Wally doesn’t seem to want an ocean burial.
Dana Point Harbor Patrol made yet another attempt to tow the 45-foot whale carcass far out to sea after it came close to shore Wednesday afternoon, just days after Newport Beach lifeguards spent two days towing the massive, rotting humpback away from the coast.
The Ocean Adventure whale-watching boat alerted authorities about the whale as it came about two miles from shore in Dana Point, according to Donna Kalez, manager for Dana Wharf Whale Watching.
“By the time they got there, they felt it was close enough, just to be safe,” said Carrie Braun, public affairs manager for the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.
Wally first washed up at Los Angeles’ Dockweiler State Beach just before the Fourth of July weekend and the carcass was towed out to sea in hopes it would decompose far from the shoreline, allowing nature to take its course.
However, a week later, the carcass had to be towed further out to sea as it came within a half-mile from shore in San Pedro.
A shark research vessel near the Palos Verdes Peninsula observed great white sharks – one about 18 feet long – eating the whale. That boat was attacked by the hungry sharks.
Then on Sunday, Wally made her way toward Newport Beach, coming close to shore in West Newport. Lifeguards spent the day towing it out to sea, but because of her size, they managed to get only 11 miles out. Again, on Monday, the whale was pushed by a strong south wind close to shore, and again lifeguards had to tow it back out to sea.
It seemed to work, until the whale was spotted near Dana Point on Wednesday.
Wally was famous before washing ashore at Dockweiler weeks ago. Experts for years have tracked the whale, which they first thought to be male but later determined to be female, and it had frequented Orange County’s shoreline.
Wally was featured on a YouTube video that went viral with 1 million page views last year, a rainbow showing in her spout as she cruised along Crystal Cove.
Some autopsy results have come in. Experts determined Wally was 46 feet long and probably died within 24 hours of arriving on Dockweiler beach.
Wildlife photographer Dale Frink took many pictures of Wally last summer off of Newport Beach, as the whale was seen almost daily. He said many people developed a bond with Wally because she was so friendly with whale-watching boats.
He wondered if authorities rushed getting the whale off the beach before the holiday weekend.
“This whale deserves a more dignified end to her story than this,” Frink said. “I know July 4 was a busy holiday weekend but the researchers and scientists available to examine the whale after death didn’t have time to do a full analysis of the whale. They took samples but there was no way they had time to do a full analysis of the carcass.
“We have so little knowledge of these animals and we’ve never really understood their life story.”
State Parks Superintendent Rich Haydon said lifeguards, including those at three dispatch stations, seasonal lifeguards on shore, and guards on a boat are keeping an eye out for the whale, to avoid a situation like what happened in April when a dead whale washed up at Trestles. That massive whale had to be chopped up and hauled off to a landfill.
“If it comes close to state beaches, we hope to intercept it and tow it back out to sea, and hopefully it would sink,” he said. “We’re just monitoring and keeping an eye out.”
Contact the writer: lconnelly@ocregister.com
