Author: tmercer

With mixed sun and clouds, we had winds from the northwest blowing at 21 mph with gusts of 32 mph.  The rough surf, large swells, and whitecaps caused spray to obscure our visibility somewhat. ✳️ AT THE POINT ARENA LIGHTHOUSE PENINSULA: 🔷 NO WHALES SEEN 🔷 76 harbor seals 🔷 1 red-tailed hawk 🔷 14…

GRAY WHALES TO DATE (since 1 Dec) Southbound: 214 Northbound: 445 Cow/calves south: 17 Cow/calves north: 16 Total: 659

Conditions today were cloudy, the ocean was fairly calm and visibility was very good. 🔶 AT THE POINT ARENA LIGHTHOUSE PENINSULA: 🔷 NO WHALES SEEN 🔷 97 harbor seals 🔷 1 sea lion 🔷 1 great blue heron 🔷 22 brown pelicans 🔶TOTAL GRAY WHALES SEEN TO DATE  ↙️   344 northbound – includes 7…

On this breezy, partly sunny day, we had decent visibility to about 3 miles offshore. 💠 AT THE POINT ARENA LIGHTHOUSE PENINSULA: ♦️ NO WHALES SEEN ♦️ 75 harbor seals ♦️ 17 brown pelicans ♦️ 3 black oystercatchers 💠 AT SAUNDERS REEF: ♦️ NO WHALES SEEN REEF TOTAL GRAY WHALES SEEN TO DATE  🟰  …

Today we had a hazy, overcast sky. Poor visibility due to having no distinction between the ocean and the sky and whale blows. ❇️ AT THE POINT ARENA LIGHTHOUSE PENINSULA : 🔆 NO WHALES SEEN 🔆 53 harbor seals – incoming tide 🔆 1 osprey perched in a tree overlooking the ocean 🔆 23 brown…

Sounding the Alarm for North Pacific Grey Whales | MERS Marine Education & Research Society

EVENT: On May 15, the 21st dead gray whale washed ashore in Washington state. We highly recommend attending the webinar below to learn more about why this is happening. You can take a look at Cascadia Research Collective’s working list of stranded gray whales here: https://cascadiaresearch.org/working-list-of-gray-whale-strandings-in-2026/ Please visit the website below to register for this…

At the Point Arena Lighthouse peninsula, conditions were sunny, clear, windy (20 mph with gusts of 31 mph from the northwest) and the ocean was covered with large whitecaps. ⭐️ 2 humpback whales moving slowly to the south ⭐️ 106 harbor seals – 15 pups ⭐️ 2 great blue herons ⭐️ 1 osprey ⭐️ 2…

The morning fog gave way to a gray, overcast day at the Point Arena Lighthouse peninsula. Once the fog lifted, the wind began to blow strongly. Despite this, visibility was very good. ❇️ NO WHALES SEEN ❇️ 94 harbor seal – 15 moms with pups ❇️ 2 sea lions ❇️ 37 brown pelicans 🔷 NO…

After two days of very windy conditions , today began with significant fog.  The fog eventually did recede to offshore but it remained quite gray and cloudy at the Point  Arena Lighthouse. We did find sunnier conditions at Saunders Reef.  Visibility at both  sites was limited. 🔆 AT SAUNDERS REEF: 💠  NO WHALES SEEN 💠…

We had sunny but increasingly windy conditions today at beautiful Gerstle Cove. The wind was blowing at 15 mph with gusts of 23 mph from the northwest. This created an ocean covered in whitecaps. ✳️ 9 humpback whales – eight singles and one group of two ✳️ approximately 30 sea lions hauled out and several…

Cloudy conditions at the Point Arena Lighthouse peninsula. 3-5 foot waves and offshore haziness. 🔶 13 humpback whales –  three sets of two’s and seven singles- many breaches including two full breaches side by side and lots of tail lobbing 🔶 81 harbor seals – 11 moms and pups 🔶  12 sea lions 🔶 1…