SFBay Whale Watching Highlights - Winter 2011 - 2012 (part 1)

October 2011 - From SFBAY Whale Watching naturalist Alisa Keenan (all photos courtesy of passenger Tom Roth "I had SUCH A GREAT TIME! I had a couple of dolphins completely out of the water. Thanks!"):

“Yesterday's trip was sensational in terms of sightings! We had fantastic weather at the islands; saw a pod of Risso's dolphins, along with our resident gray whale. The water was teeming with jellyfish and we saw a variety of Mola mola [ed note; Kate Jacques: “Ocean Sunfish”, can grow to 3 meters in length and weigh over 2 tons!] ranging in size from just larger than a dinner plate to 2-3 feet across!”

“At the shelf we were fortunate to spot about 5 or 6 black-footed albatross, along with another incredibly rare sighting- a critically endangered leatherback sea turtle! I had never seen one, and Bob said it's the first time he'd seen a turtle of any kind in 4 years. It was large- about 3 feet across the shell and had a head the size of a football. The water temperature was a balmy 58 degrees, which may explain why we saw so many temperate-tropical water species out there.”

October 2011 – From SFBAY Whale Watching naturalist Ghislaine Alix Loree:

“It was foggy at first, but we had a nice view of the Bridge. There was an abundance of Harbor Seals loafing on the rocks just past the bridge. Alongside them were many birds such as pelicans, Cormorants and Gulls. It was unusually smooth getting out to the Islands and when we did we spotted a beautiful Gray Whale. I believe it was the same one that I saw last time. Rumor had it that this whale had decided that she liked it there and was going to stay a while.

We followed around a couple of small Sunfish (Mola mola) having fun on the surface, but I was wondering where all the Sea Lions were. The Captain laughed and replied, "they're smart, it's Great White season!" We never saw a shark, but we were lucky enough to see a few Humpback Whales playing in the distance, a few close enough to hear there blow-hole sounds, and we even got the gift of a breaching whale! Who could ask for more?”

October 2011 - From SFBAY Whale Watching naturalist Alisa Keenan:

“Sunday's trip blessed us with seas that were flat as a pancake. We crossed our fingers, hoping the wildlife would cooperate just the same. We were fortunate to be leaving the Golden Gate as the tide was coming in, and the pesky marine fog was nowhere to be seen. An incoming tide usually attracts Harbor Porpoise, and we were almost instantly surrounded by a multitude of these small cetaceans. After a brief stop in Bonita Cove to check out the Harbor Seals, we were on our way to the Farallon Islands.”

“Upon reaching the islands after a smooth and steady 2-hour journey, we almost immediately encountered our resident Gray Whale. The normally shy whale ventured within twenty yards of our boat, giving us a good look at his charming barnacle-encrusted features. Suddenly, we caught word on the radio about a pair of Humpback Whales traveling by the North Farallones- and were soon on our way to find them.”

“Up ahead, two familiar jet-black dorsal fins simultaneously pierced the glassy ocean surface, and towering blows roared from gasping blowholes. Two large Humpbacks were on the move, and we followed them from a distance- watching as they surfaced and dove over and over, exposing their fantastic dark gray and white flukes.”

“Off to the north, a small splash caught my eye. Others saw glimpses of several dorsal fins, gone almost as quickly as they had came. Within fifteen minutes, we found ourselves surrounded by pod of about thirty Pacific White-Sided Dolphins! This gregarious species loves to seek out boats in order to ride their bow waves, so we momentarily left the humpbacks and kicked the Outer Limits into gear. Playful dolphins rode all around us, surfacing just close enough to touch, much to the delight of the passengers.”

“In addition to the Pacific White-Sides, a large flock of Pink-Footed and Sooty Shearwaters encircled us, and a feisty California Sea Lion approached our boat, twirling and surfacing in an effortless acrobatic display. The ocean around us was teeming with multiple marine species on or above its surface. Just imagine how many more creatures were dwelling just beneath the waves! One final go with the dolphins, and we turned to head back to the mainland.”

“Not to be outdone, a Black-Footed Albatross soared overhead; a group of about five dinner plate-sized ocean sunfish slapped the surface with their pectoral fins, and a large group of California Sea Lions porpoised by, likely to be heading out to sea to forage. Our whale watching journey, embellished with taxa of all shapes and sizes, was yet another unforgettable journey within the diverse and flourishing waters of the Gulf of the Farallones Marine Sanctuary.”

