Filmed by a drone off Dana Point in southern California, this footage shows a group of Pacific white-sided dolphins weaving around gray whales as they travel along the coast. The dolphins surf the water pushed ahead of the much larger animals and dart beneath and around them, while the whales roll and lift their flippers. It looks like a game, and it may well be one, but it also opens a window on one of the longest migrations of any mammal and on how scientists interpret moments like this.
Where and how the footage was filmed
The video came from Captain Dave's Dolphin and Whale Safari, a whale-watching operator based in Dana Point, Orange County. The town calls itself a whale-watching capital for good reason: gray whales pass just one or two miles offshore during their migration, close enough to be seen from boats and sometimes from the cliffs. Local tradition holds that the headland serves the whales as a landmark along the route, though that idea is hard to test.
Drones have changed what whale watchers can share. From a boat, you see a blow, a back and perhaps a tail. From above, the whole scene becomes legible: how close the animals are, who is leading, and how the dolphins position themselves around the whales. The clip spread widely in 2018 through UNILAD Adventure and outdoor sites such as Wide Open Spaces.
Meet the animals in the video
Gray whales
Gray whales are baleen whales that can reach about 15 metres in length. Adults usually weigh somewhere between 15 and 33 tonnes, and NOAA gives a maximum of about 90,000 pounds (roughly 41 tonnes), so the 30-ton figure often quoted describes a large adult. Their mottled grey skin is patched with barnacles and pale scars from whale lice. Unlike most baleen whales they often feed on the seabed, rolling onto one side to suck up sediment and filter out small crustaceans.
Pacific white-sided dolphins
These dolphins live in the cooler waters of the North Pacific, from California up to Alaska and across to Japan. They are fast, acrobatic and sociable, often travelling in large groups and readily riding the bow waves of boats. At around two metres long, they are tiny next to a gray whale, which is part of what makes the footage so striking.
The gray whale migration explained
The eastern North Pacific gray whales spend summer feeding mainly in the Bering and Chukchi Seas between Alaska and Russia. In autumn they head south along the North American coast to the warm, sheltered lagoons of Baja California in Mexico, such as Laguna Ojo de Liebre, Laguna San Ignacio and Magdalena Bay, where many females give birth and others mate. In spring they return north, mothers and calves often last, hugging the coast.
The round trip is commonly put at 10,000 to 14,000 miles (about 16,000 to 22,000 kilometres), according to NOAA Fisheries, which places it among the longest migrations of any mammal. The 12,000-mile figure often repeated with this video sits within that range. Off southern California the main southbound movement runs from about December to February and the northbound movement from about February to May.
Are the dolphins really playing with the whales?
Encounters between dolphins and large whales are well documented. Dolphins of several species are regularly seen riding the pressure waves created by a whale's head or tail, much as they ride a boat's bow wave. Riding a wave costs them little effort and seems to be rewarding in itself, which is why many researchers are comfortable calling it play.
Whether the whales enjoy it is less certain. A whale rolling or waving a flipper may be reacting to the dolphins, adjusting its course, or simply doing what gray whales often do at the surface. Sometimes whales tolerate dolphins, sometimes they seem to move away, and occasionally dolphins appear to harass them. A short, edited clip cannot tell us which is happening here. That does not make the scene less special. It is a rare chance to watch two very different species sharing the same water calmly, and the honest answer to what they feel is that we do not fully know.
It is also worth correcting a common idea that wild animals only meet as predator and prey. Mixed-species groups are frequent in the ocean, from dolphins travelling with tuna to seabirds following feeding whales, and many of these associations are neutral or mutually useful.
Threats gray whales face along the way
The journey is risky. Killer whales lie in wait along the route, especially in places like Monterey Bay and the Aleutian Islands, where they target calves heading north (Wide Open Spaces has more on orca encounters). Human hazards add to that: entanglement in fishing gear and crab-pot lines, collisions with ships in busy shipping lanes, and noise.
The population also goes through boom and bust. Commercial whaling once drove eastern gray whales close to extinction, and protection allowed a strong recovery that led to their removal from the US endangered species list in 1994. From 2019 to 2023, however, NOAA investigated an unusual mortality event, with hundreds of whales stranding along the coast, many thin and malnourished. Changing conditions in the Arctic feeding grounds are a leading suspect, and population estimates have fallen sharply from a 2016 peak of about 27,000, reportedly to around 13,000 by 2025.
How to watch whales and dolphins responsibly
- Book with a responsible operator. Look for companies that follow local guidelines on distance and speed.
- Keep your distance. In US waters, NOAA advises staying at least 100 yards from whales, and not approaching head-on or cutting across their path.
- Fly drones carefully. Follow local rules, keep the drone high and do not hover low over animals or chase them.
- Report problems. Entangled, injured or stranded animals should be reported to local marine-mammal hotlines rather than approached.
Footage like this reminds us how close remarkable wildlife can be to a busy coastline. Treating those animals with patience and respect is what keeps such moments possible.
Sources: NOAA Fisheries: Gray whale; Wide Open Spaces; Wide Open Spaces: whale drone footage; Educate Inspire Change; Wikipedia: Gray whale; Wikipedia: Pacific white-sided dolphin. Video: Captain Dave's Dolphin and Whale Safari, shared by UNILAD Adventure.
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