Get a lagoon!

Passengers aboard a Southern California whale-watching boat on Sunday enjoyed a rare sighting: that of two gray whales mating while they migrated past the Dana Point region.

About 21,000 gray whales migrate about 6,000 miles annually from Arctic feeding grounds to Baja California lagoons, and the vast majority of breeding-age whales wait until they reach those lagoons to cavort and begin the process of making babies.

But sometimes, apparently, the wait is just too long. Those aboard Capt. Dave’s Dolphin & Whale Watching Safari’s catamaran were witness to quite a show: one that included courtship and lots of rubbing together, some tail-thrashing and even an odd upside-down spyhop.

“You don’t normally see the mating taking place up here. It usually happens down in the lagoons in Mexico where they breed,” Capt. Tom Southern tells his passengers. “But you are actually seeing it happening right here. … We have two gray whales that really like each other here.”

As for the bottlenose dolphin that appears next to the whales in the footage, it needs to learn some manners.