Ten years ago seeing any blue whales in Southern California would have been rare. This year already, there has been more than 500 sightings of the world's largest creature.

The length of a basketball court, a blue whale visits this warm stretch of the Pacific Ocean to fill up on Krill, a tiny shrimp prevalent here this time of year.

Blue whales were headed toward extinction until they were placed on the endangered species list in 1966.

(WATCH the video below, from MSNBC)