Author: tmercer

Although it was cloudy and gray at the Point Arena Lighthouse peninsula, visibility was quite good.  The ocean was mostly calm with some whitecaps offshore at about 3 miles out. 🔆 12 humpback whales – two groups of three and six singles – we observed tail lobbing and breaching; one humpback was tail lobbing consistently…

It remained cloudy and gray at Gerstle Cove today with very little distinction between the ocean and the sky. There were big swells but no whitecaps. ♦️2 humpback whales – singles that stayed within our view slowly swimming north and south for about 4 hours ♦️ 9 harbor seals ♦️ 4 sea lions ♦️ 2…

Same offshore fog persisted at the Point Arena Lighthouse peninsula limiting our visibility to between 2-3 mikes out. 🟣 NO WHALES SEEN 🟣 92 harbor seals 🟣 1 great blue heron 🟣 11 brown pelicans  

There was offshore fog today limiting our visibility to between 2 -3 miles off the peninsula at the Point Arena Lighthouse peninsula. ✳️ NO WHALES SEEN ✳️ 94 harbor seals ✳️ 1 sea lion resting on his or her own rock by the harbor seal haul out site ✳️ 1 great blue heron ✳️ 14…

Observations today from the Point Arena Lighthouse peninsula.  Offshore fog, some wind and whitecaps. 💠 NO WHALES SEEN 💠 118 harbor seals 💠 2 great blue herons 💠 9 brown pelicans

The day at Gerstle Cove began sunny, with moderate wind and moderate amount of whitecaps on a choppy ocean. Visibility was very good.  As the day progressed, it became cloudy and the wind diminished. 🔷 8 humpback whales – 6 singles and 1 deuce 🔷 11 harbor seals 🔷 2 osprey- one carrying a fish…

This season’s counts were the lowest for both northbound and southbound in our thirteen years of doing this census. They were slightly lower than last season. SOUTHBOUND: December, 2025:    40 January, 2026:        315 February, 2026:      27 TOTAL:                     382 NORTHBOUND:…

The wind picked up as the day went on creating numerous, small whitecaps upon the ocean. At first we had blue skies but clouds also began to roll in. The wind was blowing 14 mph and gusting to 21 mph out of the south southeast. AT THE POINT ARENA LIGHTHOUSE PENINSULA: ❇️ 4 humpbacks whales…

Good visibility today with a partly cloudy sky and small, choppy waves upon the ocean. AT THE POINT ARENA LIGHTHOUSE PENINSULA: 💠 NO WHALES SEEN 💠 7-8 bottlenose dolphins swimming rapidly south about 500 yards offshore 💠 32 harbor seals – outgoing tide 💠 7 brown pelicans    

The ocean was as calm as a lake today as there was no wind and no whitecaps. The sky, however, was white due to a large, lingering fog bank offshore. This made it difficult to detect blows but whale backs could easily be seen. 🔆 AT THE POINT ARENA LIGHTHOUSE PENINSULA: 🔆 2 humpbacks whales…

Upon arriving at Gerstle Cove in Salt Point State Park early this morning, the fog quickly receded and we had good visibility. Unfortunately, within less than one hour, the fog returned leaving us with no visibility the rest of the day. 🔶 NO WHALES SEEN 🔷 3 osprey- 2 carrying fish 🔶 12 sea lions…

Still quite windy at the Point Arena Lighthouse peninsula as well as at Saunders Reef. Lots of whitecaps and spray limited our visibility. 🟪 NO WHALES SEEN 🟪 78 harbor seals 🟪 1 black oystercatcher 🟪 7 brown pelicans flying north