Recent Sightings

We wish everyone a very happy, healthy, and peaceful new year. In 2026, may we make continued progress to understand, protect, appreciate, and respect all living things on earth.

Today was cloudy, gray, and quite windy. The wind speed was 17 mph out of the south southeast with gusts to 29 mph. The ocean was dotted with whitecaps. The afternoon brought intermittent, light rain showers.

🚫 NO WHALES SEEN TODAY AT SAUNDERS REEF OR AT THE POINT ARENA LIGHTHOUSE PENINSULA 🚫

AT PAL:

💢 60 harbor seals

💢 8 brown pelicans flying around the peninsula

💢 2 black oystercatchers

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👀 TOTAL GRAY WHALES SEEN TO DATE = 40 southbound 👀

Today was cloudy with intermittent rain showers throughout the day. There was offshore fog as well.

AT THE POINT ARENA LIGHTHOUSE PENINSULA :

🟣 8 southbound gray whales – one trio, one deuce, and three singles

🟣 74 harbor seals

🟣 3 American kestrels

🟣 4 black oystercatchers

🟣 42 brown pelicans flying north

🟢 NO WHALES SEEN AT SAUNDERS REEF TODAY

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🔵 TOTAL GRAY WHALES SEEN TO DATE = 40 southbound 🔵

The ocean was flat calm today but there was considerable cloudiness and offshore haziness way out on the horizon. The sunlight was quite filtered as it shone through the clouds.
Due to this odd lighting, we often spotted whales initially by locating their backs and heads as they came to the surface to breathe.

AT SAUNDERS REEF:

🔷 2 southbound gray whales – traveling south side by side for a great distance

AT THE POINT ARENA LIGHTHOUSE PENINSULA:

🔷 4 southbound gray whales – two singles and one deuce; we watched the pair swimming very close to each other for quite sometime but then they separated with one moving ahead of the other as they continued south

🔷 84 harbor seals

🔷 2 great blue herons; one on the rocks at the shoreline and one in the pasture with the cows

🔷 4 black oystercatchers

🔷 4 brown pelicans flying north and 2 flying south

🔷 3 American kestrels

🔷 1 red-tailed hawk being harassed by a kestrel

TOTAL GRAY WHALES SEEN TO DATE = 32 southbound

Another IDEAL day for observing whales!! Ocean was calm, no wind, visibility clear to the horizon.

AT SAUNDERS FEEF:

💠 2 southbound gray whales – these were a pair swimming together about 3/4 mile offshore

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AT THE POINT ARENA LIGHTHOUSE PENINSULA:

💠 5 southbound gray whales – 3 singles and one deuce; the two together breached simultaneously about five times

💠 104 harbor seals

💠 4 black oystercatchers

💠 1 great blue heron

💠 1 American kestrel

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TOTAL GRAY WHALES SEEN TO DATE = 26 southbound

The ocean was flat calm today, there was little to no wind, it was sunny, and we had a clear view to the horizon. Conditions were absolutely ideal for spotting whales.

AT THE POINT ARENA LIGHTHOUSE PENINSULA, WE OBSERVED:

✳️ 11 southbound gray whales – one trio, two duos and four singles;

Several of the whales fluked before taking a dive, blows remained suspended in the air, heads, and backs were often clearly seen; these whales were between 1 and 2 miles offshore

✳️ 108 harbor seals

✳️ 2 American kestrels

✳️ 1 great blue heron

✳️ 6-8 killdeer

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✳️ AT HEARN GULCH, (just south of Saunders Reef), Fred and Janet McElroy observed gray whales passing by and took a video clearly showing one pair and one single

TOTAL GRAY WHALES SEEN TO DATE = 19 southbound