On this trip we found a Gray Whale near Richardson Bay. It surfaced roughly every seven minutes.

Over the course of the trip the whale slowly moved towards Tiburon. At a few points it came close to the shoreline and was diving in very shallow water. As we headed back to the dock, we spotted one dive sequence from a Humpback, including the fluke. The whale was in the central bay, but we didn’t see it again as we left the area. Soon after, a large oil tanker passed through the area.

While we were back at the dock, researchers at Golden Gate Cetacean Research were looking at a Humpback Whale off of Cavallo Point. When headed out on our next trip we went straight to the whale they were observing. It was a humpback whale feeding on anchovies.

We saw several fluke dives from this animal.

A few times it came within 100 yards of our boat.

Over the course of the trip, the whale slowly moved towards the Golden Gate Bridge. This was consistent with the outgoing tide, which was likely causing the fish to move west.

On our last trip of the day we went out into the Golden Gate Strait in search of the humpback. We relocated the animal in the middle of the strait.

At first we waited west of the animal to see if it was heading out.

When it stayed in one spot for a while, we slowly approached.

The whale appeared to be feeding – we had huge bait balls showing on the fish finder. It was coming up at irregular intervals. A few times it lifted its tail high for a rapid deep dive.

-Allison

This post is adapted from a blog, read the original here