Point Bonita Lighthouse - Helping to Provide Safe Passage for 152 Years

The whales we hope to spot on an SFBay Whale Watching trip are likely to be seen several miles west of the Golden Gate Bridge, on the way to the Farallon Islands. So what is there to see enroute? Aside from the world’s most famous bridge, that is? How about the Point Bonita Lighthouse, whose beacon has been guiding mariners into the Bay for 152 years.

With hundreds of ships entering the bay in the early years of the Gold Rush and by one historical account 23 ship wrecks between 1850 and 1854, Congress recognized the need for navigational assistance and authorized funds for several Bay area lighthouses.

The original 1855 Point Bonita Lighthouse was built higher up from the current location, on a cliff jutting out from the southernmost tip of Marin County, near the entrance to the Golden Gate.

But there was a problem with the original Point Bonita lighthouse that nobody foresaw. Engineers had sited it high upon the cliff, just as they had been accustomed to doing so on the East Coast.

Trouble is, the Golden Gate area experiences a natural weather phenomenon known as “high fog” which meant that the light projected out at exactly the same level as the thick fog and simply could not penetrate it (for both a scientific and elegantly written discussion of this and the rest of the San Francisco area’s crazy micro-climates, I wholeheartedly recommend Weather of the San Francisco Bay Region by Harold Gilliam).

In order to function, the lighthouse had to be moved closer to sea level. The “new” and currently operating lighthouse opened in 1877.

The Point Bonita Lighthouse is the only American lighthouse reached by a suspension bridge. This picturesque bridge, the location of the lighthouse at the end of long rocky spine, the Golden Gate Bridge looming over its shoulder, and the spectacular view from the boat, makes the Point Bonita Lighthouse an extraordinary aspect of your SFBay Whale Watching excursion.

Photos by Ed Estes and Kathleen Jacques. Text by Kathleen Jacques.

Gift Certificates for SFBay Whale Watching Trips - Order Now

Give some memories! We have had the pleasure of hosting birthday party goers, honeymooners, family and school reunion groups, and lots of other people who have come aboard our whale watching boat thanks to a gift certificate and somebody's thoughtfulness.

Here at SFBay Whale Watching we think that spending time with whales is a privilege. We delight in the oohs and aahs, the exclamations of excitement we hear when a whale unexpectedly pierces the ocean surface with a geyser of exhaled air, followed by an upward thrust of dorsal-finned backside and then unfurled flukes bigger than a roadside billboard raised high and sunk slow beneath the sea like a dream you don't forget...

The person you show a whale to will never forget you. How many gifts can deliver like that....


SFBay Whale Watching Natural History Expeditions Gift Certificates make great gifts! Available at 415.331.6267 or on our website. www.sfbaywhalewatching.com

Photos and text by Kathleen Jacques.

Humpbacks Heading South; 100's of Dolphins Gather to Feed

Doreen Moser Gurrola, Naturalist aboard the November 17th trip filed the following report - hundreds of dolphins surrounding the boat, over a dozen Humpback Whales feeding together in a group - throw in a couple of albatrosses with their 6 foot wing spans just for a bit more drama - I'd say it was quite a trip:


"Cetaceans:
~5 Harbor Porpoise near Pt. Bonita
100’s Pacific White-sided Dolphins and 10 Northern Right- whale Dolphins (feeding with 2nd group of Humpback Whales)"


"15-20 Humpback Whales: 1st group (west of South East Farallon Island (“SEFI”), lat. 37.36’08.6”, long. 123.02’35.2”) 2 adult humpbacks slow surfacing, 2nd group (north of SEFI, lat. 37.39’50.4”, long. 123.06’22.5”) in 2,000’ water depth, large feeding group (including sea birds, CSLs, and dolphins), 12+ humpbacks feeding at the surface, lunge feeding, surface rolls, and trumpet blows."


"Pinnipeds: California Sea Lions, Steller Sea Lions (at SEFI), Northern Fur Seals (at SEFI), Harbor Seals, and Elephant Seals (at SEFI)

Fish: mola mola, and 4+blue sharks

Seabirds: Pacific loon, eared grebe, western grebe, black footed albatross (2 with 1st group of humpbacks), northern fulmar, sooty shearwater, storm petrel species, brown pelican, Brandt’s cormorant, double crested cormorant, surf scoter, black oyster catcher, California gull, western gull, Sabine’s gull, common murre, marbled murrelet (at SEFI, possibly with oil), rhino auklet, peregrine falcon (at SEFI); 19 species total.

~Doreen"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~


By the way - these last two file photos (from a September, 2007 trip) are not Humpback Whales, of course, but Killer Whales. Doreen didn't see Killer Whales on November 17th but they were spotted the week before. Unfortunately nobody managed to get photos or much information on them (residents or transients?) but it's always exciting when the top predators of the sea are in our neighborhood.



Photos and text by Kathleen Jacques.