat was rocking from left to right. After 30minutes a few of the parties that got on the boat begun to feel seasick, with 2 of them deciding to return the clams from the chowder that they had before the ride back to the sea :)

Fortunately for us, the fishermen that manned the boat found 2 whales on 2 different location. The first one was quite a show whale, deciding to give us the tail.

 

Actual picture taken

while the 2nd one was pretty shy, just giving the whales spouting. At the end of the boat ride... most of the people on the boat were mostly sitting quietly... trying their best not to throw up :)

It was really a good experience to see the whale in their own habitat... can strike out one of the must do list before we bid life goodbye.