Off the top left about 7-10 seconds in, there is something that leaps up out of the water – this is most likely a gray whale as that is what we usually have cruising along our coast line though I thought this was rather late in the season (clearly I could be wrong about that!)
I first spotted it while turning onto the coast highway from driving into work and immediately I saw a large splash down and knew it was more than a pelican diving or a dolphin playing. When I saw the breach two more times I made the decision to pull over and join the many other drivers who had done the same. I was part of a line of folks holding up our cell phone hoping to capture the action even as a shaky, distant view. The next video the whale is breaching JUST as I started a fresh file (I was trying to keep them under 2 minutes long). So you’ll see it already out right from the start and then splashing down. What amazed me is that the people running/walking along the shore NEVER saw it. I suspect that being right on the surf line meant that even the rather anemic wave action blocked their view. The whale was cruising north from La Jolla towards Del Mar, and once he passed that lifeguard tower he settled down a bit and just came up for air, but stayed on the shallow line there. He wasn’t all that big – as I saw his entire back graze the top of the water he was maybe only 2-3 times the length of a standard dolphin. So I’m guessing it was a juvenile gray coming up from the birthing waters down south along Mexico.
It sure was a fun way to start the morning!
Trees & Flowers & Birds! 
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