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With no sightings this morning, it appears the humpback whales that captivated the world with their journey 90 miles up the Sacramento Delta have slipped through the Golden Gate and out to sea under the cover of darkness.

“We would love to see them one more time and say goodbye but if they have made their way
home that is what counts,” said Bernadette Fees, spokeswoman for the California Department of
Fish and Game.

Normally by this time of day they’ve been spotted. “If we have learned anything about these two, they are going to do what they want to do, when they want to do it. They are unpredictable,” Fees said.

Observers on vessels are looking for the whales on both sides of the Golden Gate Bridge and
will continue to do so through the day.

Scientists were unable to tag the whales with tracking devises Tuesday because the device was malfunctioning.

That didn’t stop hundreds of international tourists from as far as France and Jamaica from standing at the vista point near the Golden Gate trying to get one last look this morning.

“We are just so pleased they’ve turned around and are heading to open water,” said Jackie Dodson, 40, a tourist from Jamaica at the vista point just north of the Golden Gate.

It appears to be a happy ending after a more than two-week trek during which the mother and calf were injured by a boat propeller. “We didn’t want to see anything happen to them,” said Gail Montieth, who first heard about the whales of CNN in her hometown of Toronto. “Getting sick, no food, in fresh water, with injuries - I’m happy they got out. Hopefully they will be fine.”

On Tuesday night, crowds of watchers braved the cold and gusty winds hoping to catch a glimpse of the whales. The gawkers came by bike, cab and even a limousine.

“They’re first-class whales; how often do you get this?” said Sam Reid of Tennessee, in town for a forensic science convention, who came with others to toast the whales when they make it under the Golden Gate Bridge.

Would-be rescuers, meanwhile, expressed relief that the end of the pair’s dalliances appeared to be in sight.

“This has been a very good day for the whales,” said Rod McInnis, a media representative for National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Mother and calf marked another milestone midmorning Tuesday as they swam purposefully under the Carquinez Bridge and breezed past the mouths of two rivers that biologists feared could send the whales off-course again.

By midafternoon the pair entered San Pablo Bay where a small flotilla formed a protective flank as commuter ferries and hulking container vessels churned back and forth across the green expanse of wind-whipped water.

As government officials scanned the water, a sliver of black suddenly would appear amid the whitecaps and send a spray of water vapor into the air as arms pointed and camera shutters clicked.

“Yee-hah!” chortled U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary member Don Enos as he glimpsed a whale from the helm of the 22-foot boat he and his teammate had brought from Citrus Heights for that day’s operation.

“This is very positive,” he said, recalling his frustration as the whales zigzagged back and forth in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta for days on end.

By late Tuesday afternoon, the humpbacks had breezed under the Richmond-San Rafael bridge and were headed straight toward the Golden Gate Bridge.

“I was so emotionally affected by this. They symbolize everything we’re destroying. If they make it, you feel the Earth has a chance,” said Susanne Friedrich, 53, a San Francisco Web developer, who stood on the edge of the San Francisco Bay, hoping to see the whales.

At Vista Point, just north of the Golden Gate Bridge, several onlookers stood on the cliffs overlooking the bay.

“I think this is such a wonderful thing to get people excited about the natural world. I’m really happy to see them safe,” said Beverly Scherner, 50, who walked across the Golden Gate Bridge.

Michael Shokovsky, 45, a critical care nurse, had taken a $25 cab ride there from his San Francisco home.

“I’m calling my niece back in Indiana when they go under the bridge,” he said.

“See? That’s a die-hard,” said fellow watcher, Margaret Lorenz, 44. “I’ve been worried about them all week thinking they’d get stuck, then I was worried the rescuers were bugging them to much.” Now she just wants to see them swim out to the ocean.

But as darkness fell, the patrol boats docked and were expected to return at 7 a.m. today.

Over the Memorial Day weekend, the Coast Guard had to haul several swimmers out of the water as they tried to approach the whales and fend off about 100 boats carrying would-be whale watchers.

Rescuers said they have received an avalanche of e-mails and calls to hotlines set up to take suggestions and answer questions from the public tracking the whales’ progress.

Meanwhile, a telephone hotline set up to receive public comment on the whale rescue effort had been hacked into and a new message wrongly told callers that the whales had been “put down to ease their suffering.”

Spotted near Rio Vista on May 13, the approximately 45-ton female and her calf have spent the past two weeks meandering along the Sacramento River.

The unprecedented detour captured hearts and headlines around the world as biologists tried both coaxing and driving them back out using high- and low-tech tactics with marginal success.

Scientists played underwater recordings of the endangered species, including sounds of humpbacks feeding and that of an orca attacking a gray whale and her calf.

They also banged on metal pipes, and Friday briefly turned fire hoses on the water to get the creatures moving south.

As days passed with little or no movement, marine mammal experts became increasingly concerned about the whales’ injuries and the effects of their prolonged immersion in fresh water.

Both bear gashes where a boat’s propeller apparently sliced into them, and without the benefit of salt water’s healing properties, the edges of those wounds began to blister and peel.

Scientists injected both whales with antibiotics over the weekend to stave off infection, and as of late Tuesday were still talking about tagging the female with a satellite tracking device.

Contact Rowena Coetsee at rcoetsee@cctimes.com or (925) 779-7141.