20070925 Day Trip to the Farallon Islands

20070925 Day Trip to the Farallon Islands

Oh Dark Thirty and we have already arrived in San Francisco from Fremont in the East Bay. Our destination, on land anyway, is the Marina District with its well-known Safeway. We are Tina, Ingrid, Sara, Jordan, and Rob [interns at the San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge], Tia [my bud and an Environmental Education Specialist at the refuge], and me in my capacity as Refuge Volunteer.

Tia has arranged for me to tag along on an excursion to show the Farallon Islands to the interns and to expose a few teachers to an environmental education program the refuge offers. Not bad, a free trip to an amazing place for birds and marine life. Expertise provided by Joelle Buffa, the refuge manager, Melissa from the Point Reyes Bird Observatory, and Rob [not the intern], a biologist working with birds and living on the southeast island.

I’m told the fall is the best chance of clear warm days in the San Francisco Bay Area, and this day is one of them. You could ask forever and not have better weather for the trip. No clouds could block the sun because no clouds appeared all day. No wind-driven waves could make us lean over the railing because no wind blew. To be sure, the day was warm.

Our trip on the 55; Butchie B would take 3-3 ½ hours, depending on the swell. Immediately after leaving we could see the Golden Gate, really kind of a rust color but what the heck. Poetic license allows it to be precious. For someone like me who likes to take pictures, ideal light shone on the bay side of the span.

After a few minutes heading west, we came across a weather buoy that served as haul out and in-water resting spot for a few California sea lions. As we approached, the sea lions became active and seemed to frolic. Melissa explained that the boat captain, moving in too close to give us a view, forced the sea lions to cease resting. Where have I seen this before? Fishing guides in Katmai? Visitors in every national park where I have worked? I felt a bit guilty even though I was not in charge and had no idea of what the captain would do.

The sea lions would not be the only wildlife on the outbound trip. Harbor porpoises leaped occasionally, but not often enough to set up for a picture. Three humpback whales surfaced for a few minutes. I managed to get pictured of the hump backs but nothing more. Still, wonderful to see and hear them.

Birds on the way out were Brown Pelicans, Western Gulls, Common Murres, a couple of different shearwaters, and Brandt’s Cormorants. Melissa saw a Rhinoceros Auklet that no one else did.

The islands themselves came into view in less than two hours as we made terrific time over the mostly-flat water. Dry, rocky [the word farallon means rocky in Spanish I’m told] and covered with guano, in and of themselves they do not impress. What lives on and around them do.

Over 400 bird species have been recorded here over the years, including sightings of a number of songbirds that have been observed nowhere else in California. At the time of our visit a Gray Catbird was visiting also. Land birds regularly ‘fall out’ here during migration, as they may be tired and disoriented. The aforementioned gulls, murres, cormorants, auklets, and others nest here, though this is not that time of year. Somewhere among the Brandt's Cormorants is a Brown Booby. I think it is just out of view.

Five species of pinniped live here as well. California sea lion, Steller’s sea lion, elephant seal, and a couple of others. While a few female/juvenile elephant seals sunned on shore, the big males were yet to arrive for the fall molt. They should be here soon. Timed with their arrival come the white sharks.

We did not see a shark attack during our visit, but some of the island’s human residents have over the past few days. How do they know? The gulls gather in large numbers over the attack area to feed on scraps and blood. Blood and oil cover a piece of the water. While we were there a cage-dive boat served divers wishing to safely view the big scary fish.

No dock serves the southeast island, where the people are, as the shoreline is completely rocky, is pounded by constant surf, and drops off steeply. While one side of the island has an alternate landing site, generally a crane hoists boats into and out of the water.

To minimize disturbance to the natural residents, the Farallons are off-limits to the general public. Even the US Fish and Wildlife Service limits their visits. Our group had no compelling reason to land so we stayed on the boat. Rob the biologist was shuttled to us via inflatable boat.

As I said, the island are covered with bird guano, not to mention pinniped poop. Not surprising, the droppings produce large numbers of flies. Some of them decided that our boat was a nice place. They plagued us all the way back to the mainland. While not biting, they landed on any exposed skin. What a nuisance!

On the return leg we encountered a giant container ship. Evidently there was some confusion about right of way and we came much too close for my comfort. The captain claimed he had the right of way, but something tells me that, like a big Brown Bear boar meeting a subadult, a ship of this size does pretty much what it wants in an interaction with a boat the size of the Butchie B.

Nearing the entrance to San Francisco Bay we could see a couple of the WWII-era bunkers that at one time housed artillery to protect the harbor. We could also see the city itself, a city I like enough that I would be willing to live in it for a while, nestled under the protective wings of the Golden Gate. What a fine way to end a truly rare day.