We took a cruise on the Ocean Society's 56 boat, Salty Lady, from the San Francisco Yacht Club out under the Golden Gate Bridge to the Farallon Islands, 27 miles away. This pair of pelicans were waiting just outside the Golden Gate Bridge to bid us farewell in the early morning.

Tags:   Animal Bay California Cruise Farallon Islands Mammal North America Oceanic Society Salty Lady San Francisco USA Whale ocean tour watching 2019-10-04-9L8A0113 pelican bird seagull gull rock rocky perch perched morning boat

© All Rights Reserved

Hundreds of sea lions are on the Farallon Islands nursing their pups. It was difficult to spot them on the dark rocky slopes, but this mom really stood out.

Tags:   Animal Bay California Cruise Farallon Islands Mammal North America Oceanic Society Salty Lady San Francisco USA Whale ocean tour watching 2019-10-04-9L8A0168 sea lion mom pup baby female mother

© All Rights Reserved

I know that the official nomenclature for a group of pelicans is a "squadron", but since there are twelve here and they look so stern, I'm calling them a JURY !

Tags:   Animal Bay California Cruise Farallon Islands Mammal North America Oceanic Society Salty Lady San Francisco USA Whale ocean sea tour watching 2019-10-04-4B4A1471 pelicans brown jury squadron bird rock rocky guano

© All Rights Reserved

Today's edition of Armchair Traveling takes me back to a cruise from the San Francisco Yacht Club Basin to The Farallon Islands which are 27 miles due west from the Golden Gate Bridge. Visitors are not allowed to step onto the islands, but the fishing/tour boat cruised slowly around quite close to the shore so that we could capture images of the thousands of birds that nest there. The line-up of pelicans seemed to be casting judgment on all of us with their long somber faces.

Tags:   Bay California Cruise Farallon Islands Mammal Oceanic Society Salty Lady San Francisco tour 2019-10-04-9L8A0145-Edit pelican guano rocks jury squadron

© All Rights Reserved

Today's edition of Armchair Traveling takes me back to our bird-watching/whale watching excursion out to the Farallon Islands which are in the Pacific Ocean 27 miles due west from the Golden Gate Bridge. No one but scientists and Fish and Wildlife representatives are allowed on the island, and they live in one of the remaining houses dating back to the 1870s.

I just discovered that you can actually control the webcams on the island from the CalAcademy website:

www.calacademy.org/webcams/farallones/

Tags:   Animal Bay California Cruise Farallon Islands Mammal North America Oceanic Society Salty Lady San Francisco USA Whale ocean sea tour watching 2019-10-04-4B4A1504 Farallones bird sanctuary FWS homes rock barren

© All Rights Reserved