This is “Whale Watching Week” on the coast.  Volunteers who are trained to spot and count migrating whales set up their telescopes and log books and inhabit command posts from southern Oregon all the way up the Washington coast.  Here, on the Long Beach Peninsula, the volunteers headquarter at the Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center at Cape Disappointment State Park.  Yesterday they recorded 11 grey whales just beyond the mouth of the Columbia River.  Today it is sunny and the surf appears calm so they may have recorded several more sightings.   Its fun to go in and see just what they’ve recorded and hear the stories.  The whale watchers are there every day through March 29th from 10am to 1pm. 

Last June, we had a man come into the office to tell us that for over an hour about a dozen whales frolicked in the surf right in front of the park.  He had been walking on the beach alone when he spotted them.  He ran back to his rig to get his wife.  When they got back out on the beach, the whales were still there and stayed for almost 30 minutes more.   It was certainly an exciting time for the folks on the beach.

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