27 miles from the Golden Gate Bridge is the Farallon Island Chain situated in the Gulf of the Farallones. These islands are the northern part of the chain including the Channel Island. The Farallon Islands, nick named "Devils Teeth" for two reason; 1) The white shark who hunts there. 2) the jagged rocks look like teeth and the islands are in hospital and claimed the lives of early mariners.

The Farallon Islands are in the Gulf of the Farallones Marine Sanctuary. My understanding is it is "The Farallon Islands" and "The Gulf of the Farallones" harking on the Spanish language. This video was taken at the Continental Shelf further outside the Farallon Islands in the Pacific Ocean. Special mention needs to be made for Captain Roger Thomas who can find the whales. I think the whales were waving at him. This particular SF Bay Images was capturing a High Definition Documentary with a Sony 900 HD camera and a makohead marine stabilizing mount. That footage is close-up, clear and will be on this site later this year. This footage was shot by a hand-held pro-sumer hd camera. It bobs and rolls, and the whales are a little bit in the distance, but since there are over ten breeches in this footage, we thought you would enjoy it.

Humpback Whales can easily be identified by their stocky bodies with obvious humps and black dorsal colouring. The head and lower jaw are covered with knobs called tubercles, which are actually hair follicles and are characteristic of the species. The tail flukes, which are lifted high in the dive sequence, have wavy rear edges.[5]

The long black and white tail fin, which can be up to a third of body length, and the pectoral fins have unique patterns, which enable individual whales to be recognised.[6][7] Several suggestions have been made to explain the evolution of the Humpback's pectoral fins, which are proportionally the longest fins of any cetacean. The two most enduring hypotheses are the higher maneuverability afforded by long fins, or that the increased surface area is useful for temperature control when migrating between warm and cold climates.

Humpbacks have 270 to 400 darkly coloured baleen plates on each side of the mouth. Ventral grooves run from the lower jaw to the umbilicus about halfway along the bottom of the whale. These grooves are less numerous (usually 16–20) and consequently more prominent than in other rorquals. The stubby dorsal fin is visible soon after the blow when the whale surfaces, but has disappeared by the time the flukes emerge. Humpbacks have a distinctive 3 m (10 ft) bushy blow.

Females typically breed every two or three years. The gestation period is 11.5 months, yet some individuals can breed in two consecutive years. Humpback Whales were thought to live 50 - 60 years, but new studies using the changes in amino acids behind eye lenses proved another baleen whale, the Bowhead, to be 211 years old. This was an animal taken by the Inuit off Alaska. More studies on ages are currently being done. This is really a stunning piece of information because it means some whales can remember seeing their parents, brothers and sisters die at the hand of whalers. Well, if they can remember remains to be proven, but it means they could of witnessed it. Whaling was a way of life and had its human benefits at the time, but currently whaling is considered barbaric. Preserving these creatures is the current goal.



Farallones Marine Sanctuary Association
Whale Watching Trips with FMSA
They often encounter humpback whales, the occasional blue whale, as well as harbor porpoises, Dall’s porpoises, Steller sea lions, or any of the other 36 species of marine mammals found in Sanctuary waters. Weather permitting you will see the Farallon Islands up close. Departs from the San Francisco Marina. 7:30 a.m. - 4 p.m. Trips are $85 for non-members and $78 for members. Spaces are limited and fill up quickly.
(415) 561-6625 x 300

Salty Lady
Available for Private Charters
Whale Watching + Nature Tours
Call Captain Thomas at 415-674-3474