Whale Watching- Farallon Island and Eco Tours,San Francisco Bay

(Whale Watching Expedition Information)

We look forward to seeing you! In the mean time this will answer some of your questions:

We have a naturalist on board who will narrate the trip and describe what we see, talk about whales, sharks, birds, sea life and other points of interest. The captain and crew have 10 years in the natural history tour business and they will talk about points of interest as well on things such as The Golden Gate Bridge, The Coast Guard Life Saving Station, The Point Bonita Light House and the Farallon Islands themselves.

We have different boats we use for our trips, but all captains are Coast Guard Certified Captains with Coast Guard Certified boat. What that means is that the boat is certified to go beyond the Golden Gate Bridge offshore with life vests and life boats for everyone in the unlikely event of needing them. We also select captains with lots of local experience and experience in the Farallon Islands. Most often this fall we will be with Captain Roger Thomas and the Vessel "Salty Lady", a 56-foot boat. Roger Thomas has over 10 years of experience in taking natural history trips to the Farallon Islands and looking for whales. The boat leaves at 8AM sharp. If you need to use the bathroom at the docks, try and get there early. If you are nearby and running just a little late, give us a call and we will hold the boat for you. For 2005 all trips will be leaving at 8:00 am with check in time starting at 7:30. The naturalist will give a dock talk before embarking on the vessel.

A child weighing less than 60 pounds MUST wear a life vest at all times. Please talk to children in advance about this.

The directions to the boat can be found at www.sfbaywhalewatching.com on the contact and directions page (in the small type under the primary navigation). You can print them out. There is also a link to mapquest for your convenience.

Please bring snacks, drinks, lunch, and thermoses of tea/coffee/hot chocolate, anything you might wish to eat or drink. We do not provide food. We do provide ginger ale, and water. There is a myth that ginger ale helps prevent seasickness and we provide ginger ale with real ginger in it. Coffee promotes seasickness so we do not serve coffee. You can get coffee at the Starbucks in Sausalito or the 7-11.

Dress warmly. I personally bring a hat and gloves and more clothes then I think I will need. We do have some blankets on board for those who get a chill. We also have ponchos for sale in the event of rain.

Bring a camera or binoculars. BRING RAIN GEAR JUST IN CASE.

You do not need tickets, your name will be on our passenger list. There is a printed list of passengers at the dock, which we use to check you in when you get there. If you need to cancel, please cancel before Wednesday. We can not refund your money after Wednesday. We do not cancel the trip for rain or fog. We do cancel the trip for storms, high seas and winds. Please call 415.331.6267 the night before the trip to check that the trip is going. You do not need confirmation that the trip is going or to talk to anyone, you are just listening to see if there is a message that the trip is cancelled. This is most important if you are from out of town or if the weather turning.

Regarding seasickness. We can not give you seasickness medicines, it is against the law. If you want to take seasickness medicines take BONINE not Dramamine. Dramamine is archaic and will put you to sleep. BONINE is available at most drugstores. We do not recommend you take it unless you really think you will need it, just bring it with you. Some people take it the night before the trip and that seems to work. Again, we are not really allowed to give medical advice.

Whale watching involves a lot of watching. We will all be using the clock system to tell each other where and when we see whales with the bow being 12 o'clock.

Our mission is to provide people with access to the Farallon Islands, the Pacific Ocean to interface with marine life, view the California scenery from the sea and have the opportunity for the possibility to see whales, sharks and dolphin. Some trips we see 20 whales, some trips we do not see any whales. Some trips the weather comes up, some trips the weather is sunny and glorious, some trips the seas are rough, and some trips the seas are flat and calm like a mirror. We really do not have any control over this, our goal is to provide you the opportunity to explore the Farallon Islands, the Pacific Ocean and the California Coast. A naturalist is on board to describe local history, geology, and landmarks, identify marine life and sea birds and provide and educational experience. We hope that you enjoy discovering the area with us.

We look forward to seeing you.

www.sfbaywhalewatching.com

contact@sfbaywhalewatching.com