OKC Couple Shares 'Whale Of A Tale' From California Vacation

A trip to California turned into a once in a lifetime vacation for an Oklahoma City couple. Gerald Mobley and his wife went whale watching and witnessed history.

Five to seven miles off the coast of San Diego, they spotted 20 to 25 gray whales.

"It was very impressive," said Gerald Mobley, who has several pictures of the encounter.

Their tour guide said the odds of seeing that many gray whales together are a million to one.

Whale watching experts say it's the largest pod of whales seen of the coast of Southern California is at least 30 years.

"I don't think we've ever seen anything like this off our coast," said Nigella Hillgarth, the Executive Director of the Birch Aquarium in San Diego.

Gray whales can grow up to 50 feet long. They migrate from Arctic waters to Baja Mexico in the fall, passing by Southern California beginning in December.

The Mobleys were fortunate to actually make their whale watching excursion.

Their flight to San Diego was delayed more than six hours, forcing the couple to the re-schedule their whale watching trip for the next day.

"My wife was discouraged, thinking we weren't going to see anything," said Mobley. "But at the end of the trip, "She was in tears. She couldn't believe it."