Look Who it Was Random video

60+ uncut Whale sightings within 17 minutes near San Francisco

1,889 views · Published 13 July 2016 · 16:59 · Indexed 10 November 2026

Channel: cplai · 2016 · Travel & Events

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Whale watching at Point Bonita on the Marin Headlands west of Golden Gate Bridge in July 2016. I was able to capture over 60 sightings of whales with the 17 minutes worth of video footage. Of course I spotted more that were not captured on camera. A typical sighting is a water sprout blown into the air followed by the fin and back of the whale roll briefly above surface. If the whale makes a dive at the time, the flukes may flip into the air too. We were lucky to see the whale lunge feeding a few times. The whale swims from the bottom straight up and scoop up a mouthful of fish when it breaks the surface. You can see the nose cone of the whale bops up and down in the ocean. I didn't capture breaching activities in this video. Sometimes whales leap their entire body above water into the air. I did see some splashing of water at a far distance, but couldn't confirm if it was breaching or just the crest of a big wave.

I purposely left these video clips uncut in order to demonstrate how frequent the sightings were in real time. The first clip was shot at the Point Bonita lighthouse using a Canon Camcorder. After its battery died, I switched to using my iPhone 6s. Near the end is another clip that was shot far away from the lighthouse while I walked back towards the parking lot. These 3 clips add up to about 17 minutes and within that period, my camera managed to captured no less than 60 sightings of whales. Some swam in pods and gave out 3 puffs of water spray in short succession. I estimate there were at least a dozen or so whales in the vicinity on that day. At around time-mark 12:38 and 12:50, there were water sprouts at the far distance that I missed when I was distracted by one closer to me.

If you plan to visit the Point Bonita Lighthouse, be aware that it only opens to the public on Saturday, Sunday and Monday from 12:30pm to 3:30pm.

How many puffs of water vapor can you count? Let me know if you spot some that were not highlighted by the red ovals. Leave in the comment the time mark and position on the screen.

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