In Reply to: California Grey Whale vs. Boat posted by Chuck Tribolet on February 03, 2006 at 02:26:19:

The link to the story didn't work for me, but I saw this on several news stories. Did it ring a bit untrue for anyone else?

Over the decades I've lived here in SoCal, I've had several encounters with gray whales while on one of my boats. I even had a juvenile resting about 30 ft above me a few weeks ago at Church Rock. I sensed the presence of something large, but was filming at the time and didn't look up. I wasn't aware it was a whale until the crew told me it had been just above me.

I've done whale watching interpretation in Magdalena Bay and the only encounters we ever had with grays, including mothers with young, were very positive and thrilling. Over a two day period one female would NOT let us leave at the end of our mandatory 30-min limit. It came over to our Zodiac after we jad backed off, gently lifted it up and swam us back over to where our encounter had begun. Very gentle.

I wonder if there was any aggravation involved in this incident, or if the whale perceived a threat possibly to a calf nearby???