Tell Us Your Stories!

It is said that "everyone has a story". When I moved to California, it was the pioneer stories that captivated me, such as: "I packed up my old car and drove alone from Philadelphia...slept in the car on the way...found an apartment, a roommate and a job through Craigslist...all within a week!" It never fails to interest me how people made the decision to leave everything behind for a fresh start. Imagination and courage, I figure, are the prime ingredients that fuel these personal odysseys. Oh, the wonderful stories I've heard, the wonderful people I've met in California.


Starting with the first SF Bay Whale Watching trip I took, the personal stories kept coming - this time stories from fellow passengers about what brought them aboard that day. Lots of locals were ebullient about finally, after all those years nearby, seeing the underside of the Golden Gate Bridge, or seeing those spooky Farallon Islands that they'd only glimpsed on a rare fog-less day (..ah ha - so they are real and not a myth!"). As Verne Bryant always says: "the people who come on a whale watching trip are always interesting, special people".

There was that four-generations-strong family party that thought a celebration at sea was the best way to honor their grandfather's 75th birthday. What more could they give him than time spent all together? Add some Humpback Whales and that was one heck of a party!


Then there was our-now-dear-friend, Verna, who came aboard alone at age 90, to finally see the Farallones. Verna had a weekly habit of walking across the Golden Gate Bridge, where she watched all the ships and sailboats heading out to sea. One day she made up her mind to find out for herself what salt spray felt like on her face...what dolphins looked like outside of an aquarium, what whales looked like in the wild. Verna sat in the bow for the whole trip; the smile never left her face.


Each trip has out-of-towners finally experiencing the Pacific Ocean and it's marine life, a dream come true, after a lifetime of seeing San Francisco Bay and ocean images on TV and in movies. Birthday, anniversary, college reunion celebrants; rendezvous-ing far flung friends; free trip contest winners; gift certificate recipients ('best gift I ever got!"); honeymooners from all over the world; bird watchers who travel huge distances to see the vast bird colonies at the Farallones; and adventures who tick off another stop on their world-wide traverse to see each ocean's species of whales; all these people have a story worth sharing and hearing.



So please continue to share your stories with us - both personally on board, and afterwards in an email to Verne Bryant at SF Bay Whale Watching. It might be hard to beat the recent story about the Oregon high school students and their enthusiastic science teacher who traveled all night by bus to join an SF Bay Whale Watching trip, saw whales, dolphins, sea lions, seals, sea nettles, sea birds, AND the Golden Gate Bride, and then loaded back onto the bus for home ... to tell their stories, no doubt.

Text by Kathleen Jacques.

Blue Whales Sighted!

“Life is unpredictable” – yeah, we know. Start with weather in San Francisco, and you’ve kicked that cliché up a notch. Now add weather + marine life + the Farallon Islands and anything goes. Surprise - we saw 3 Blue Whales on what I gloomed was going to be a full-out foggy, no-show day! Well, not a complete no-show - the Harbor Seals were on-cue cute, just as we left San Francisco Bay.



Blue Whales; the largest animal on the planet – now or ever. Up to 32.9 meters (108 feet) long, 150 tons, a potential 80 year life span; awesome to image, more so to see. Consider that SF Bay Whale Watching passengers had parked their puny cars a mere 27 miles away from the gigantic Blue Whales they were about to see that day.



Before last Saturday I’d never seen a Blue Whale. Some years pass without even one confirmed Blue Whale sighting out at the Farallones. Turned upside down this year – we’ve had sightings for 3 straight weeks and there were sightings earlier in the year too. Observers from the Marine Mammal Center report that currently there are 12 – 15 Blue Whales out near the Farallones!


NOAA has now made it official that we are in an El Nino weather pattern; the thinking is that the warmer seas are producing less food and therefore sustaining fewer marine mammals. As of the middle of September, NOAA reports “current conditions, trends, and model forecasts favor the continued development of a weak-to-moderate strength El Niño into the Northern Hemisphere fall 2009”. But this has not been our experience - we continue to see many whales, in fact, in record numbers.


The other big story from Saturday was the sighting of an enormous “red tide” – a miles long, mile wide swarm of visible krill, the cafeteria special that day – the reason the Blues were sticking around. The krill feed on phytoplankton; the whales feed on the krill. That’s the reason the too-many-to-count Humpback Whales were happily lunge feeding – flinging themselves upward, mouths agape, throat pleats extended into full “Jiffy Pop” mode to swallow as many krill as 10,000 gallons of water will hold (the water is filtered out, the ¾ inch krill are goners).


Although they didn’t appear on Saturday, we’ve been seeing Gray Whales all summer, well past the time when they’ve usually passed by on their way to feeding grounds in the Bering Sea. Naturalists and researchers tell us that we appear to have a 3 member resident group of Gray’s feeding at the Farallon Islands.


At least one observer tells of seeing a Gray Whale vertically feeding, flukes aloft, in shallow waters just off the Farallones. Gray Whales like to sift through bottom sand in search of amphipods (small crustaceans) and tube worms found in bottom sediments. Come out with us soon, maybe you’ll catch sight of an upside-down Gray Whale AND a Blue Whale!

