Photograph by Darren Phillips
Research biologist Ashley Ransom guided Sunnyvale Senior Center members on a cruise off Half Moon Bay.
Eschrichtius robustus isn't an everyday topic of conversation.
But finding one, also known as the gray whale, was the sole focus of more than 20 members of the Sunnyvale Senior Center on a three-hour whale-watch expedition around Half Moon Bay March 7.
Their vigil paid off 1 1/2 hours into the voyage aboard the SaltyLady, a 56-foot charter boat.
The seniors spotted five whales about 13 miles south of the Pillar Point Harbor, their launch point, and six miles out to sea.
The whaling industry of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries nearly drove the whales to extinction.
Gray whales numbered fewer than 2,000 by the end of World War II. But international laws that prohibited killing them helped boost their numbers up to more than 22,000 by the 1990s.
The whales last week plied choppy waters about 200 yards from the boat. Swells partially hid them, but their spouting and rippled backs gave away their location.
"You see whales on television, but to see them this close is magnificent," said Dorothy Carlson, a volunteer escort for the Senior Center.
The whale-watch trek was the first sponsored by the center.
It reserved seats on the boat through Oceanic Society Expeditions, a nonprofit San Francisco organization that supports marine research and leads tours throughout the world.
The trip enabled the seniors to catch glimpses of one of the largest migrations of any mammal, according to Oceanic research biologist Ashley Ransom.
Many whales migrate south for the winter, swimming 6,000 miles from the Chukchi Sea off Alaska to Baja California, where they mate and give birth.
Newborn calves measure about 15 feet long and weigh about 1,500 pounds.
By the time they are ready to make their return trip to Alaska, usually from mid February to June, they will be twice that size.
Those on the boat were eager to see something, particularly after a whale-watch trip on Jan. 20 was canceled because of bad weather, said trip coordinator Sherry Hall.
"I came to see Moby Dick and I hope he is home," said Mabel Ching, a Sunnyvale resident for 35 years.
Ila Nelson, a 74-year-old resident of Salt Lake City, Utah, said she came to California for a visit for only two reasons: to see whales and her son.
They all came prepared for cold weather, ocean spray and rolling waves.
They brought raincoats, heavy jackets, binoculars, cameras and lunches.
They sat contentedly the first hour as the boat plowed southward over waves and glided between two- to five-foot swells. Then, just before 10:30 a.m., captain Geoff Knight slowed the boat to about two knots and stopped.
Both he and deckhand Troy Burns let out a shout and pointed to the spouting, prompting people to jump to their feet.
As the boat headed north and began following the whales, people moved to the bow to get a better look. They hung onto a rail and braced themselves against the impact of waves that bounced off the hull and covered them with spray.
Keith and Janice Riccomini said the sight was something they will always remember.
"But I didn't think it would be so hard to find them," said Keith, a retired aerospace engineer.
This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, March 12, 1997.
©1997 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.