Point Dume was named by George Vancouver in 1793 in honor of Padre Francisco Dumetz of Mission San Buenaventura. The name was misspelled on Vancouver's map as "Dume" and was never corrected. In the mid-1930s, the 900-ton steam-schooner California, of the California Whaling Company, would anchor in Paradise Cove about a mile offshore, near Point Dume, and process Whales caught by her two "killer boats", the Hawk and Port Saunders. She spent about four months there each winter (December–April), mostly flensing gray whales on their annual migration from Alaska to Baja California and back. ( Source :Wikipedia)
I was really fortunate to meet up with Michael Watkins who regularly photographs from the rock outcrop and sure enough after an hour or so we saw around 8 whales passing through, close to the shore. With an abundance of Dolphins as well, this is a great place to spot Whales close up.
