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Whale Watching near San Francisco

346 views · Published 6 July 2016 · 4:21 · Indexed 6 November 2026

Channel: cplai · 2016 · Travel & Events

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Pacifica municipal pier is south of San Francisco only 25 minutes driving from downtown SF, or only 10 minutes from the south edge of SF.

Between May and July 2016, a record number of whales swam by close to Pacifica's municipal fishing pier during their annual migration between Alaska and Mexico. Fishermen and tourists could see the whale right off from the pier. In late June, it made the news when a pod of whales herded a school of anchovy or sardines close to the beach for feeding. They bleached and jumped out of water to scope in the fish into their big mouth. The lunge-feeding activity so close to shore attracted many spectators on the pier and beaches. The feeding activity also attracted large flock of seabirds hovering above the ocean surface which served as tell-tale signs for the spectators too. On the contrary, when the whales are not feeding, you need a pair of keen eyes to look for a puff of mist on the water followed by the whales' back roll above water for a brief second.

Usually whale watching is an expensive excursion when you pay for a boat trip into the ocean from Half Moon Bay. If you are prone to motion sickness, the cost is usually more than just money since you may need to throw up your lunch too.

In this clip, I visited the pier on a windy and overcast day. I was able to spot many sightings of whales. Some were as close as 50 meters away from me. Unfortunately not all sightings were successfully captured on my iPhone.

Pacifica can be very cold even on a summer day. When I was there in July, the air temperature was 60F around noon and the wind was blowing constantly at 16 mph. The windchill factor makes you feel like it is only 54F. If you really plan to watch some whales, you'd better wear a warm layer under a windbreaker. A ski jacket may work too though not many people would bring a ski jacket in summer.

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