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Calif's Wayward Whales Back on Track
VALLEJO, Calif. - Two humpback whales lost in the Sacramento River for more than two weeks closed in on the ocean Tuesday, raising hopes among rescuers as they neared San Francisco Bay.
The whales swam southwest toward the busy Richmond-San Rafael Bridge, which spans the northern gateway to the bay. Once in the bay, they will have to navigate around a peninsula in their path before swimming under the Golden Gate Bridge and into the Pacific.
Still, the fear remained that the whales might head south instead of west, passing under the Bay Bridge and into the long southern half of the bay.
"There are lots of places they could get themselves into trouble before they go out of the Golden Gate," said Rod McInnis, a spokesman for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
But, he said, the whales could be back out in the Pacific in a few hours from their current location "if they put their minds to it."
Observers saw the whales leap above the water Tuesday in a behavior known as breaching, which some biologists view as a form of communication and others as play.
A convoy of boats escorted the pair to protect them from heavy ship traffic in the bay. Bay Area ferry commuters could expect delays Wednesday morning depending on the whales' location, Coast Guard officials said.
The whale and her calf had been spotted in the river May 13 and got as far as 90 miles inland to the Port of Sacramento before turning around.
Lesions that had formed on the humpbacks' skin over the weekend appeared to be sloughing off, apparently due to the saltier water the pair have been swimming in since leaving Rio Vista, biologists said. Scientists also reported that a coating of algae that was clinging to the mother farther upriver had fallen away.
Antibiotics had been injected into the whales on Saturday to try to slow the damage from wounds likely caused earlier by a boat's keel.
The two whales spent Monday near the Benicia-Martinez Bridge, about 45 miles from the Pacific before finally swimming past it. Boats blocked the entrance to the Napa River and were to be positioned at the mouth of the Petaluma River near San Francisco Bay to keep them on track, Fees said.
With the whales on the move, officials did not plan to take any more action to prod them toward the Golden Gate Bridge.
VALLEJO, Calif. - Two humpback whales lost in the Sacramento River for more than two weeks closed in on the ocean Tuesday, raising hopes among rescuers as they neared San Francisco Bay.
The whales swam southwest toward the busy Richmond-San Rafael Bridge, which spans the northern gateway to the bay. Once in the bay, they will have to navigate around a peninsula in their path before swimming under the Golden Gate Bridge and into the Pacific.
Still, the fear remained that the whales might head south instead of west, passing under the Bay Bridge and into the long southern half of the bay.
"There are lots of places they could get themselves into trouble before they go out of the Golden Gate," said Rod McInnis, a spokesman for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
But, he said, the whales could be back out in the Pacific in a few hours from their current location "if they put their minds to it."
Observers saw the whales leap above the water Tuesday in a behavior known as breaching, which some biologists view as a form of communication and others as play.
A convoy of boats escorted the pair to protect them from heavy ship traffic in the bay. Bay Area ferry commuters could expect delays Wednesday morning depending on the whales' location, Coast Guard officials said.
The whale and her calf had been spotted in the river May 13 and got as far as 90 miles inland to the Port of Sacramento before turning around.
Lesions that had formed on the humpbacks' skin over the weekend appeared to be sloughing off, apparently due to the saltier water the pair have been swimming in since leaving Rio Vista, biologists said. Scientists also reported that a coating of algae that was clinging to the mother farther upriver had fallen away.
Antibiotics had been injected into the whales on Saturday to try to slow the damage from wounds likely caused earlier by a boat's keel.
The two whales spent Monday near the Benicia-Martinez Bridge, about 45 miles from the Pacific before finally swimming past it. Boats blocked the entrance to the Napa River and were to be positioned at the mouth of the Petaluma River near San Francisco Bay to keep them on track, Fees said.
With the whales on the move, officials did not plan to take any more action to prod them toward the Golden Gate Bridge.
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