On our Farallon Islands whale watching trip on August 6, 2016, as we headed toward the islands we saw a number of splashes off the left front of the boat on the horizon. Upon closer examination we discovered it was a lone humpback slapping its pectoral fin on the water. This particularly gregarious humpback was only the beginning of what would turn into a truly remarkable experience.

>> Click here to see all the photos from this trip.

Shortly after the pec-slapping whale, we began seeing more than a dozen blows near the horizon. Within a few minutes we were completely surrounded by humpback whales. A pod of close to 20 whales were all around us, surfacing, blowing, and diving in unison for over 30 minutes. On the periphery of this group and towards the horizon, whales were breaching repeatedly. We witnessed at least 5 breaches within the next hour, some within 200 yards of our boat.

It was an amazing opportunity for photography as the whales were coming up predictably and close to the boat. We could hear the humpbacks respire and whistle as they surfaced, and we were sprayed by the mist of their blows. These whales were around long enough that we overcame our initial excitement and surprise and entered into a relaxed appreciation of this once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Eventually we moved on from the large group of humpbacks and reached the Farallon Islands. There we were greeted by thousands of vocal seabirds highlighted by a number of Tufted Puffins. Circling the islands we came upon scores of sea lions swimming in the swells, periodically taking a look at the boat.

What had already been a full day was capped off by one last sighting on our way back to harbor. Immediately recognizable, a massive blue whale was traveling southwest about 6 miles east of the Farallones. It was moving remarkably fast and we only caught a glimpse of its blow off in the distance the second time it surfaced. With this fresh on our minds and a few scattered sightings on the way back, we pulled into San Francisco Harbor.

In total we witnessed:

• 50 humpback whales
• 2 blue whales
• 1000+ California sea lions
• 200+ northern fur seals
• 30+ harbor seals
• 2 stellar sea lion
• ocean sunfish
• “fried egg” jellyfish
• Sooty Shearwater
• Surf Scoter
• Brandt’s Cormorant
• Elegant Tern
• Pigeon Guillemot
• And Tufted Puffin