Many visitors to Point Reyes National Seashore have pondered about the ocean life beyond our beaches and lookouts. Here's your chance to dive into the oceanic ecology surrounding the park with this special package for two from our friends at the Oceanic Society and the Aquarium of the Bay in San Francisco.

Start your educational journey with a visit to the Aquarium of the Bay, located on Pier 39 in San Francisco. Explore the magic, beauty and wonder of the Pacific Ocean, which holds some of the largest diversity of life in the world.  Your visit will take you through three main exhibit areas that help you discover what lies beneath the surface of our watery world:

Discover the Bay: Featuring the distinctive ecosystems that support an incredibly wide variety of marine life.

Under the Bay: Stroll through 300 feet of crystal clear tunnels featuring over 20,000 marine animals from San Francisco Bay and nearby waters.

Touch the Bay: The ocean and some of its creatures are literally at your fingertips. Here you will find touch pools with sharks, rays and sea stars, and the interactive Bay Lab station.

Continue your education by booking your reservation for a Farallon Island Nature Cruise with Oceanic Society Expeditions. This is the only non-profit, professional nature tour operator in the Bay Area specializing in educational and research programs since 1972. Board the Salty Lady for your journey out the Farallon Islands, just 27 miles southwest of San Francisco. The islands (mere peaks of the larger undersea mountains) lie amid a protected marine area known as the Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary, a food-rich marine ecosystem that attracts whales, dolphins, seals and seabirds each summer and fall, to feed and to breed. Twenty-three species of marine mammals, including eighteen species of whales and dolphins, can be found here. The islands also hold the record for the largest seabird rookery in the contiguous United States with nesting tufted puffins, pigeon guillemots, rhinoceros auklets, common murres and other sea-faring species. Each trip is guided by an expert naturalist who assists with locating whales, identifying seabirds and marine mammals, and provides informative presentations throughout the trip on the natural and cultural history of the islands and the marine ecology of the area.

Point Reyes Books will also offer the winning bidder a copy of Whales and Other Marine Mammals of California and Baja by Tamara Eder. This beautiful full-color book features photos, illustrations and range maps, as well as notes on conservation status, quick ID, similar species and more.

A whale of a gift, bid today!