Whale Watching

A pair of humpback whales, believed to be a mother and her calf, surface in the deep water channel leading to the Port of Sacramento in West Sacramento, Calif., on May 16, 2007. The pair were first spotted on May 13 in the lower Sacramento River near the delta towns of Isleton and Rio Vista and surfaced near the Port of Sacramento late Tuesday.

Frances Gulland, a veterinarian with the Marine Mammal Center, answers questions about the condition of two humpback whales that swam about 90 miles up the Sacramento River to the Port of Sacramento, May 16, 2007. The pair, believed to be a mother and her calf, made their way into the area on May 15. Both whales have wounds that marine experts believe were caused by a ship's propeller.

Ruben Guerrero holds a sign referring to an episode of the television show, "Seinfeld," in which George Costanza saves a whale by removing a golf ball from its blowhole, as he looks for a pair of humpback whales in the Port of Sacramento in West Sacramento, Calif., on May 18, 2007. The pair of whales entered the port more than 90 miles from the ocean on May 15.

One of two humpback whales surfaces in the Port of Sacramento on May 18, 2007. The whales stranded in the California Delta captured hearts and headlines in Northern California; efforts continued to lure the injured mammals back to their salty home 90 miles west. (AP Photo/Sherry LaVars, Pool)

Television satellite trucks are seen in the background as one of two humpback whales surfaces in the Port of Sacramento in West Sacramento, Calif., on May 18, 2007. The pair of whales, believed to be a mother and her calf, swam up the Sacramento River and entered the port Tuesday. Scientists sent whale noises into the water for the second day to attract the whales back down the river and to the ocean.

Spectators in California line the shore around the Port of Sacramento as one of two humpback whales spouts water on May 18, 2007.

Sightseers line River Road near the Rio Vista Bridge to watch as a whale surfaces in Rio Vista, Calif., on May 21, 2007. The wayward mother whale and her calf were nearly halfway back to the Pacific Ocean with several obstacles to overcome Monday, a week after taking a wrong turn and swimming inland to the state capital.

A pair of humpback whales are seen swimming ahead of the Coast Guard cutter "Pike" in the Cache Slough near Rio Vista, Calif., on May 21, 2007. The pair had spent the past few days in the Port of Sacramento before suddenly swimming south to Rio Vista on May 20. Authorities are trying to herd the pair back to the ocean.

Larissa Ivanov, right, points out a pair of humpback whales to her godson, Johnny Rusk, 19 months old, as the whales swim in Cache Slough, near Rio Vista, Calif., on May 21, 2007. Ivanov, and her husband, Andrei, left, and Johnny's mother, Olga Dyer, drove from San Francisco to see the whales that swam up the Sacramento River more than a week earlier.

A humpback whale surfaces showing, what appears to be, an open wound while swimming near the Rio Vista Bridge in Rio Vista, Calif., on May 21, 2007. The 90-mile journey of a wayward mother whale and her calf stalled as the pair inched upriver after raising hopes that they were headed back to the Pacific Ocean a week after taking a wrong turn and swimming to the state capital.

A humpback whale surfaces next to a U.S. Coast Guard vessel in Rio Vista, Calif., on May 21, 2007. The 90-mile journey of the wayward whales nicknamed Delta and Dawn made it 20 miles back toward the ocean before balking at a Sacramento River bridge, apparently upset by vibrations from the traffic.

One of two humpback whales surfaces in the Sacramento River near Rio Vista, Calif., Tuesday, May 22, 2007. Authorities spent the day trying to herd the pair, a mother and her calf, named Delta and Dawn, downstream by banging metal pipes beneath the water.

A whale surfaces for air as it swims in the Sacramento River May 24, 2007, in Rio Vista, Calif. Rescue operations to guide two whales back to the Pacific Ocean have been temporarily halted to give the whales a day of rest. The mother and her calf have been stranded in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta for close to two weeks with what appears to be injuries sustained from a boat propeller.

Vallejo firefighter Bruce Phillips sprays water from powerful hoses near two humpback whales in the latest attempt to herd the mother and calf back to the ocean from the Sacramento River on Friday, May 25, 2007, in Rio Vista, Calif.

A humpback whale tail slaps the waters surface as firefighters spray powerful hoses near the mother and calf in the latest attempt to herd the wounded humpbacks back to the ocean May 25, 2007, in Rio Vista, Calif. Early Friday, the whales were spotted about a mile and a half north of a Sacramento River bridge about 70 miles inland from the Pacific Ocean where they have been circling for several days.

Duke Sims shows his daughter, Emily Sims, 4, the two whales passing under the Carquinez Bridge in Crockett, Calif., Monday, May 29, 2007. The whales lost in the Sacramento River made considerable progress in their quest to return to the Pacific Ocean. They were first spotted May 13 and got as far as 90 miles inland to the Port of Sacramento before turning around.

Spectators look toward the water north of the Golden Gate Bridge at a vista point near Sausalito, Calif., Wednesday, May 30, 2007. Two wayward whales last spotted near the Golden Gate Bridge may have slipped back into the Pacific Ocean after a two-week sojourn that took them 90 miles inland up the Sacramento River, scientists said.