Photos and text by Kathleen Jacques.

Sea Lions, Sea Birds, Whales, Dolphins, oh yeah, and Kelp Crabs too!

 

Gray Whale at the Farallones video by Pierre Lavagne; Shelltone Whale Project.

What a great time to take an SF Bay Whale Watching trip! Naturalist Melinda Nakagawa’s account of a recent trip: “We had great whale viewing conditions on Saturday July 4th. Weather: Calm seas almost like glass at times, not much of a swell, wind was about 5 knots, overcast skies, clearing in the afternoon.”




“At the start of our trip we all enjoyed watching several hundred Harbor Seals hauled out (laying out on rocks offshore) just beyond the Golden Gate Bridge, at Diablo Point. There was also a large mixed flock of about a thousand Clark's and Western Grebes here as well, some Brandt's Cormorants, Brown Pelicans, and a Black Oystercatcher.”




“We headed out toward the Farallon Islands, but stopped on the way to investigate some floating Bull Kelp. We discovered some neat critters living on the kelp including several large Kelp Isopods, tiny stalked barnacles (you can see them on the isopod, and kelp photos) and even tiny Kelp Crabs (Pugetttia sp.). We encountered Harbor Porpoises, Moon Jellies and Sea Nettle Jellies.” 




“At Southeast Farallon Island, we spotted a Gray Whale- there have been about 5 of them at the island this summer. The island was full of life, as it is this time of year with all the breeding seabirds. This spring and summer, however the oceanic conditions have been unusual, and no Brandt's Cormorants bred on the island. This spring hundreds of adult cormorants have washed up dead on beaches from San Francisco to Monterey, seemingly due to starvation.  Biologists are trying to work out what exactly happened to the animals and why they have died.” (Click here for more information from the Marine Mammal Center about what has been happening to these seabirds.)




“At the Farallones we spotted a Tufted Puffin along with Common Murres, Western Gulls,  Rhinoceros Auklets, a few Brandt's and Pelagic Cormorants, Pigeon Guillemots, Cassin's Auklets, and Sooty Shearwaters. Here we saw all five of our pinniped species: Harbor Seals, California Sea Lions, Steller Sea Lons, Northern Fur Seals, and Northern Elephant Seals.”


“The water was calm enough to allow us to take the boat around West End (the seaward end of the island where water is often too rough for us to round) to view West End cove and the Great Arch. This edge habitat is a great place for large cetaceans, seabirds, and sea turtles. Today we were lucky to encounter about 12 Humpback Whales-- breaching and all! A few were in the distance, but most were in good viewing range, and a few even surfaced 20 meters from the boat! The sea was calm, so the Captain shut of the engines, and we floated alongside the whales, hearing their bursting exhales!”




“While everyone was taking in the magnificent whale viewing, a group of about 12-15 Pacific White-sided Dolphins (Lagenorhyncus obliquidens, or Lags for short) appeared and approached our boat. They hung out with us for the next hour or so swimming along side the boat, and criss-crossing the bow. Four Northern Right Whale Dolphins (Lissodelphis borealis) were traveling with the group as well. They are really elegant, black dolphins with no dorsal fin.”

“All in all a fabulous day of watching marine wildlife!! Can't wait to go out again, Melinda.”

Blog by Kathleen Jacques. Narrative by Melinda Nakagawa. Video by Pierre Lavagne. Photos by Melinda Nakagawa and Ed Estes.

SF Bay Whale Watching Passengers Share a Ride With 10 California Sea Lions

There was plenty of room aboard-ship for all of the 40+ SF Bay Whale Watching passengers and 10 California Sea Lions as they left port and headed out under the Golden Gate Bridge last weekend. With 27 miles of ocean to cross on the way to their Farallon Islands destination, there was also ample time to get acquainted.

Unbeknown to the whale watchers at the time they booked their trip in search of wildlife sightings, the Marine Mammal Center had asked Verne Bryant, owner of SF Bay Whale Watching, if 10 recovered California Sea Lions could hitch a ride out to the Farallones for release to the wild.




The Marine Mammal Center has experienced a remarkable surge in the numbers of ailing sea lions needing treatment. The San Francisco Chronicle recently published an article detailing the record number of calls that the Center received in June, and the 85 sea lions that were then convalescing in the Center’s newly opened Sausalito rehabilitation facility.



What better way to ferry back home to the Farallones than to join a group of whale/dolphin/sea turtle/albatross/seal lovers?! Comfortably berthed two to a transport box (ok..., dog crate) the young California Sea Lions gave the best marine-life show and tell demonstration imaginable. SF Bay Whale Watching Naturalist and Marine Mammal Center staff member, Trish Mirabella narrated the entire experience for the lucky passengers. That was some great classroom!


Our friend and Shelltone Whale Project inventor, Pierre Lavagne, volunteered his services setting the sea lions free. That was a perk for both Pierre and for all our fascinated passengers. Oh, and they saw whales too! And dolphins, and a giant Mola Mola fish, and thousands of sea birds, and Elephant Seals...

