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Sunday’s cruise left San Francisco Yacht Harbor through a low mist in very calm conditions. After a quick pass near Alcatraz, we made our way out of the bay toward the Farallon Islands. About 20 minutes in, we saw a blow and there was a humpback whale moving south between us and the Golden Gate bridge.
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We observed this individual for around 10 minutes before spotting more whales on the western horizon. After repeatedly surfacing together, these two humpbacks went down for a deep dive that took them out of range and we moved on. The calm sea conditions enabled us to make great time and before long we came upon the mist-shrouded silhouettes of the Farallon Islands.
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The remarkable clarity of the water allowed us to see Common Murre swim around and under the boat, using their wings to ‘fly’ underwater. But for every Murre in the water, there were 1,000 on shore in the dense rows of the largest seabird rookery in the contiguous United States.
After witnessing much of the diverse wildlife surrounding the islands, we took a side trip out to the ocean floor drop-off at the continental shelf. In this area we often see exotic birds such as albatross but this time we saw a lone Tufted Puffin making his way toward the southeast Farallon Islands. On the same track as this puffin, we then saw another humpback between the Farallones and our boat.
This whale was feeding on massive schools of baitfish and we observed it lunge feed at the surface twice in 5 minutes. After this sighting we came across what appeared to be a dorsal fin slowly bobbing on the surface of the calm water. Upon closer investigation it turned out to be an ocean sunfish (Mola mola)drifting in the swells.
On our way back to the harbor a California sea lion passed us going the opposite direction, ‘porpoising’ up and out of the water. By the time we returned, the fog had lifted and we disembarked onto the sunny Marina Green.
In total, we witnessed:
Marine Mammals
- 8 humpback whales
- 8 harbor porpoise
- 5+ northern fur seal
- 25+ California sea lion & harbor seals
Seabirds
- Brown Pelicans
- Tufted Puffins
- Brandt’s Cormorants
- Pelagic Cormorants
- Double-crested Cormorants
- Sooty Shearwaters
- Western Gulls
- Common Murres
- Pigeon Guillemots
