Humpback Whale - Sleeping Like a Log?

You’ve heard the expression “slept like a log”, well consider a 90,000 pound log floating in the Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary, flanked on each side by another 90,000 pound log - a Humpback Whale of a log. Well, SFBay Whale Watching’s newest naturalist Trish Mirabella gave last week’s passengers a vivid lesson about Humpback Whales sleeping like a log.

Out by the Farallon Islands Trish and the passengers spotted three Humpback Whales “logging”, that is, floating near the water’s surface, dorsal fins and enormous backs exposed.

Photographer Ed Estes, who took all of these great photos takes up the story: “You and I have seen this before and I have heard others talk about the way whales sleep, but my conversation with Trish was the first time anyone discussed sleeping patterns related to the Humpback's logging.”

“I knew that they were resting during this behavior but did not know that the whale in the middle is resting the deepest and with each dive that follows a period of logging, the whales change positions, so that one of the whales that had been on the outside takes the middle position in order to rest.”

It seems that the whales each take a turn in the middle position where they can sleep the soundest, while the flanking whales take the “look-out” positions.

“Once before I saw this pattern of logging when three whales dove and came back up in a different order, and then repeated the exercise over and over. And now I know why!”

Welcome Trish - you’re a great addition to the SFBay Whale Watching family!

If you’ve ever wanted to go whale watching, this is a terrific time - Humpback Whales are abundant and as you can also see from the photos of Tufted Puffins (bravo Ed; these are the best puffin photos yet!), Risso’s Dolphins (my favorites), and California Sea Lions (gotta love those faces!), there is plenty to see and as a bonus Trish will supply great stories.


Photos by Ed Estes. Text by Kathleen Jacques.