Whale watching charter owners said they couldn’t remember a time over the last decade when blue whales, the earth’s largest mammals, showed up this late off Southern California.

In recent years, their anticipated appearance has been in May, and sometimes even in April , and some June and July sightings have been recorded. But August hasn’t been seen in recent memory.

But on Tuesday, Aug. 5, a Capt. Dave’s Dolphin and Whale Watching Safari charter spotted four blue whales feeding about 10 miles off Laguna Beach.

“We’ve never seen them this late,” said Gisele Anderson, co-owner of Capt. Dave’s, a charter that has operated out of the Dana Point Harbor for more than two decades. “It’s unprecedented that we’ve gone three months without them.”

Blue whales were photographed 11 miles off La

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