September 2011 – From SFBAY Whale Watching naturalist Ghislaine Alix Loree:

“As we set out to sea, our boat was most pleasantly surprised by three of the cutest Harbors Seals just hanging out on the docks, checking us out as we left the marina. There were also plenty of Sea Lions, frolicking about along our way out to the Farallon Islands. A real treat was a small pod of Risso's Dolphins that went by us very quickly. They looked like tiny orcas! But the day was really "for the birds"! No, really, it was like all the players were there. The puffins, auklets, albatrosses, murres and many, many more! We did see a few whales, mostly Humpbacks in the distance and also a graceful Gray that just sort of lingered about! It's always magical just to get a glimpse!”

Back in port after the adventure. Special thanks to passenger Tom Roth for his terrific images!

Blog by Kathleen Jacques

Pacific White-Sided Dolphins Steal the Show

A breaching Humpback Whale, leaping up and out of the water seemingly for sheer joy, is a sight you'll never forget. But a breaching Humpback Whale surrounded by a leaping pod of Pacific White-Sided Dolphins, now that takes your breath away! Naturalist Alisa Keenan, describes this very scene on a recent trip; phenomenal photos thanks to Chester Clark (wow Chet!)

"The further we ventured out into deeper water, the more wildlife appeared out of the blue to greet us. As we parted ways with our resident gray whale just outside of Maintop Bay on Southeast Farallon island, we were greeted with a large pod of Risso's dolphins, a rather large ocean sunfish, and several brightly colored tufted puffins."

"Further out towards the continental shelf, a magnificent black-footed albatross soared overhead, amongst the hoards of sooty shearwaters and porpoising California sea lions. The real treat was catching up with an enormous pod of Pacific white-sided dolphins, who cruised off of our bow wave for nearly an hour as we searched the horizon for whale blows."

"After tracking down a pair of humpbacks, we all saw something that I've not yet seen but always dreamed of witnessing: transiting humpback whales with Pacific white-sided dolphins frolicking off of their bow. Seeing these two very different cetacean species interacting was truly a delight."

"To top off an already wonderful trip, we encountered an excited humpback, who breached about four times in an impressive display of power and beauty. The pictures are incredible, as well as our experiences on the trip as a whole. Great weather, great wildlife sightings, and great people truly made this day unforgettable!"

Narration by Alisa Keenan. Photos by Chet Clark. Blog by Kathleen Jacques.

Four Blue Whales Sighted!

Senior Naturalist Carol Keiper narrates a spectacular recent Sunday trip. Lucky us, a terrific photographer, Joan Robins was on board to capture it all - special thanks to Joan! (www.joanrobins.com).


"Each adventure offshore always proves to be quite exciting! As we headed out under the Golden Gate Bridge we started our ocean adventure to the Farallon Islands with some spectacular sightings of dramatic plunge-diving brown pelicans! After capturing the fish they drain the water from their pouch, point their bill up and swallow the fish whole. Close by were Herrmann’s gulls and Western gulls waiting to steal some fish from the pelicans and several other surface divers, Brandt’s cormorants and common murres, and large flocks of Western grebes were also taking advantage of this patchy fish feast just outside the Golden Gate Bridge. "

"Next we started heading out to the Farallon Islands and about half way out, we were treated to one of nature’s most spectacular sightings – endangered blue whales! There were four blue whales, all about 70-80 ft, and changing direction frequenting (known as milling behavior) and Capt. Jim reported seeing krill on his depth sounder which indicated these whales were having a krill feast! Very tall blows (up to 30 ft!), very long backs, and then they also did some fluke-up dives which is rather rare for these whales, especially in relatively shallow water (<200ft)!"

"We had another exciting sighting when we arrived at the Southeast Farallon Islands! We saw thousands of nesting common murres on the very rocky slopes and cliffs. This is the time of the year when the adults and chicks will be getting ready to leave their nest site and start living on the ocean so they won’t be on the Farallones too much longer."




