Category: Daily Observations

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…

This foraging gray whale was seen not more than 150 yards off the beach at Gualala Point Regional Park.  Fortunately, Shari Goforth was alerted by friend and neighbor, Laverne Hancock,  who spotted the whale from her home early this morning.  I met Shari on the bluff trail above the beach and we watched this gray…

Visibility today was once again excellent but there was a slight wind. Early in the day we received word from our friend and photographer extraordinaire, Ron Bolander, that he was watching several whales and whale activity such as breaching at the Lighthouse. Observations from the Point Arena Lighthouse peninsula: * 16 southbound gray whales –…

Grateful for another day with excellent visibility, no wind, calm ocean, excellent distinction between sky, ocean, and blows. At the Point Arena Lighthouse peninsula we observed: * 28 southbound gray whales – 1 loose group of four,  1 group of  three, 6 groups of two, and  9 singles – one whale breached three times, another…

Excellent conditions today for observing. At the Point Arena Lighthouse peninsula we spotted: * 25 southbound gray whales – one seen by Shari Godorth-Eby breached three times , 1 group of 4, 1 group of 3, 3 pairs, and  12 singles * we also watched one forager slowly swimming north and south between 200 and…

Two southbound gray whales were seen about 4 miles off of Saunders Reef this morning by Shari Goforth-Eby. They took multiple blows. At the Point Arena  Lighthouse  peninsula, we observed:  *16 southbound grays- 9 singles, 2 pairs, and 1 group of three * 8 harbor seals swimming about their haul out sites * 1 kingfisher…