San Francisco, Day Two: There she blows!
Saturday was an early start, as the boat was to depart at 8:00 am and there were several admonishments to be on time or be left behind.
I was sailing with the Oceanic Society and they do put together a good trip. The naturalist was both knowledgable and fun.
We saw harbour porpoises & sea lions on the way out of San Francisco bay. Once at the Farallon Islands, despite the fact that it was not breeding season, we saw several species of birds along with a grey whale. There wasn't a huge amount of activity, so they took us out to the continental shelf, where we came across a couple humpbacks who were rather shy. We decided to tempt the dolphins who were riding the whales' wake to come and ride our bow wake -- which was likely the most exciting part of the day for everyone. I tried for a couple of pics on my iPhone, with the expected results.
That said, I might have had more fun if I hadn't been seasick. Sadly, I even threw up. Twice. But at least I was still able to move around and see the marine life. As I've been getting older, I've been noticing a tendency to motion-sickness. I thought I had taken enough precautions, and I certainly took enough that the day ended with a positive balance, but I was still a little disappointed.
Two highlights:
The feeling of being in a tiny craft on top of all that water. Gitte’s whole world was beneath my feet, and I could see next to none of it.
I heard whales breathing, which is one of my new favourite sounds.
Once back at the pier the deck hand (lovely woman) advised me to eat as soon as I felt I could, as it would help set me to rights again. I'd planned to go into the Mission that evening to dine at Café Gratitude, but decided instead on a restaurant on Market, closer to the hotel. (I do love the veg-friendliness of San Francisco.) After dinner, I went back to the hotel and indulged myself in some bad cable television until I fell asleep at about 7:30pm. Which was just as well, as the next day was a talk on Moby-Dick, a performance of Lohengrin and dinner with Tracy. All were delightful, but more on that very soon.
Cate
I was sailing with the Oceanic Society and they do put together a good trip. The naturalist was both knowledgable and fun.
We saw harbour porpoises & sea lions on the way out of San Francisco bay. Once at the Farallon Islands, despite the fact that it was not breeding season, we saw several species of birds along with a grey whale. There wasn't a huge amount of activity, so they took us out to the continental shelf, where we came across a couple humpbacks who were rather shy. We decided to tempt the dolphins who were riding the whales' wake to come and ride our bow wake -- which was likely the most exciting part of the day for everyone. I tried for a couple of pics on my iPhone, with the expected results.
That said, I might have had more fun if I hadn't been seasick. Sadly, I even threw up. Twice. But at least I was still able to move around and see the marine life. As I've been getting older, I've been noticing a tendency to motion-sickness. I thought I had taken enough precautions, and I certainly took enough that the day ended with a positive balance, but I was still a little disappointed.
Two highlights:
The feeling of being in a tiny craft on top of all that water. Gitte’s whole world was beneath my feet, and I could see next to none of it.
I heard whales breathing, which is one of my new favourite sounds.
Once back at the pier the deck hand (lovely woman) advised me to eat as soon as I felt I could, as it would help set me to rights again. I'd planned to go into the Mission that evening to dine at Café Gratitude, but decided instead on a restaurant on Market, closer to the hotel. (I do love the veg-friendliness of San Francisco.) After dinner, I went back to the hotel and indulged myself in some bad cable television until I fell asleep at about 7:30pm. Which was just as well, as the next day was a talk on Moby-Dick, a performance of Lohengrin and dinner with Tracy. All were delightful, but more on that very soon.
Cate