Migration Delights Western Whale Watchers

Shivering in the early morning rain, 54 land-based mammals prepared to board an 85-foot boat and venture into the watery universe of the gray whale.

For those on the dock with visions of trained seals splashing in their heads, naturalist Susan Sherman had a word of warning.

“This isn’t going to be National Geographic, folks,” Sherman told the parka-clad crowd gathered for the Oceanic Society trip.

The grays whose paths they hoped to cross aren’t out there to do tricks. They’re racing to reach Mexico in time to give birth, a 6,000-mile journey that is one of nature’s longest migrations.

“It’s their world,” Sherman said.

Half an hour later, as the ship plunged through the choppy waters at the mouth of the Golden Gate, just who belonged in that world quickly became obvious. Some passengers prone to seasickness parted with their breakfasts; but, as the ship moved into the somewhat calmer waters beyond the mouth of San Francisco Bay, most of the queasy stomachs settled down.

Those with sturdier constitutions kept an eye out for whales.

One of them was Doris Madden, who won the trip for two from a public radio station. She brought her friend, Margaret Evans, along.

The two women, 67 and 72 respectively, held up much better than the younger passengers when it came to dealing with life at sea.

As the ship steamed toward the Farallon Islands, 27 miles away, to intercept the whales, Madden regaled the somewhat subdued crowd with stories of her own voyage to Japan in December, 1946, on a transport ship filled with the wives and children of occupation troops.

Passing out crackers to settle churning stomachs, Madden cheerfully recalled the two-day typhoon that kept her ship from docking in Tokyo.

“You can imagine what it was like with all those children packed in the hold of the ship,” she said.

A shout announced a whale sighting, and most watchers raced to the front of the boat. Eager eyes peered at what appeared to the untutored eye unending sea. Then, suddenly, there they were--whale spouts.

The ship veered west to follow what turned out to be a whale and her calf. Great spouts of water reached 10 feet into the air each time the whale surfaced to breathe.

The mother whale carefully kept herself between the boat and her calf, despite the respectful distance the ship maintained. The baby’s tiny spouts brought “oohs” and “ahhs” from the crowd.

Later, a pod of five whales gave a show of backs and blowholes as they wove in and out of line on their journey.

Last February whales frolicking in the warm waters off Baja California met and mated. Afterward, they made their way back up the West Coast to the chilly, shrimp-rich waters of Alaska, where they spent the winter eating and gestating.

A year later, the pregnant cows were rushing down the coast to reach the warm Mexican waters, covering up to 120 miles a day. The flotilla of humans that streamed out to meet them were impressed.

Stan Crush, 30, and husband Roger Guyett, 32, were on their first whale-watching trip.

“In Britain we don’t have whales living off the coast. It’s quite amazing to go out on a Sunday and see whales,” Crush said.

Through the end of March, more than 21,000 gray whales were expected to make their way down the coast to Mexico to give birth or mate before returning to Alaska.