Recent Sightings

🟨 AT THE POINT ARENA LIGHTHOUSE PENINSULA:

🔳 13 humpbacks whales  – one group of three, two groups of two, six singles; one full breach

🔳 2 gray whales foraging

🔳 78 harbor seals – 10 moms with pups

🔳 1 great blue heron

🟨 TOTAL GRAY WHALES SEEN TO DATE. ↘️

🔵   344 northbound – includes 7 mother/calf pairs

🔴   382 southbound

🟢  18 foragers

Clouds prevailed but there was some filtered sunshine upon the calm ocean today. Overall visibility was good although we had limited distinction between the sky, the ocean, and whale blows.  There were about 25 fishing boats spread out throughout our observation area.

🔆 AT THE POINT ARENA LIGHTHOUSE PENINSULA:

🔷 3 humpbacks – a deuce and one single

🔷 1 gray forager

🔷 75 harbor seals – 11 moms with pups

🔷 12 sea lions swimming north

🔷 several pelicans circling just above the surface of the ocean and some floating

🔷 1 great blue heron

🔆 Later in the day, Shari Goforth observed 7 humpbacks whales:  3 at Ollie’s straight, 1 north of there, 1 off the Gualala Park beach, and 2 more off Gualala Point Island. The whale that was just about 1/4 miles out from  the beach was making multiple dives and another breached multiple times

🔆 TOTAL GRAY WHALES SEEN TO DATE 👀

🔵   344 northbound – includes 7 mother/calf pairs

🔴   382 southbound

🟢   16 foragers

 

🔶 ALL PHOTOS TAKEN BY SHARI GOFORTH:

It was a cloudy day at the Point Arena Lighthouse peninsula but some sunshine did break through later in the day. The ocean was calm and there was a layer of haze offshore.

🔷 3 humpbacks – two moving slowly south together and one single traveling in a southwest direction

🔷 77 harbor seals – 8 moms with pups

🔷 19 brown pelicans flying north; 4 flying south; 4 floating on the water

🔷 2 black oystercatchers

💠 TOTAL GRAY WHALES SEEN TO DATE 🟰

🔵   344 northbound – includes 7 mother/calf pairs

🔴   382 southbound

🟢  15 foragers

Our first hour this morning at Gerstle Cove was in the fog. Fortunately, , the fog did lift and eventually the clouds were replaced by sunshine. There was a slight breeze and the ocean was calm.

♦️ NO WHALES SEEN

♦️approximately 35 sea lions resting on a large rock and being quite vocal; an additional ten to twelve sea lions were in the water just below the rock and they were rafting at times

♦️ 17 harbor seals – none were pups

♦️ 3-4 osprey – one caight a big juicy fish!  One was particularly vocal

♦️ 86 brown pelicans flying north and 1 flying south

🟨  TOTAL GRAY WHALES SEEN TO DATE   ⤵️

🔵   344 northbound – includes 7 mother/calf pairs

🔴   382 southbound

🟢   15 foragers

 

On this windy, sunny day at the Point Arena Lighthouse peninsula, there was a thick layer of offshore haze that limited our visibility to about 4 miles out.

We received a report that a sub-adult female gray whale washed ashore at Virgin Creek beach on the north end of Fort Bragg.  Sarah Grimes, the stranding coordinator at the Noyo Center for Marine Science, along with a team from the Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito and California Academy of Sciences were able to collect valuable data and perform a necropsy on this whale today. Hopefully, there will be much to learn about this gray whale and the cause of death will be identified.  I will report back when this information becomes available which may be several weeks.

♒️  AT THE POINT ARENA LIGHTHOUSE PENINSULA: 

💠 2 foraging gray whales – we suspect that one of these grays has been foraging along the peninsula for several days

💠  62 harbor seals – 4 moms and pups

💠 2 black oystercatchers

♒️  TOTAL GRAY WHALES SEEN TO DATE  ⏬️

🔵   344 northbound – includes 7 mother/calf pairs

🔴   382 southbound

🟢   15 foragers