Photos by Trish Mirabella. Text by Kathleen Jacques.

Whales, Dolphins, Sea Lions, Puffins = Cloud 9!

Some SF Bay Whale Watching passengers are visiting San Francisco on their honeymoon. Business people often stay on over the weekend after their meetings and trade shows and come aboard to unwind. Lots of people come to the area to celebrate graduations, weddings, reunions, and then suggest another outing while in town. Gracious hosts like to wow their special out-of-town guests. And some locals finally get around to it. “Let’s go see a whale!”

Alice Tobin falls into a special category of SF Bay Whale Watching passengers. Alice, intrepid traveler from North Carolina, is collecting experiences around the globe. She stopped here hoping to see and photograph a whale.

It turned out to be a great day at sea. From Alice: “Hi, all, I had such a great time. I'm still on cloud 9. Most people go whale watching in hopes of seeing a whale. We saw a gray and several humpbacks, plus the dolphins, sea lions, puffins ...etc. Nice meeting all of you. hugs, Alice”

Hmm...five or six Humpback Whales at 90,000 pounds each, one Gray Whale at 80,000 pounds, hundreds of California and Steller Sea Lions, a large mixed group of dolphins, Tufted Puffins, tens of thousands of sea birds at the Farallon Islands... I think Alice had an adventure all right. Thank you for sharing your whale photos Alice, and your experience.


The marine wildlife is abundant, the scenery is magnificent, and your fellow passengers are always interesting. Come experience and share an SF Bay Whale Watching adventure!



Whale Photos by Alice Tobin. Tufted Puffin and Pacific White-sided Dolphin photos by Ed Estes. Text by Kathleen Jacques.

40 Killer Whales Spotted by SFBay Whale Watchers

40! That's right, I said 40 Killer Whales ("orcinus orca", if you want to be formal about it; and while we're at it, an Orca is not actually a whale but a delphinidae, a member of the dolphin family). This astounding photo was taken March 7, 2009 near the Farallon Islands by SFBay Whale Watching passenger, David Leslie. That's what I call being in the right place at the right time (having the right camera and talent helps too - thank you David!).

Thankfully, passenger David Leslie (seen above with his daughter Jennifer) was there to capture the images, and thank goodness our Naturalist, Trish Mirabella was there to capture the story with such knowledge and enthusiasm.

Trish's story: “Last Saturday's trip was amazing. It started out with beautiful calm weather. Cobalt blue skies with marine blue ocean glittering on the horizon. We had a full boat of very enthusiastic participants. We rounded Point Bonita and headed west towards the Farallon Islands. At about 15 miles out the first spouts appeared off to the distance. The blows were bushy and heart shaped in their appearance, a tell-tale sign that they belonged to Gray Whales."

"For the next hour we were surrounded by about 12-15 Gray's. It seemed like they were feeding because they would stay at the surface 3-5 minutes and then “fluke”, sinking their tails out of the water followed by a longer 10-15 minute dive. We didn't witness any babies although some looked smaller, perhaps juveniles. These whales were definitely busy because they didn't stick around our boat long, before moving on to somewhere else.”

“We slowly approached the Farallones. The water was clear blue aqua and you could see the ocean floor near Fisherman's bay with a white bottom substrate. Because of the recent rain the island was brimming with green foliage, a native plant known as the Farallon Weed. The island glowed and had a clean air about it. Around the rocky outcropping of Fisherman's Bay were hauled-out Stellar Sea Lions with the males displaying their dominance by their astute stature. We had a Mola Mola (ocean sun fish) about 3’x3’ that approached our boat. The captain and I thought it was a plastic bag floating on the surface when we realized it had fins that were swimming our way! It came so close to the boat that you could see that it had a turquoise eye.”

“Soon we were heading back towards the golden gate when I heard the captain scream Orca! He witnessed three Orcas ahead with one breaching clear out of the water. Within 5 minutes, our boat became surrounded by black dorsal fins. Some sliced through the water at 6-7 ft high. Males, with large triangular fins followed by 3 ft falcate (curved) female fins. The whales seemed to be greeting us, saying hello."

"They were coming at us in groups of 3-5. Whales were breaching fully out of the water, slapping their tales repeatedly on the surface, a behavior known as “lobtailing”. They were laying on their sides and slapping their pectoral fins on the water, usually this signals a social display. The whales seemed to be feeding because of their social nature and abundant displays. We saw a couple of calves with their moms. Instead of having a grey saddle patch located below their dorsal fin, it was pink in appearance."

"These whales stayed with us for over two hours. We were the only boat as far as the eye could see. Surrounded in a blue soup of Orcas. I talked with Ken Balcomb principle director for the center for whale research in Puget Sound, Washington that day and he was curious to see if they were the resident population missing from those waters since February. After a few days they were positively identified as resident fish-eating Orcas from Washington State.”


Thanks also to the Marin Independent Journal for its great newspaper story of SFBay Whale Watching's big day.


Photos courtesy of David Leslie. Narration by Trish Mirabella; text by Kathleen Jacques.