Whales Zigzag Near Rio Vista Bridge

May 21, 01:50 PM

Current Headlines: By Matt Weiser and Ramon Coronado, The Sacramento Bee, Calif.

May 21--Officials hope to continue pushing Sacramento's wayward whales, Delta and Dawn, downstream to the ocean with a flotilla of boats.

At 10 a.m. Monday, the whales were circling just upstream from the Rio Vista bridge, after an overnight journey of about 30 miles downstream from the Port of Sacramento. Their decision to leave the port was apparently prompted when two tugboats were allowed to move out of the port. The whales followed, then passed the tugs and kept going.

The whales are being monitored by a large number of boats from the Coast Guard, California Department of Fish and Game, and local sheriff's departments.

"What we're planning to do is flank the whales from behind and keep pushing them south out of Sacramento River," said Coast Guard Petty Officer Jonathan Cilley. "What has been working is actually just riding behind them. The sounds of just the (boat) engines might be working to continue pushing them south."

Officials also plan to station boats at sloughs branching off from the river to keep the whales from veering from the main channel into shallow water. These vessels carry metal pipes that can be used to make offensive noise in the water to steer the whales away.

The Coast Guard also continues to enforce 500-yard boating restrictions around the whales, as well as a 1,000-foot flight ceiling for aircraft.The wayward whales who were headed south Sunday are playing a cat and mouse game Monday with a flotilla of boats attempting to guide them safely to the ocean.

Shortly after daybreak, State Fish and Game officials reported that the whales were spotted heading south just north of Rio Vista. A few minutes later, the whales were spotted heading back north.

"They were circling the boats, which was kind of cool," said Jim Milbury, a spokesman for the government whale-rescue effort.

At about 8:30 a.m., the whales were at the Rio Vista bridge but were zigzagging east and west as about 15 boats were positioning themselves to herd the whales south through the drawn bridge.

As the rescue vessels, which included two men on jet skis, jockeyed into place, a long line of cars, trucks and a school bus were parked on the bridge enjoying the view.

"The good news is that we were able to get them to not make a wrong turn at the Cache slough," Milbury said of one of several junctions in the Delta that pose a threat to the whales because of shallow water.

The strategy is to use the boats to block the whales from swimming into dangerous waters, Milbury said.

As of 9 a.m., the whales, who had earlier passed under the Rio Vista bridge had did an about face and went back north, whale watchers said. They did that twice.

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