27 miles from the Golden Gate Bridge is the Farallon Island Chain situated in the Gulf of the Farallones. These islands
are the northern part of the chain including the Channel Island. The Farallon Islands, nick named "Devils Teeth" for two
reason; 1) The white shark who hunts there. 2) the jagged rocks look like teeth and the islands are in hospital and claimed the lives
of early mariners.
The Farallon Islands are in the Gulf of the Farallones Marine Sanctuary. My understanding is it is "The Farallon Islands" and "The Gulf of the
Farallones" harking on the Spanish language. This video was taken at the Continental Shelf further outside the Farallon Islands in the Pacific Ocean.
Special mention needs to be made for Captain Roger Thomas who can find the whales. I think the whales were waving at him.
This particular SF Bay Images was capturing a High Definition Documentary with a Sony 900 HD camera and a makohead marine stabilizing mount. That footage
is close-up, clear and will be on this site later this year. This footage was shot by a hand-held pro-sumer hd camera. It bobs and rolls, and the whales
are a little bit in the distance, but since there are over ten breeches in this footage, we thought you would enjoy it.
Humpback Whales can easily be identified by their stocky bodies with obvious humps and black dorsal colouring. The head and lower jaw are covered with knobs called tubercles, which are actually hair follicles and are characteristic of the species. The tail flukes, which are lifted high in the dive sequence, have wavy rear edges.
The long black and white tail fin, which can be up to a third of body length, and the pectoral fins have unique patterns, which enable individual whales to be recognised.[6][7] Several suggestions have been made to explain the evolution of the Humpback's pectoral fins, which are proportionally the longest fins of any cetacean. The two most enduring hypotheses are the higher maneuverability afforded by long fins, or that the increased surface area is useful for temperature control when migrating between warm and cold climates.
Humpbacks have 270 to 400 darkly coloured baleen plates on each side of the mouth. Ventral grooves run from the lower jaw to the umbilicus about halfway along the bottom of the whale. These grooves are less numerous (usually 16–20) and consequently more prominent than in other rorquals. The stubby dorsal fin is visible soon after the blow when the whale surfaces, but has disappeared by the time the flukes emerge. Humpbacks have a distinctive 3 m (10 ft) bushy blow.
Females typically breed every two or three years. The gestation period is 11.5 months, yet some individuals can breed in two consecutive years. Humpback Whales were thought to live 50 - 60 years, but new studies using the changes in amino acids behind eye lenses proved another baleen whale, the Bowhead, to be 211 years old. This was an animal taken by the Inuit off Alaska. More studies on ages are currently being done. This is really a stunning piece of information
because it means some whales can remember seeing their parents, brothers and sisters die at the hand of whalers. Well, if they can remember remains to
be proven, but it means they could of witnessed it. Whaling was a way of life and had its human benefits at the time, but currently whaling is considered barbaric.
Preserving these creatures is the current goal.
Click to see a photocast of nature and scenary at the Farallon Islands.
This photocast is available on HDTV for playing on TV, HDTV, and Computers at SF Bay Axis Store. Blu Ray Discs coming. SFBAYIMAGES.com. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
The Farallon Islands are located 27 miles off the coast of California west of San Francisco, in the Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary. The islands support a spectacular assemblage of wildlife including nearly ¼ million seabirds such as the common murre, Cassin's auklet, and tufted puffin. During late spring and summer, Seabirds use the islands for breeding, nesting, and raising their chicks. The Farallones also are important habitat for thouSands of seals and sea lions that use the islands for breeding and resting. The waters surrounding the islands are some of the richest waters on the planet and provide important ocean habitat for many species of porpoises and dolphins such as harbor porpoise, Pacific white-sided dolphin, and Dall's porpoise. The islands also provide migratory destinations and/or migration pathways for many species including the great white shark and whales, such as the orca or killer whale, the gray whale, and the endangered humpback and blue whale. Given appropriate sea conditions, this eight hour adventure allows us to explore not only the islands, but more pelagic, deep ocean waters west of the Farallones.
