Whale diving in Southern California?

[EANx]

New to the area and wondering if swimming/diving with blue whales is a thing here in Southern California/San Diego?

If so, any leads to who offers such trips?

 

[MaxBottomtime]

Nobody. It's against Federal law.

 

[EANx]

Nobody. It's against Federal law.

Ok, thanks.

Here's why it is confusing to read that some places you apparently can swim and dive with them:

Blue Whale Watching & Swimming - The World's Best Places

 

[yle]

New to the area and wondering if swimming/diving with blue whales is a thing here in Southern California/San Diego?
If so, any leads to who offers such trips?

I get the impression blue whales are pretty elusive. The migrating gray whales are the popular (and easy to find) ones between January and March. Those are the whales that the "whale watching" trips watch.

But even if it was legal (which, as Max pointed out, it's not) the water depth drops off dramatically, a couple thousand feet, just a couple miles from shore. I believe most whale watching tours find the whales in this deeper water... which would make for a pretty hazardous dive.

However... keep an eye out for the gray whales when you're doing any regular diving along the So Cal coast in Jan-Mar. A few years ago we were just finishing a dive off Point Loma (San Diego area), just got back on the boat, when a juvenile gray whale cruised past about 30 feet from our stern... right where we had been diving a few minutes before. I'm sure momma whale was a little further out in deeper water.

 

[pauldw]

It’s illegal in the US to harass marine mammals. It isn’t illegal to be diving in the same ocean as marine mammals. In between those two points, they are shades of gray. But no one who wants to stay in business is going to try to drop you right next to a whale, the way they do in some countries.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

Sometimes you just get lucky.