Trip Reports

Today was a good day for seabirds and for whales. We saw sperm whales, blue whales,  fin whales, Baird’s beaked whales and Pacific white-sided and common dolphins. We added lots of shearwaters to our list and had a really good look at three south polar skuas flying around the boat. The passengers were complaining that [...]

They left the dock about three hours ago and already report seeing all three jaegers and  nice shows of fin and blue whales! We are hoping for a birdy afternoon and evening. More reports to follow. Photo of Northern Fulmar by Tim Worfolk

SATURDAY 28 May 2011 (San Diego) North America’s most luxurious live-aboard birding vessel – SEARCHER – sailed on a three day adventure weekend to see seabirds and marine mammals. On the way out of the harbor we saw Caspian, Royal, Elegant and Least Terns. We stopped by the bait tanks to get close ups of [...]

The Wildlife Weekend passengers got the break they were looking for…better weather! Then there were THREE blue whales and a minke whale to add some large cetacean sightings to the sightings list. A full report will follow!

They were up against some tough conditions today with wind and swell, and managed to put together a good start to the pelagic birding list. Oddly enough, they didn’t run across any whales or dolphins today, so tomorrow must be whale day. They are anchored at San Clemente Island for dinner and a calm night’s [...]

Hello whalewatchers, Well today we started our day at Bahia Agua Verde with a great sunrise and a beach walk, followed by a snorkel. There were a few schools of mobulas around and everyone got  a good look at them leaping out of the water. We departed there and saw a good group of bottlenose [...]

Hello whalewatchers, Today’s weather is fabulous with sunny skies and calm seas. We  started our day at the south end of Isla San Jose with a trip into the mangroves. The skiffs spent three hours in the mangroves and had a wonderful trip with lots of birds to see. We left there and headed up [...]

Hello all, We had some high winds so we chose to hide out a bit longer in Bahia Los Frailes. The group had good birding and a great snorkel–good variety and conditions. We left there at 2 pm and headed north. By the end of the day we had almost no wind but a residual [...]

Hello whalewatchers, We had breezy conditions today, but despite the wind we a great day of sightings. We had great birding throughout the day with hundreds of pink-footed and sooty shearwaters, sabine gulls, Craveri’s murrelets, frigatebirds, phalaropes, albatross, tropicbirds, and jaegers–a great day of seabirds. We had a good look at a large blue whale, [...]

Hello whalewatchers: We had a great day at Islas San Benito. The weather was great with clear skies and a brisk wind, but warm out of the wind.  Albatross Alley kept producing after my first report. At one point we had 17 albatrosses in our wake–incredible!. Out total before arriving at the island was 40 [...]

Good morning all, This morning we have arrived at “Albatross Alley” with multiple sightings of both laysan and black-footed albatrosses. We have seen at least 12 black-footed and eight laysan. We are currently about 15 miles northwest of Islas San Benito where there is a seamount called Ranger Bank. We have seen fulmars, pink-footed shearwaters [...]

Hello whalewatchers, Today was our first day of our last trip this season and what a day we had! It all started with a quick stop at Islas Todo Santos for a view of three different pinnipeds, pelagic comorant, oystercatchers, perregrin falcon, nesting brown pelicans, and the island was in full bloom with the yellow [...]