Oceanic Society Naturalist Izzy Szczepaniak aboard Salty Lady: Blue, humpback and fin whales sighted plus dolphins, porpoises and seabirds -- 80 foot-blue whale dwarfs our 56-foot boat.
A very high overcast greeted everyone as we arrived at the Marina. The fog was high enough that we had a great view of the Golden Gate bridge as we passed under. Almost a hundred harbor seals were hauled out on the low-lying rocks and beaches of Marin County. About 5 miles offshore we encountered about 100 harbor porpoise in small groups of 2-4 animals. They all appeared to be feeding on a large school of fish.
At 10:00 we countered a pair of adult humpback whales. These whales were swimming in a wide circular pattern feeding on a layer of krill and fish that we were able to see on our fish-finder. Everywhere we went we saw large swarms of krill and fish that the whales and dolphins we encountered we feeding on. Shortly after leaving the two whales we saw a group of 25 Rissos dolphins, which came close enough to our boat to see the white scarring on their bodies from the teeth of other Rissos dolphins. There we three calves in the group.
At the Southeast Farallon Islands we dropped off a biologist from the Point Reyes Bird Observatory. Heading due west towards the edge of the Continental Shelf we had two encounters with Dalls porpoise. The porpoise swam over to the boat and bow-rode the pressure wave of the boat for about 10 minutes. It was remarkable to see these animals swim back and forth from one side of the boat to the other as the 6 animals traded places with one-another taking turns riding the bow wave. Their energy was infectious. As the Dalls porpoise left us we continued towards the edge of the shelf. At the edge of the shelf the depth of the water dropped from 300 to over 2,000 feet in less than kilometer.
Once in the deeper water we had sightings of black-footed albatross. They all made several close passes to the boat providing good looks to everyone on board. We also had very good looks at tufted puffins who allowed the boat to get to within 20 feet of them.
In the deeper water we had a pair of exceptional sightings. The first sighting was of a blue whale. The blue whale was swimming alone making dives to a large swarm of krill 300 feet below the surface of the water. We had several looks at the whale until it sunk out of sight. This animal was approximately 80 feet in length, larger than the boat we were on. Thirty minutes after spotting the blue whale we saw a fin whale feeding on the same large swarm of food. The contrast in the color of the two whales and the size of their dorsal fins was quite evident. The blue whale was a lighter blue/gay color with a mottled back and a small dorsal fin, while the fin whale was uniformly black on its sides and back and had a much larger dorsal fin. The fin whale looked to be over 60 feet long, again dwarfing the boat. Both whales exhibited the small feeding behavior, long-deep dives and then short periods at the surface to re-fill their lungs and then another dive. Like the blue whale the fin whale made a dive and we lost the animal.
With the day moving along it was time to head back. On the way back we had four more sightings of humpback whale.
Throughout the day we had good bird sightings, 25 species in all.
Bird sightings included: Common murre, Clark's grebe, Black-footed albatross, Pink-footed, Buller's, Short-tailed, and Sooty shearwater, Northern fulmar, Ashy storm-petrel, Brown pelicans, Brandt's, and Double Crested cormorant, Red-necked phalarope, Heerman's gull, Parasitic jaeger, Western, California, Sabine's and Heerman's gull, Elegant tern, Pigeon guillemot, Cassin's and Rhinoceros auklet and Tufted Puffin, plus a Perregrine Falcon on Southeast Farallon..
Oceanic Society Susan Sherman aboard Salty Lady
Highlights on Sunday's trip included breaching humpback whales next to our boat, over a thousand Pacific white-sided dolphins, and Laysan Albatross and South Pole Skua sightings.
Six humpback whales engaged in various behaviors delighted whale watchers on Sundays trip. Naturalist Susan Sherman noted that one whale had old scratches and bite wounds evident, perhaps from an orca (killer whale) encounter. One whale breached within 30 yards of our idling vessel. A herd of over 1000 Pacific white-sided dolphins intermixed with approximately 200 Risso's dolphins surrounded the vessel and everyone was able to get good looks with many dolphins taking turns riding the bow of the vessel. Whale watchers also enjoyed seeing Harbor and Dall's porpoises. Other sightings included California sea lions, elephant seals, Steller sea lions, and harbor seals. Exceptional Bird sightings included: Laysan albatross, Buller's and Fleshfooted shearwaters, South Polar skua, Pomarine, Parasitic, Long-tailed jaegers, and Thick-billed murre. Standard bird sightings included: Western grebe, Clark's grebe, Common murre, Northern fulmar, Pink and Sooty shearwaters, Brown pelican, Double-crested, Brandt's and Pelagic cormorants, Red-necked and Red phalaropes, Pomarine and Parasitic jaegers, Heerman's, California, Western gulls, Elegent tern, Common murre, Pigeon guillemots, Cassin's and Rhinoceros auklets, and Tufted Puffin.
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.