Farallon Islands with Alvaro’s Adventures (Half Moon Bay)
Tufted Puffin by Bilal Al-Shahwany
Farallon Island is a breeding colony, and numbers of breeding seabirds are highest in the late summer before the murres begin to fledge, which begins in late July. This is the key spot to find the Tufted Puffin, and several hundred breed on the island. You should expect to see numbers of Common Murres, Pigeon Guillemots as well as Cassin’s and Rhinoceros auklets. The typical trip allows us to spend a couple of hours around the island, also watching the California Sea Lions, Harbor Seals and the growing colony of Northern Fur Seal. Note that visitors are not authorized to land on the Farallons, so we will do all of our observation from the boat. Once we leave the island, weather dependent we will head to deeper water looking for Black-footed Albatross, shearwaters and other seabirds. Sometimes en route or in the deep water we have the chance to find Humpback and Blue whales, as well as dolphins.
Note: If the weather is too choppy, the trip doesn’t go out. You will have an opportunity to rebook.
More Reading
Information Packet Here (Read before booking! Includes cancellation policy, meeting location, what to pack, etc.)
Book here (Please email Alvaro at info@alvarosadventures.com to let him know you are SCVAS member.)