Monthly Archives: February 2010

Hello all,
We had an incredible day of humpback whalewatching! It started with a group of 12 whales, and five out of the group were breaching. We had whales jumping in all directions. What a great way to start the day1
After that we headed to the Gorda Banks and there were at least 20 humpbacks milling around there. It was hard to decide which direction to go, so we just sat in one place for a while and enjoyed whales in all directions. There were several whales breaching in the distance and all the other behaviors as well. We ended our whalewatching with great looks at a cow/calf pair with an escort–the calf appeared very young.
We went to Los Frailes, a shore location on the peninsula, and several people took the opportunity to snorkel for the first time this trip. The water was 73 degrees and clear. The people on the walk had great looks at Xantus hummingbird and gray thrasher–two endemics for Baja.
Today’s weather was awesome with sunny skies and light winds again.
We are headed north in good weather to Isla San Jose.
More tomorrow,
Capt Art

Hello whalewatchers,
We are extremely lucky to have had calm weather today. We could see for miles.
We started with a few common dolphin and some great looks at Craveri’s murrelets which is a special sighting and only happened because of the calm conditions. We also saw hundreds and hundreds of red phalaropes throughout the day, as well as lots of black storm petrels.
As far as whales go we had a fantastic look at a Sei whale up close with clear water so we could see the whole whale. We had good looks at humpbacks, but only a few. Another special sighting was a group of 30 to 40 Risso’s dolphins. I cant remember ever seeing these dolphin in this area before. We have seem them several times outside of Ensenada but not down here.
Another treat today was seeing sea turtles. When the weather is calm you see turtles everywhere. So we were able to get close and get good looks at mostly green sea turtles. We estimated about 40 turtles for the day.
We are compiling quite a species list and we are still on the Pacific side of the peninsula.
Looking forward to humpback day tomorrow,
Capt Art

Hello whalewatchers,
Today we entered Laguna San Ignacio and were greeted by several gray whales. There are a lot of whales here again! Everyone had great whalewatching today in great weather with light breeze out of the north for part of the day and sunny skies.
We also had really good whalewatching from the Searcher with several whales going by and fluking since we are anchored in one of the deep channels in the lagoon. There were plenty of bottlenose dolphins in the area as well.
Looking forward to tomorrow with good tides for a pre-breakfast mangrove trip. The weather forecast looks favorable for tomorrow as well.
Capt Art

Hello whalewatchers,
Today was a great day with a wonderful start this morning. Right after the sun came up, we spotted about 50 to 70 sperm whales at the surface. There were a few calves breaching and we saw some other cow/calf pairs. It was an exciting find!
So we were a bit delayed arriving at Islas San Benito but it wasn’t all the sperm whales’ fault. We also ran across a blue whale about 5 miles north of the island and that delayed us further!
After finally arriving, everyone got in the skiffs and found several Guadalupe fur seals on the way to the island. In addition, the birders were treated to a peregrin falcon chasing a merlin as the skiffs departed.
The weather was great for a walk–sunny skies and a light breeze.
Everyone saw northern elephant seals on the island up-close with some mating behavior as well as females with pups and weaners. Ospreys were on their nests.
We are headed to Laguna San Ignacio and I am looking forward to being back there.
More tomorrow,
Capt Art

Hello whalewatchers,
Today was an excellent day with great weather, sunny skies and light winds. We started at Nopolo Village, and the bird watching was great.
Then we headed south towards Islas Los Islotes and we saw more humpback whales. I have never seen this many humpbacks on one of these trips! Starting back outside Bahia Magdalena on day 6, we have seen humpbacks every day since. We also found more common dolphins, manta rays and mobula rays.
After all that, we snorkeled with sea lions and saw boobies and frigates up close on a skiff ride.
Certainly another great day and a great finish to a wonderful trip,
Capt Art

Hello whalewatchers,
We have had a WHALE OF A DAY! We added to the baleen whale list.
After lunch we saw two blue whales, one fluked over and over. We followed it for more than an hour, watching it at depth with the sonar and then having it come up right on the bow at 50 yards each time. It was a large animal and the lighting was superb so we had remarkable looks at a blue whale. We did see another blue whale in the distance.
After that we saw a fin whale cow and calf pair that we had a clear look at for ID purposes. The sun was very high and there was a large area of glare that the whales could have come up in and we missed them.
We saw common dolphin for miles and miles and so we elected to visit them. There were thousands! It was an area of feeding dolphin and they had birds associated with them– such as frigates, boobies, gulls and pelicans. We saw birds eating mackerel that the dolphin chased to the surface.
We are going to anchor and have dinner on the back deck and even enjoy some margaritas (passengers, not crew!).
More tomorrow,
Capt Art

Hello whalewatchers,
We have had a remarkable morning so far with toothed whales as the theme.
But first, right away we saw two adult Craveri’s murrelets with two chicks in tow. We had a very close look at these birds. I have seen several of these birds here, but never with chicks before.
Our next sighting was a group of common dolphin, followed by a small group of bottlenose dolphins, and then a group of 30 pilot whales with a few calves mixed in. We then saw several sperm whales on the surface with some up-close looks of females, one cow and calf, and one great big bull that was pretty close! We estimated 30 -50 sperm whales in a 5 square mile area.
We decided to continue south and look for something different and we were lucky to see a Brydes whale and we got a great look at it, including the three ridges on the rostrum.
Another great sighting was a red-billed tropicbird that flew directly over the boat so I’m sure everyone had a good look at it.
More later,
Capt Art

Hello whalewatchers,
Today we visited Isla Santa Catalina and as usual, this place is beautiful. We had great weather for a walk on the island–warm, sunny and a light breeze. The cardon and barrel cactus are spectacular.
We went ashore for a pre-breakfast excursion and saw the usual birds, then came back and had breakfast. Part of the group went back ashore the other part of the group went on a Crazy Coastal Cruise with Capt Kenny and Capt Cole.
Some people snorkelled in 72 degree, clear water.
After lunch we travelled towards the peninsula looking for whales. We found a blue whale cow calf pair and we did managed to get a few good looks. There were some common dolphin and a pair of humpbacks in the area also.
More tomorrow,
Capt Art