Recent Sightings

The fog was gone and we had excellent visibility today at the Point  Arena Lighthouse peninsula. We received reports of gray whale sightings from Kate Bloch where she observed several whales traveling north past Gualala Point Island at the north end of the Sea Ranch. In addition, Fred McElroy had sightings of northbound gray whales as they were swimming past Hearn Gulch which is north of Iversen Point and south of Schooner Gulch.

💠 15 northbound gray whales – one trio, three groups of two’s, and six singles

💠 73 harbor seals

💠 1 great blue heron

💠 7 brown pelicans flying north

❇️ TOTAL GRAY WHALES SEEN TO DATE  ➡️

🔵   248 northbound          🔴    382 southbound          🟢   2 foragers

photo below by Fred McElroy

We encountered a second day of unrelenting fog at the Point Arena Lighthouse peninsula so today’s observations were entirely done at Saunders Reef. There was fog here as well but it retreated and allowed us decent visibility.

♦️ 4 northbound gray whales – one deuce and two singles

♦️ 1 red-tailed hawk

🔶 SHARI GOFORTH OBSERVED 2 NORTHBOUND GRAY WHALES AT OLLIE’S STRAIGHT – both singles

🔶 TOTAL GRAY WHALES SEEN TO DATE ⤵️

🔵   233 northbound          🔴   382 southbound           🟢  2 foragers

The day began with a calm ocean and good visibility but unfortunately, a persistent fog rolled in and we could no longer see the ocean at the Point Arena Lighthouse peninsula.  We relocated south to  Saunders Reef  where the fog remained about 3-4 miles offshore but there were many whitecaps.

❇️ AT PAL:

☘️ NO WHALES SEEN

🍀 57 harbor seals

☘️ 1 American kestrel

❇️ AT SAUNDERS REEF:

☘️ 6 northbound gray whales – one deuce and four singles

❇️ AT GUALALA POINT and OLLIE’S STRAIGHT  AS SEEN BY SHARI GOFORTH:

🍀 6 northbound grays – a deuce and four singles

❇️ TOTAL GRAY WHALES SEEN TO DATE  🟰

🔵   227 northbound          🔴   382 southbound          🟢   2 foragers

The wind was light and there were just a few whitecaps on the ocean today.  There was haziness way out on the horizon but visibility was excellent.

💠 AT THE POINT ARENA LIGHTHOUSE PENINSULA:

🔷 16 northbound gray whales – three groups of two and ten singles

🔷 77 harbor seals

🔷 1 American kestrel

🔷 3 black oystercatchers

🔷 33 brown pelicans flying north and 1 flying south

💠 TOTAL GRAY WHALES SEEN TO DATE ↘️

🔵    215 northbound          🔴   382 southbound          🟢   2 foragers

There was a light wind and some whitecaps at the Point Arena Lighthouse peninsula on this sunny, clear day with very good visibility.

🔆 17 northbound gray whales – ten pairs and seven singles; 8 of these whales were less than one quarter mile offshore and the others were between one and two miles out

🔆 76 harbor seals

🔆 5 black oystercatchers

🔆 1 Northern harrier

🔆 3 American kestrels

🔆 36 brown pelicans flying north and 1 flying south

⚛️ AT SAUNDERS REEF:  wind was stronger and whitecaps were more numerous

🔆 1 northbound gray whales passing just behind the reef

⚛️ TOTAL GRAY WHALES SEEN TO DATE  ⏩️

🔵   199 northbound          🔴   382 southbound           🟢   2 foragers