Oceanic Society Naturalist  aboard Salty Lady--highlights include sighting 4 Blue Whales and 11 humpback whales, and Blue Angeles.

Enroute to the Farallon Islands, whale watchers came accross a large group of hovering birds and approximately 20 harbor porpoise.  Then south of Southeast Farallon,  2 humpbacks whales were spotted.  We stayed with these whales for about 25 minutes and then continued towards the continental shelf. 

Twenty minutes later we encountered another pair of humpbacks and stayed with them for a while.  After we lost them we sighted a large number of whales about 1-2 miles west of us.  It looked like were all humpback whales.  As we drew near we saw a group of four humpbacks swimming very fast together.  They were moving so rapidly that 2 of the larger whales were Wheezing when they took breaths.  It appeared that 3 whales were chasing the fourth whale, a behavior also observed on the breeding grounds when a group of males are competing for access to a female. 

As the boat was about to move towards another group whales in the distance, a single whale with a distinctive blow was sighted: a BLUE WHALE!   As we followed the single whale we heard a very loud blow on the opposite side of the boat.  It turned out that it was two more blue whales.  When the blue whales next surfaced the 3 we saw were together and they were joined by a fourth whale.  For about 30 minutes the boat was with a half mile of 7 humpbacks and 4 blues.  At no time did the blue or humpback whales appear to show any interest in each other. 

At the islands, whale watchers were able to observe California sea lions, elephant  and fur seals, and harbor seals.  Bird sightings included: Black-footed and Laysan albatross, Pink-footed, Black-vented, and Sooty shearwaters,   Red palarope, Black oystercatcher, Brown pelican, Double-crested and Brandt's cormorants, South polar skua, Heerman's and Western gulls, Arctic tern,  Common murre, Pigeon guillemots, Cassin's auklets.

Ending the day was the acrobatic precision performance of the  Blue Angels.               

Naturalist led trips to the Farallon Islands and, weather permitting, the Continental Shelf  depart from San Franciscoo on weekends May through November.  Trips are filling up.   Make your reservations today!  Call (415) 474-3385.  Or simply download our registration form and fax it to our office, (415) 474-3395.  Or register via Acteva as offered at the bottom of the Farallon Islands schedule.

In cooperation with Cascadia Research, the Oceanic Society sponsors long-term  humpack whale research in the Gulf of the Farallones.  Many of the whale watching trips include dedicated whale  field researchers.