Recent Sightings

Today was sunny and warm with a light wind. There were whitecaps starting at about 2 miles offshore and beyond that, there was haziness.

✳️ AT THE POINT ARENA LIGHTHOUSE PENINSULA:

🔆 11 northbound gray whales – one deuce and nine singles

🔆 59 harbor seals

🔆 35 brown pelicans flying north

✳️ AT GUALALA POINT:  OBSERVED BY SHARI GOFORTH

🔆 4 northbound gray whales – all singles

✳️ TOTAL GRAY WHALES SEEN TO DATE  ↙️

🔵  134 northbound          🔴   382 southbound          🟢   2 foragers

After two days of very strong winds and a rough ocean that offered poor visibility, we were able to successfully observe today at the Point Arena Lighthouse peninsula as well as at Saunders Reef.  It was still quite windy and there were numerous whitecaps on the ocean as well as haziness. Spotting blows that disappeared very quickly was challenging.

☑️ AT PAL:

♦️ 5 northbound  gray whales : one deuce and three singles

♦️ 56 harbor seals

♦️ 1 American kestrel

♦️ 2 black oystercatchers

♦️1 great blue heron

♦️ 1 red-tailed hawk

♦️ 35 brown pelicans flying north

☑️ AT SAUNDERS REEF:

♦️ 1 northbound gray whale

♦️ 3 brown pelicans flying north

☑️  TOTAL GRAY WHALES SEEN TO DATE  ⤵️

🔵   119 northbound           🔴   382 southbound          🟢   2 foragers

 

 

 

 

On this very windy day at the Point Arena Lighthouse peninsula, the ocean was just covered with whitecaps of all sizes.  Visibility was greatly reduced by spray and haze.  The wind was blowing at 23 miles per hour with gusts of 31 miles per hour from the north north west.

💠 4 northbound gray whales – one deuce and two singles

💠 71 harbor seals

💠 4 black oystercatchers

💠 3 American kestrels

✅ AT SAUNDERS REEF:

💠 1 northbound gray whale

✅ TOTAL GRAY WHALES SEEN TO DATE 🟰

🔵  113 northbound          🔴   382 southbound          🟢   2 foragers

 

 

 

Although the day started out quite sunny, out on the peninsula it became and stayed cloudy with offshore fog and eventually, misty. The wind also increased and there were many whitecaps.  Blows were low and bushy and disappeared quickly along the surface of the ocean.

🔆 AT THE POINT ARENA LIGHTHOUSE PENINSULA :

❇️ 8 northbound gray whales – two sets of twos and four singles; one member of the first pair we saw breached twice

❇️ 1 gray whale foraging

❇️ 61 harbor seals

❇️ 2 American kestrels

❇️ 18 brown pelicans flying north

❇️ 6 black oystercatcher

🔆 AT SAUNDERS REEF: conditions slightly better than at PAL but deteriorating

❇️ 2 northbound gray whales – a deuce

🔆 TOTAL GRAY WHALES SEEN TO DATE:

🔵   108 northbound          🔴   382 southbound          🟢  2 foragers

 

We had ideal conditions today with a calm ocean and a clear view all the way to the horizon.

♦️AT THE POINT ARENA LIGHTHOUSE PENINSULA:

🔷 17 northbound gray whales- six singles, two deuces, one trio, and one group of four

🔷 1 foraging sub-adult gray whale swimming north and south within 500 yards of shore

🔷 67 harbor seals

🔷 4 American kestrels

🔷 1 great blue heron

🔷 1 Ferruginous hawk

🔷 4 black oystercatchers

🔷 5 brown pelicans flying north

♦️ AT SAUNDERS REEF:

🔷 1 northbound gray whale

♦️ TOTAL GRAY WHALES SEEN TO DATE. ▶️

🔵   98 northbound          🔴   382 southbound          🟢   1 forager