SAN PEDRO (CNS) - Whale-watching trips for the public begin today, as the 48th year of the Cabrillo Whalewatch program gets underway.
The program is co-sponsored by the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium and the Los Angeles Chapter of the American Cetacean Society.
More than 100 newly minted naturalists, who took to the sea for their inaugural voyage on Wednesday after three months of training, lead the trips throughout the whale watching season, which runs through mid-April.
The Cabrillo Whalewatch naturalists share facts and interesting information with passengers about Pacific gray whales and a variety of other marine life spotted off Southern California's coast.
Participants have three landings from which to choose: Redondo Beach, Long Beach and Marina del Rey. Prices and departure times vary by landing.
The whales migrate annually, from the nutrient-rich waters of the Arctic seas where they spend the summer feeding, to the warm lagoons of Baja, California, where they mate and give birth. New calves can be seen swimming with their mothers as they return north during the second half of the whale watching season. After a record number of whale sightings last spring, whale watchers are anticipating another good gray whale watching season, according to officials at the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium.
The Aquarium is located at 3720 Stephen M. White Drive, San Pedro, and is a facility of the Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks.
For information about whale watching and scheduled departure times, visit www.Cabrillomarineaquarium.org or contact Caryn Stanton, whalewatch coordinator at (310) 548-7770 or CabrilloWhalewatchgmail.com.
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