The Whale Watching 2025/2026 season has begun at the Point Vicente Interpretive Center. This famous landmark gives Palos Verdes homes owners a local center where they can go and watch these massive mammals off our coastline. This season officially started December 1, 2025, and according to the Point Vicente Interpretive Center, as of today, Monday, February 16, 2026, there have been a total count of 197 gray whales. Of that number 163 were going south bound and 34 were going north bound. Sixteen of the 197 were just calves. This is great when you realize that last year at this time they had a count of only 99, so we are close to 100 more being seen and counted this year. Other interesting mammals that they have been spotting are the bottle nose and white dolphins. While most of the whales are traveling south to Baja, in the last several years, the concern has been that they are swimming in the large container ship paths.
To see these magnificent creatures, there are several different local options to choose from. Point Vicente Interpretive Center located at 31501 Palos Verdes Drive South, Rancho Palos Verdes, welcomes visitors to this premier whale watching site for viewing (bring binoculars). For more information, call 310-377-5370.
If you want to get a closer look at the whales, there are two companies that have whale watching tours for a fee. Harbor Cruises have started their whale watching tours that will be running through March. The tours are on the weekends at 12:30 and 3:00 p.m. They recommend that you contact them the day before your tour to make sure that there are no weather problems. The cost for the tour is $50 for adults, and children 3-11 are $35. Harbor Cruises is located at 550 S. Harbor Blvd, San Pedro. For more information and to make future reservations, go to 2seewhales.com or call (562) 983-6880.
Redondo Beach Whale Watch has begun their tours on the Navegante that will run through April. Tour times are daily at 12:00 noon and 3:00 p.m., on Thursday through Sunday. The trip is 2.5 hours at a cost of $45 for adults, children 3 to 12 are $40, and seniors & military are $40. Reservations are required for tours. Redondo Beach Whale Watch is located at 140 International Boardwalk, Redondo Beach. For more information, go to www.rbwhales.com or call (310) 372-2111 for reservations.
To read my last article on Whale Watching click here.
Photo courtesy of Harbor Cruises
