A Whale Watching Dream Come True

by Cynthia
(Boston)

Ever since I was a girl and read "The Whale Rider" by Witi Ihimaera, I wanted to meet whales. I finally got my chance a couple of years ago when my family visited San Francisco for two weeks in March. We took a boat trip to the Farallon Islands and it was amazing! We traveled under the Golden Gate Bridge as we left the Bay behind and headed out to sea. The weather was calm, with skies that were only slightly less blue than the ocean. Our first sighting was of the blows from a pod of gray whales; there must have been 15 of them and they spent some time at the surface before fluking into a deep dive and disappearing out of sight! It was a dream come true, and it only got better! By the time we returned to harbor we'd seen a pair of Orcas, several species of ocean fish, elephant seals, more gray whales, pelicans (skimming the water not 10 feet off the side of the boat), dolphins, Common Murres (a bird that nests in the Farallons), Puffins, and more. I'll never forget that trip!