Valentine's Day Whale Watching, Newport Beach

We found a whale watching deal for $20/person and knew it would be the perfect, low-key outing after two busy days at Disney. Our weather in California was so beautiful all week and it couldn't have been a better day to be on the boat. High of 71, not too hot and not too chilly but we were glad we had jackets. We booked in Newport Beach through Davey's Locker with Captain Mike as our guide and he gave us lots of great info about the whales and sea life all along the way, it reminded us of our whale watching days in Alaska! 

This gray whale above (you can just see the fin going down into the water) got so close to the shore it was in 10-15 ft of water at one point! Can you imagine surfing right next to a huge whale?? He said they stay a little closer to shore on their migration rather than being out in the deep sea because the killer whales wait up north to attack the babies traveling with their moms :(

Devin's Instagram post made it look like we got a sitter and went on a Valentine's Day date but it honestly kind of felt like it! We checked in for the cruise at a fishing/tackle/souvenir shop and Ava found this bucket of mermaid toys that she HAD to have. Since we got Owen a Spiderman toy earlier in the trip we let her get this and it was worth every penny. The kids ditched us and went to the cabin of the boat to play, where they set up these little mermaid/sea life scenes and played for so long! Lucy even fell asleep on Devin's shoulder so we laid her down on the seat by the kids and Devin and I really did get to enjoy a lot of the tour by ourselves! The other magical thing was that Devin didn't get too sea sick - this was such a blessing after a not so great day for him at California Adventure.

We had to pull the kids away from their toys to see the dolphins. They were so fun to watch and often came close enough to the boat for the kids to see, unlike the whales which weren't as exciting for the kids. The dolphins swam in threes and twos so it always looked like they were playing. We also saw a cool Mola Mola (Ocean Sunfish) that he said is rare to see this time of year, and its fin made us think it was a shark!

We were lucky to have some other boats around, some of them were friends of our guide who gave us the tip that there were some humpback whales a couple miles out. Captain Mike was super torn about whether or not we should go see them because it was almost time to head back to the marina but he asked if we were willing to be late and everyone cheered to go see the whales :) Humpback whales are also really rare to see in these parts at this time of year, so he was really excited to go see them too.

Ava and I missed both(yes, TWO!) whales jumping out of the water while she was in the bathroom but I'm glad Owen saw them because he was having a hard time spotting things earlier in the day. Our guide kept saying what a blockbuster trip we had and he couldn't believe all the things we were able to see. We feel super lucky because we originally scheduled our tour for 9:30 am but that morning we realized there was no way we'd be getting there on time so we called to change it to 11am for a little extra fee - so worth it!!

 Newport has become our favorite California beach town. It feels super laid back but upscale enough to feel safe and clean, also not too busy. The Balboa Pier has a fun feel with the rides and food stands. We rode the ferris wheel which gave us some of the best views of the city. It was a really long ride too, totally worth the money!

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