California Official Visitor's Guide 2018 - 52

sland Packers in Ventura, an hour north of Los Angeles,
provides an entirely different sort of whale-watching
excursion-a four-hour adventure that departs from
the harbor for the Channel Islands on a large boat,
with two decks and a small concession stand selling
beer, coffee, and burritos. While Captain Dave's
catamaran slid across the water, as much a part
of the ocean as the creatures we saw, the Island
Packers vessel devours the sea, storming out of
port at 20 knots and leaving a tremendous wake.
Island Packers posts good numbers. On its
last trip alone, visitors encountered 17 humpbacks. And we're in luck: Not far from shore, we
see a spout-two spouts, in fact. Our captain,
Jimmy, a small, jolly, ruddy man with long red
hair pulled into a ponytail, angles the boat toward the whales-a humpback mother and calf-and tells
us to look sharp. The whales submerge and then, as if they
can sense our interest, surface close to the boat.
In truth, the whales aren't performing for us. Our boat
has trundled into a feeding ground where the humpbacks
are joined by a spectacular menagerie of dolphins, sea
lions, and birds. It's the sound that impresses me-the

52 | VISITCALIFORNIA.COM

whistling geysers of their blowholes, the water-falling
thunder as they dive and resurface, and the raindrop
cascade that descends from their tails as they raise and
slap them back into the ocean.
Several times the mother and calf surface less than
10 feet from the boat, head first, followed by the arch of
their backs and the fan of their tails. The creatures are
so large that watching them break through the water is
like witnessing ballet in slow motion: impossibly drawn
out and incredibly graceful. The time it takes for them
to appear and submerge seems remarkably long. It's
almost unfathomable that there is just...so
much animal.
But there is. And it's stunning. The sea
life around the whales-the skipping dolphins and sea lions-help me contextualize
what I'm having trouble envisioning: a creature as tall as the letters of the Hollywood
Sign. And that doesn't quite capture the
excitement. It's hard to compare something
alive, something moving elegantly through
the water, something breathing and feeding,
to an inanimate object. The comparison does nothing to
capture the excitement of watching the whales. I feel as if
I've been granted a window toward something untouched
and untouchable by the modern world (though I know
that isn't true).
It's thrilling, and of course satisfying, to witness the
whales and to see this massive life cycle playing out a few

Watching them
break through
the water is
like witnessing
ballet in slow
motion.

THIS SPREAD, FROM LEFT: JAK WONDERLY/GETTY IMAGES, PASCAL SHIRLEY

the whales from coming too close. The chance to have this
experience is alluring, and I think doing it would help me
contextualize whales, but I decide I'd like to take another
look from the safety of a boat before opting to get so close.

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of California Official Visitor's Guide 2018