Category: Daily Observations

Huge waves, 12 – 15 feet, created extremely rough seas with considerable spray and high surf. There was also a strong, persistent wind throughout the day. * No whales seen today at the Point Arena Lighthouse peninsula or at Saunders Reef. TOTAL GRAY WHALES SEEN TO DATE: 382 southbound 1 northbound * 21 harbor seals…

Today we took the opportunity to observe at Gerstle Cove which is part of Salt Point State Park in Sonoma County. It was a mostly cloudy day with some breaks of sunshine and visibility was quite good. Here we saw: * 1 northbound gray whale – our first northbound of the season * 2 southbound…

The sun was shining and the wind was strong today at the Point Arena Lighthouse peninsula where we observed: * 10 southbound gray whales – all singles TOTAL GRAY WHALES SEEN TO DATE = 380 southbound * 79 harbor seals * 3 American kestrels

Sun returned today along with a strong north northwest wind with gusts up to 25 mph. This created significant whitecaps on the ocean and blows were battered down quickly. Observations from the Point Arena Lighthouse peninsula: * 4 southbound gray whales – two were seen by Sara Bogard during her harbor seal survey TOTAL GRAY…

After five days of inclement weather (rain, fog, wind, flooding) we finally returned to the cliffs today at the Point Arena Lighthouse peninsula. On this cool, sunny, slightly windy day we observed: * 4 southbound gray whales – one group of two and two singles; blows were wide and bushy, staying close to the surface…

Cloudy and windy conditions today made seeing blows challenging. Thankfully, later in the day it became partially sunny and visibility improved. Bushy blows remained at the surface of the ocean and were quickly swept away by the wind. Nonetheless, backs and flukes were often visible. Observations at the Point Arena Lighthouse peninsula: * 10 southbound…

Cloudy conditions persisted through the day creating the dreaded monochrome effect which makes it difficult to distinguish between ocean, sky, and blows. However, the ocean was very calm and that made it possible to observe whale backs, heads, and flukes. Observations from the Point Arena Lighthouse peninsula: * 11 southbound gray whales – one group…

Cloudy conditions today and for part of the time, the ocean, sky, and blows were all the same color. Thankfully, the sun re-emerged and visibility improved. This morning I spotted a blow very close to shore at the Gualala Point Regional Park beach. We quickly notified Shari Goforth-Eby who was able to photograph this foraging…

Excellent conditions today with great visibility and distinction between the sky and the ocean. Observations from the Point Arena Lighthouse peninsula: * 15 southbound gray whales – one group of four, one group of three, two groups of two, four singles Total whales seen to date = 332 southbound * 39 harbor seals * 1…

While hiking along the bluff  trial at the Sea Ranch, we spotted one gray whale foraging north of Walk On Beach. The whale swam north and south and  took long foraging dives about 200 years off shore.  Below please see a video of this whale taken by Janet McElroy.  Shari Goforth-Eby was the Point Arena…

Observations from Saunders Reef: * 4 southbound gray whales, one group of two and two singles    GRAY WHALES SEEN TO DATE = 304 southbound  Today, we had the good fortune to watch and learn from Orca Network’s Way of Whales conference.

Shari Goforth received the following update on the gray whale with scars  she photographed yesterday at Gualala Point Regional Park Beach: Mark Sawyer:  There’s a match to a 2023 calf, known as “Panther”. The images I matched to, and the additional info, comes from the GEMM Lab at OSU. They saw Panther in October, with…