Author: tmercer

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

On this very windy day, spotting whale blows and even whale activity on the whitecap covered ocean was extremely challenging. The wind was blowing from the north northwest at 23 miles per hour with gusts of 36 mikes per hour. 🔆 AT THE POINT ARENA LIGHTHOUSE PENINSULA: ❇️ NO WHALES SEEN ❇️ 69 harbor seals…

Still very windy here on the Mendonoma coast.  This is the fourth consecutive day of unrelenting  wind covering the ocean with huge whitecaps. We observed today at Gerstle Cove in Salt Point State Park under sunny skies. Visibility decreased throughout the day as the wind, whitecaps, and ocean spray grew stronger.  Wind was blowing at…

There was morning  fog at Gerstle Cove which eventually did lift giving way to mixed sun and clouds. The ocean was choppy today and the wind was sustained at 19 mph. There were whitecaps.   Overall visibility was very good. 🔆 2 humpbacks whales – singles but in the same general area, we observed them…

Today was a sunny day but there was offshore haze that limited our visibility . ♦️ AT THE POINT ARENA LIGHTHOUSE PENINSULA: 🔹 NO WHALES SEEN 🔹 53 harbor seals 🔹 2 black oystercatchers 🔹 12 brown pelicans ♦️TOTAL GRAY WHALES SEEN TO DATE     344 northbound – includes 7 mother/calf pairs   382…

Mostly cloudy today with rough seas, 8-10 foot waves. Very little distinction between the ocean and the sky. 🔷 At the Point Arena Lighthouse peninsula: ✳️ NO WHALES SEEN ✳️ 50 harbor seals – incoming tide ✳️ 1 sea lion swimming south ✳️ 32 brown pelicans 🔷 At Saunders Reef: ✳️ NO WHALES SEEN 🔷…