Hello all: We had a great day in Laguna San Ignacio with plenty of whales in the lagoon and everyone got to see all the different behaviors–mating, breaching, spy-hopping, cows and calves, and of course the whale that visited the Searcher twice today and liked the anchor line. The picture is of our visitor spyhopping right next to the boat.
The weather was great with light winds, sunny skies and a great sunrise and sunset.
More tomorrow, Team Searcher
Hello whalewatchers:
Within 15 minutes of anchoring here we had a gray whale visit us and is rubbing on the anchor rope. It is a single whale and the gender is unknown until we get a better view. What a magical place this is! While entering the lagoon we had to slow daown several times to let the whales pass by. There are a lot of whales in the entrance. The weather is awewsome with sunny skies and light winds. Everyone is currently out in the pangas for their first trip.
More later, Team Searcher
My picture today is a gray whale with Chef Charles on the bow. Very cool!
Hello all,
We have had a fantastic day with great weather–sunny skies, light winds and calm seas. Everyone had a great hike on the island with lots of northern elephant seals, ospreys and the highlight was the flowers! There obviously has been enough rain to make the island green and yellow and purple with all the different plants in bloom. Island mallow, Encelia, Mammaliaria cactus, Agaves and more. What a day. There is a research project going on in full force. It seems to be a two-fold project studying alcids and savannah sparrows. There is also an effort to eradicate rats in several areas of the island.We were told the sparrows are having problems with the rats and so they have been captured and placed in an aviary behind the village. It is good that a conservation group is working on the island to preserve what is going on there. More details tomorow as we will have a disscussion this evening and gather as much detail as possible and report back.
We finished the day with a quick sighting of a humpback whale and then right at sunset (with a green flash) 10 or 12 gray whales off the south end of Cedros island.
Headed to Laguna San Ignacio! Yippee! Arriving there tomorrow after breakfast. Can’t wait. Team Searcher
Hello all,
A beautiful start to the day today with a great sunrise and Cedros Island in the background. Sunrise in Baja is always a special part of the day, my favorite time. We had a great ride all night with calm seas and very little wind. We had a group of long-beaked common dolphin visit us this morning. Looking forward to our day at Isla San Benito.
More later, Team Searcher
Hello all,
Day 1 of our 2014 whale watching season has been great so far! We’ve seen three species of large whales, all before by 1 PM–gray, humpback and fin whales. There were also some common dolphin around Islas Todos Santos, along with several elephant seals and sea lions. We didn’t stay long because the ocean is really calm and we wanted to get offshore and see what we could find. We’ve enjoyed lots of bird life with plenty of black-vented shearwaters, Xantus’murrelets, gulls , Northern fulmar and Cassin’s auklet. Today’s picture is a gray whale fluke. It came from a group of 10 gray whales headed south. We spent an hour with them and had to leave to keep with the schedule. Looking forward to tomorrow.
Team Searcher
Guests and naturalists (Rob Nawojchik, Steven Swartz, and Rafe Payne) on watch already this morning, looking for migrating gray whales and seabirds. Reports to follow!
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We have been busy readying our vessel and ourselves, and the day has arrived. Passengers from New York, Michigan, Pennsylvania, UK, and Germany will be boarding the boat today and departing tonight for our first tour of 2014. Dr Rafe Payne and Rob Nawojchik will be the naturalists on this journey, and Dr Steven Swartz will join along until he arrives at his research station in Laguna San Ignacio. Wishing them fair seas and loads of whales!
an official census was done on 20 jan and the total is 84: 22 calves and 62 adults.
Gray Whale Census Update, Pt. Vicente: THIRTY-SEVEN GRAY WHALES, including a huge pod of twelve! Multiple sightings joined, milled, and separated, causing lots of confusion as we tried to accurately count and track them. One whale SPYHOPPED right next to Whale Rock. As another gray whale milled, a nearby small boat caused it to disappear for a while. Some slow-moving whales took an hour to pass us. A huge pod of at least 12 grays swam about five miles offshore; we watched them for an hour and twenty minutes before we could positively identify them as gray whales, since we needed to use spotting scopes i order to see their backs and flukes. Many FIN WHALES moved through our field of view, adding to our confusion; one was about a mile offshore, but most were further away in the Redondo Canyon. We also spotted COMMON DOLPHIN, BOTTLENOSE DOLPHIN, and PACIFIC WHITE-SIDED DOLPHIN.
