Monthly Archives: February 2010

Hello whalewatchers,
Today we spent all morning with loads of humpbacks. I’m sure we saw 100 whales and we enjoyed all the great behaviors these whales exhibit–lots of breaching, tail lobbing, fluking and flipper flapping often very close to the Searcher. We saw a cow and calf with an escort and the calf was very young. It looked tiny in comparison to its mom.
The weather cooperated until about noon and then we had some wind and sea.
After lunch we went ashore at Bahia Los Frailes and everyone had a chance to see Xantus hummingbirds up close and those who wanted to snorkel did, in 74 degree, clear water.
We are headed north to Isla San Jose.
More tomorrow,
Capt Art

Hello whalewatchers,
We enjoyed great day for whalewatching with not much wind and very little sea, though we didn’t see a whole lot until the afternoon. We saw a sei whale briefly, just long enough to ID it. Then it vanished and we didn’t see it again.
We went a little further and saw humpbacks breaching in the distance so we went that way. We had a great show with breaching and tail lobbing. There were three whales together and we were able to stay with them for a while. We saw about 10 other humpbacks and some bottlenose dolphin.
Next we saw a area of about 100 black storm petrels feeding, along with the occasional frigatebird.
All in all a great day! Looking forward to tomorrow around the Gorda Banks for more humpbacks.
Capt Art

Hello there,
We had a picture perfect day in Laguna San Ignacio today. Clear skies, light winds and lots of whales.
We started the day with a early trip to the mangroves. All the usual species of birds were seen. After breakfast the pangas went out whalewatching on the first trip of the day. They saw plenty of whales but no curiuos encounters. The second trip this morning had a cow/calf pair that was curious and everyone had a close encounter. Lots of smiling faces!
We took a break for lunch and after lunch, we had one panga take a group to the beach and two pangas went back out to visit the whales. Everyone had a great afternoon.
We left the lagoon and are headed south to look for some more whales,
More tomorrow,
Capt Art

Hello there,
We had an excellent day today at Islas San Benito. The weather was perfect and just the right temp for hiking.
Our day started north of the island watching two blue whales with great looks at both whales. They seemed to be juveniles, not great big whales. It is good to see blue whales this early and this far north.
There were plenty of Guadalupe fur seals here. We looked at them on the way to the island. And lots of elephant seals. There has been some rainfall here this winter as the island has plant life leafing out and even a few flowers. Everyone enjoyed the island.
After we left we didn’t see any large whales but we did see lots of life with bait fish, pelicans, shearwaters, gulls and comon dolphin. The weather is better with diminishing seas and almost no wind.
Looking forward to our first visit to Laguna San Ignacio,
Capt Art

Hello whalewatchers:
We begin our 2010 natural history season!
We had good weather with a moderate swell and light winds and sunny skies. After a short visit to Islas Todos Santos where we saw several oystercatchers and the usual pinnepeds, we headed south looking for southbound gray whales. We saw just a few animals heading south. Before departing on this trip I had reports from other captains travelling north along Baja who saw several gray whales close to the coast. We enjoyed great bird watching with the highlight being two layson albatross.
We did see a large group of shortbeaked common dolphins, approximately 1000 animals, and one humpback whale. All in all, a great day offshore.
We will arrive at Islas San Benito tomorrow morning.
More tomorrow,
Capt Art

Hello whalewatchers:
The first tour is underway and after a chilly rainstorm in San Diego on Saturday, blue sky appeared on Sunday and turned into a good send-off for our 25 passengers, two leaders (Paul Jones and Patti Schick Nisbet) AND honored guest/gray whale researcher Steven Swartz aboard. Steven will migrate south along with the gray whales, and off-load himself and a whole lot of gear in Laguna San Ignacio in order to set up his winter research camp there. Steven is a long-time friend to Searcher and the gray whales of Baja.
Today’s travel weather is good and at mid-day, Capt Art reports of lots of seabirds, dolphins, gray whales during travel time. The daily tally will follow.
Celia (in the San Diego office)