Whale Watching

A parade Saturday kicked off this seaside city's annual celebration of whale watching, but the role of spectator was not enough for little Kari Ferrari. The playful 2-year-old would not be denied as she chased, hugged, poked and played with the parade's costumed mascot, Dana the Dancing Whale. "I like whales," the towheaded toddler announced as she tugged on a weary Dana's fin.

Tammy A. Thome doesn't particularly like to write, hasn't been whale watching for several years and hasn't visited the Cabrillo Marine Museum since she was a fifth-grader. Yet to folks at the harbor-front museum in San Pedro, the 21-year-old Torrance secretary is a literary find--the South Bay's very own Herman Melville. In 1976, when Thome was a student in Mrs.

They recently celebrated the annual Moby Dick Whale Festival in this postcard-perfect fishing town near the southern tip of Africa. Whale aficionados say there isn't a better place to watch the giant mammals, which migrate here every winter and spring from Antarctica to mate and to rear their young. What makes Hermanus so special, they say, is that there's no need to get into a boat.

Somehow I always seem to miss the boat on whale-watching cruises. I'm usually on the one where the crew says: "You should have been on the morning cruise. There were whales as far as the eye could see." That's why I hadn't gone whale watching for a few years; I was discouraged. But I've always wanted to see a whale in its natural habitat, its huge back arching out of the ocean, water spraying from its blowhole.

Snorkel with a scientist. Pluck glowing organisms from the dark depths of the Pacific. Explore the brig of a 19th century sailing ship. Try to hold on to a slippery tonguefish--a sea creature that lives up to its slimy name. The programs at Dana Point's Ocean Institute share a common philosophy: Nothing gets people more fired up about learning than hands-on experience.

It was one of those rare California communions; a wind-scrubbed sky bright to endless horizons, with all morning to cavort above the Pacific in a blood-red biplane. Then the three of us--me and Greg Vusovich and his doughty Waco--went whale watching. To Vusovich it wasn't quite business. Sure, he is all disbursements and taxes in his role of Vintage Aero, a one-man flying circus offering aerobatic and sightseeing rides out of Torrance Airport.

Three weeks of educational and recreational events will begin Saturday, the opening of the 26th annual Festival of Whales. The event, which celebrates the coastal migration of the California gray whale, continues through March 2. This weekend, the festival opens with a parade Saturday at 10 a.m. at Street of the Blue Lantern and Santa Clara Avenue. A free street fair with more than 100 exhibits, a petting zoo, entertainment and games will begin at 10 a.m.

Passengers aboard the boat Fury got a close view Wednesday of two migrating whales, not an unusual occurrence at this time of year. Unusual, however, was the possible presence of an undercover agent of the Coast Guard. This year, for the first time, law enforcement officers posing as passengers are boarding whale-watching boats to document incidents of whale harassment by boaters and jet water-skiers.

Hawaii's humpback whales, known for their lively stunts and haunting songs, attract people from around the world. But the feeling doesn't seem to be mutual. As jet skis and motorboats crowd the west Maui coastline, the humpbacks seem to be leaving the balmy near-shore waters they once favored as calving grounds.