Information about the Southeast Farallon Island

For the next six weeks Sarah will be staying on the 120-acre Southeast Farallon Island, pictured above. It is part of the Farallon archipelago, which has been called the Galapagos of California. The Southeast Island is the largest of the chain. From the picture you can see the residential complex at the bottom of the hill; there is a lighthouse at the top of the hill from which the researchers watch for shark attacks on seals (there are about one a day in October and November). They can see the entire circumference of the island from there. (This is also the place from which Sarah's cell phone sometimes works.)

If you'd like to get more of a feel for this rugged environment and its colorful history, here are some links to check out:

• Here is the article from the Wikipedia (the online encyclopedia). It notes that Sir Francis Drake stopped here.
  
• This article is from a San Francisco outdoors site. It gives a nice history of the place, including the "egg war." Be sure to click on the links at the top to get the whole story. There's also a nice history here.
  
• This site includes links on the major research projects going on there--on migratory birds, on seals and sea lions, and everyone's favorites, great white sharks. (PRBO is the Point Reyes Bird Observatory which cooperates with the Fish and Wildlife Service to run the operation.)
  
• Here's a site with information about the Northern Elephant Seal which has a large population on the island (which attracts the sharks). Sarah has walked around among these guys, even tagged some, I think.
  
• Here's an article that focuses on the sharks at Southeast Farallon.
  

Cousins, if you are looking for a topic for a report for school, there's a lot of stuff about the island out there--and you've got a family connection to it!