"Another whale sighting! This time we saw a seasonal resident gray whale very close to the shore near Saddle rock, and hopefully this juvenile was finding food because this is the time of the year when the large whales spend much of their time feeding in food-rich waters. Ocean conditions allowed us to circle the islands and cruise along the spectacular ocean carved north side and we headed further offshore towards the edge of the continental shelf where we found some breaching and fluke-up diving endangered humpback whales!"

"We also saw large flocks of Cassin’s auklets and half a dozen North Pacific Ocean wanderer, the Black-footed albatross! These masters of the wind did their dynamic soaring close to our boat and we were able to have a great view of their wing span which is over 6 ft! As we started heading back to the coast, our grand finale was sighting more blue whales! We were all so grateful about our timing, being in the right place at the right time, to witness the wonders of the marine environment. Marine birds and mammals are expert navigators and oceanographers, as well as amazing hunters that seek their shifting, very patchy prey resources across a seemingly faceless ocean. What a great pleasure to see the ocean in action!"

Narration by Naturalist Carol Keiper. Photos by Joan Robins. Blog by Kathleen Jacques.

Gray Whales On The Move

Our good friend Randall Finley was on board another SFBay Whale Watching trip this month, and is again generous in letting us showcase his terrific photos of Gray Whales, California and Steller Sea Lions, Harbor Seals, and thousands of Common Murres roosting on the Farallon Islands.


It's hard to imagine that Pacific ocean dwelling Gray Whales were nearly hunted to extinction. Yet that is exactly what happened to Atlantic ocean Grays. Whalers found Grays to be easy targets since they generally fed in shallow coastal waters.


Anecdotally, it was said that Grays learned to swim further from shore as a defense against predation from whalers. Since their comeback, it has been observed that Grays gradually began to feed closer to shore as in earlier times.


Randy's panorama of the Farallones, wearing their spring green colors.


Steller Sea Lions (or "Northern Sea Lions") are the big boys here - males can grow to 2,400 pounds! California Sea Lions top off at a dainty 860 pounds.


Harbor Seals, generally shy, will slip off the rocks into the water if approached.


Common Murres, whose eggs, gathered to feed throngs of hungry gold rush era miners, were the object of violent wars for the rights to gather and sell eggs from Farallon Island nests.


"Eggers" would climb up the steep Farallon cliffs and fill their shirts with gathered Murre eggs, then descend the slippery rock inclines while fending off poaching-minded gulls.


Upwards of a quarter of a million sea birds call the Farallones their seasonal breeding site. We at SFBay Whale Watching learned early on that our passengers were as interested in bird watching as in whale watching.



Photos by Randall Finley. Text by Kathleen Jacques.

Orcas are Back!

An Orca "spy-hopping" - having a bit of a look around! Trying to spot that famous bridge off in the background...?

It seems that every other winter, a pod of Orca's ("Killer Whales") is spotted outside the Golden Gate Bridge, somewhere near the Farallon Islands. We've seen both "transient" pods and "resident" pods - think traveling teams and home teams. Both pods enter our waters from somewhere else, either passing by on their normal vagabond feeding quest, or coming south of their home territory near Puget Sound.

Both pods enter our waters from somewhere else, either passing by on their normal vagabond feeding quest, or coming south of their home territory near Puget Sound. Usually, marine biologists are able to identify specific individuals and let us know who our visitors are and where they call home.

I'll always recall the first time I spotted those tall dorsal fins slicing through the water, and the thrill of realization that they swam less that 20 miles away from my office building in downtown San Francisco! Yesterday they were back.

Passenger Jennifer Hagerty describes her delight upon seeing the Orcas while aboard an SFBayWhaleWatching trip yesterday. She kindly provided the photos shown in this post. In addition to the Orca's, Jennifer photographed a couple of Gray Whales feeding, with the Farallon Islands in the background.

Jennifer tells her story: "Good Morning! First let me say, yesterday was AMAZING! I am still reliving the

trip in my head. I can not tell you how much I enjoyed the day, the weather, the crew and the whales! I know we had a lucky day in every aspect of weather, waves and whales, it was like all the stars lined up. Here are the pictures I told you I would send. The orca one turned out well too! I also added one of the orca on his back swimming and a few with the Golden Gate in the back. Again, a super day, top 10 ever in my life! Thank you so much again for a fantastic day!"

Photos and narration by Jennifer Hagerty. Text by Kathleen Jacques.