Author: tmercer

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 🔷…

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…