On Oct. 20, 2002, we took photos on our boat trek to the Farallon Islands out in the Pacific Ocean in the midst of the Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary. This refuge is in reality a remote set of islands west of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. The Farallons are actually large rocks covered with sea birds and surrounded by hordes of hidden marine life. The area holds some of the richest natural resources in the watery northern stretches of California. Surprisingly, using an automatic camera, my three-inch pictures turned out clear, but the reality was showing -- gray mist on a leaden sea that was unending, yet strangely alluring and beautiful.

Out the Golden Gate.
View from the 56-foot U.S. Coast Guard certified boat, the Superfish as it slides out the Golden Gate from San Francisco on Sunday morning at 8:30.

The Farallons lie about 29 miles due west of San Francisco. On the morning that my friend and companion, Steve McHenry, and this author went, it was into what, to Californians, is the fall season. There was cool, misty rain, and an immense fog, for one, as we passed the harbor entrance after sailing under the Golden Gate Bridge. The fog thickened, followed us, and dogged us for the rest of the eight-hour boat trip in somewhat high seas to the Farallons.

These islands are a bird rookery in season for migrating sea birds, as well as a feeding ground for the Humpback and Giant Blue whales, and a host of other whales and various marine life. The Great White Shark also breeds in its depths known as the Gulf of the Farallones, but it is seldom seen above the surface. The Giant Blue Whale is the largest animal in the world. We did not see either one.

Precautions apply to travelers, including a warning to have motion sickness pills, like Dramamine, and warm clothes ready to combat any rocking and cold on the boat. There are sometimes 12-foot waves, but more likely eight-foot swells, especially at entrance to the Continental Shelf west of the Farallons.

Research Station at Farallon National Marine Sanctuary
It is shrouded in fog.

We couldn't see the Golden Gate coming back in after eight hours. I was watching the water and a big ship came by. All of a sudden we heard horn blasts, and came to figure it out that this was the bridge calling a booming warning. The Golden Gate was all but invisible in the fog.

We saw not much but walls and walls of gray water after casting off; land quickly fades. For awhile I thought I saw land, but, not being used to the ocean, it was really a sort of an optical illusion. It was just the sea that came toward me in mountains.

After we floated by the Farallons two hours out to sea, and hadn't as yet seen a whale, the captain took the "Superfish" out farther west to the Shelf where the Humpbacks, for one, are known to feed on the drop-off. This plunges 2,000 fathoms down to the bottom of the Shelf. Strong currents wash plant and krill, which are food to the whales, into that abyss and the whales come to eat.


Carolyn Straub, author,
aboard the Superfish the vessel that Oceanic Society utilizes for its weekend trips in season to the Farallon Islands in the Pacific.

We met another whale watch boat out in that eerie watery abyss called the "Salty Lady," and she agreed to keep in radio touch with our captain.

Islands in the Mist
The Farallon Islands disappear in fog going toward the Continental Shelf, a nearly 2,000-fathom drop-off in the Pacific Ocean west of the Farallons and out to sea. Humpback and Giant Blue whale, which is the largest mammal on earth, feed in the swift current that stirs up food and vegetation.


I must comment that Steve and I were among the strongest. I came to the thought that I was on a nice, rolling ride - eight- to nine-foot swells out there. Two of the boaters, however, spent the trip on the floor under blankets. There were others who weathered it, too, but seemed to be very curious to find the Humpbacks, which we did after about three hours at sea - eight or nine of them at the Shelf. There were maybe tens more. Humpbacks spout and their spray tracks them as they chug along. We saw two dives and large tails. We also saw two rough-backs come toward the boat, but they rolled over and away and left a flat wake as a trail marker.

Lone Seagull
The sea bird makes its way over the "Pimple," a small cone of an island in the Gulf of the Farallons.

I felt like a cork bobbing on the Pacific Ocean, alone, like the sailors and old salts who love the sea.


San Francisco on Return Trip
In through the Golden Gate.

More photos of Journey to the Farallon Islands






More Photos


Farallon Islands up close!











Surf line at the Farallon Islands.












Heading between the Farallon Islands.











Seagulls near the Farallon Islands.










Photos taken by Carolyn Straub
E-mail: castraub@earthlink.net