Wayward Whales Just Miles from Pacific Ocean

On Tuesday evening the whales were spotted swimming about two miles from the Golden Gate Bridge.

The calf displaying the behavior known as tailslapping or lobtailing, which it has done periodically over the past few days. Photo by Sarah Wilkin, NOAA/NMFS

(VALLEJO, Calif.) - The two wayward humpback whales that have spent the last two weeks in the Sacramento River Delta made huge progress toward the Pacific Ocean on Tuesday.

At 10:20 AM, the two wayward whales, nicknamed Delta and Dawn, traveled through the Carquinez Bridge and down south through San Pablo Bay and through the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge.

The humpback whales have been swimming up and down the Sacramento River since May 13th, after they took a wrong turn into San Francisco Bay while migrating to Alaska.

“We are very encouraged by the progress the whales have made in the last 24 hours, but they aren’t home yet,” said Rod McInnis, southwest regional administrator for NOAA Fisheries Service. “They still have a third of their journey to go.”

“They have been traveling fairly quickly, between four to five mile per hour,” said McInnis.

The pair needs to go about ten more miles to reach the Pacific, with that much distance left they could reach the ocean by Wednesday morning.

On Tuesday evening the whales were spotted swimming about two miles from the Golden Gate Bridge.

A convoy of boats are escorting the pair to protect them from heavy ship traffic in San Francisco bay.

The Coast Guard along with the California Department of Fish and Game are working to continually enforce the moving 500-yard safety zone as the whales continue their southern descent into the Pacific Ocean.

Scientists continued to monitor and assess the whales’ health and behavior throughout the day, and noted that the calf was extremely active at times and made repeated breaches.

“These waters closer to the ocean are much better for the whales’ health,” said Teri Rowles, director of marine mammal health at NOAA. “The higher salt content should help improve their skin and heal their wounds, and there may be feeding opportunities for them as well.”

The Marine Mammal Center and NOAA, will continue to monitor the whales throughout the day Wednesday to assess their health and well being, as well as how the mammals are responding to the antibiotics.