Listening with our new hydrophone!

We had a boat-full of energy and enthusiasm as we headed through the Golden Gate for our first Vessel Watch Project trip last Sunday! 

The weather did not exactly befriend us for the journey and the ocean took its toll on our group of almost 50 Seaflow citizen-activists. Bright, expectant faces in search of whales, marine life and any ships cutting through their local waters became trained on the horizon as we bumped through the rising waves.  We thrilled at the sight of three Harbor Porpoises feeding off Kirby Cove, watching their triangular dorsal fins slice the current, and numerous seabirds like the Western Grebe and the Common Murre made appearances.

When we dropped the hydrophone a new learning experience bloomed across our faces. We crowded quietly around our small amplifier craning to listen to the sounds coming from beneath the ocean's surface. The ocean is not a quiet place after all! 

Even though we did not cross paths with any of the "iron giants" that slip in and out of our San Francisco Bay waters daily (around 4000 large vessels rush through our waters each year, carrying 90% of our global trade by ship), we did drop our hydrophone to hear the sounds of a NOAA research vessel passing by.  If that boat made the sounds we could hear loud and clear, we could only imagine what an 800 foot cargo ship might sound like?

Who knows what we'll hear, see and record next time!