![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/TFSJTF6MYRA2DIO3OL2HBSP46A.jpg\"\/)
A rare ocean sunfish drifts near the surface off Depoe Bay in early October 2025.Courtesy of Brian Stone<\/p>\nOver Labor Day weekend in Depoe Bay, Salem photographer and content creator Brian Stone was rock fishing in an aluminum boat with his kids when they had two close-up encounters with gray whales.<\/p>\n
In one video, a whale suddenly surfaces directly in front of them, slips under the hull, then rises on the other side to blow. \u201cIt scared us to death when it first popped up,\u201d Stone said. \u201cYou could hear the whale breathe out and then suck the air back in \u2014 it\u2019s amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n
On a separate outing the same weekend, video shows a gray whale at the surface passing slowly alongside their boat about a dozen feet away, blowing and then diving. The kids\u2019 shocked excitement is audible in the background.<\/p>\n
Gray whale sightings near Depoe Bay are common. Nicknamed the \u201cwhale watching capital of the Oregon Coast,\u201d the area serves as a feeding and resting stop for hundreds of whales during their 10,000-mile round-trip migration between Baja California and Alaska. Of the thousands making the journey, only a few hundred typically peel off to rest here.<\/p>\n
More Oregon gray whale stories:<\/p>\n
More Stone encounters:<\/p>\n
Stone also recently spotted a rare coastal visitor \u2014 a sunfish \u2014 near Newport by Yaquina Head Lighthouse while he was salmon fishing alone. He said the fish was curious, and with the motor off, they watched each other as it swam past the boat. When the fish was several feet below the surface, Stone put a finger in the water; to his surprise, the fish rose to the surface and he was able to touch it. He said it felt like a jellyfish.<\/p>\n
Sunfish, members of the genus Mola, are true bony fish \u2014 unlike sharks, which have only cartilage \u2014 and have drifted through the world\u2019s oceans for tens of millions of years. Found worldwide, they\u2019re rarely seen off Oregon because they typically inhabit temperate and tropical seas. Sightings have ticked up locally: In June, a 6\u00bd-foot deceased sunfish washed ashore about a quarter-mile south of the Sunset Beach approach near Gearhart. It was the fourth sunfish stranding documented on Oregon\u2019s coast since June 2024.<\/p>\n
A rare ocean sunfish drifts near the surface off Depoe Bay in early October 2025.Courtesy of Brian Stone<\/p>\n
In June, a 6\u00bd-foot deceased sunfish washed ashore<\/a> about a quarter-mile south of the Sunset Beach approach near Gearhart. It was the fourth sunfish stranding documented on Oregon\u2019s coast since June 2024.<\/p>\n See more of Brian Stone\u2019s offshore encounters.<\/a> <\/p>\n If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement<\/a> and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and\/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Over Labor Day weekend in Depoe Bay, Salem photographer and content creator Brian Stone was rock fishing in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":216464,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[122591,79,201],"class_list":{"0":"post-216463","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-oregon-gray-whales","9":"tag-science","10":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216463","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=216463"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216463\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/216464"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=216463"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=216463"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=216463"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}