Census Laguna San Ignacio
Hello whalewatchers:
Researchers in Laguna San Ignacio have reported the following census for 9 March:
- 16 pairs of mothers with calves
- 76 singles
- 108 whales total on this day
2020 Tour #2 Feb 22-Mar 4
Hello whalewatchers:
Thank you from the entire Team Searcher for joining us on this special journey. Enjoy your memories!
Captains Buzz (behind the binoculars) and Mike (behind the wheel) found the whales and wildlife of Baja!
Baja’s colors
Isla San Francisco
Naturalists Peter and Marc
Chefs’ creation
Census Laguna San Ignacio
Researchers in Laguna San Ignacio provided us an updated census of gray whales recently.
On 28 February, there were:
- 11 mother and calf pairs
- 91 single whales
- 113 total gray whales
And on 4 March, there were:
- 12 mother and calf pairs
- 106 single whales
- 130 total gray whales
2020 Tour #2 Feb 22-Mar 4
Hello whalewatchers,
For our last day of the trip we ended with a bang. We spent our day watching humpback whales between the Gorda Banks and Los Frailes. They were very frisky today and put on quite a show, tail lobbing flipper flapping and breaching from about 7am to about 3 pm we were in them. We will be arriving in the Cabo San Lucas to finish off a great trip.
Captain Mike and Team Searcher
Humpback sounds
Happy Whale Wednesday! Passengers on Trip #2 got to listen to the lovely songs of the humpback whales. These humpbacks were singing for quite sometime and naturalist Marc Webber was able to record their songs and sounds on this recording off the Gorda Banks. No better way to celebrate Whale Wednesday!
2020 Tour #2 Feb 22-Mar 4
Hello whalewatchers:
We spent most of our day on dry land. We started at Punta Colorado on Isla San Jose and watched the sunrise over the sandstone cliffs. We went hiking and snorkeling there until lunch time. We then took off looking for marine wildlife around the northern end of Isla San Jose and the San Jose Channel. We saw very little, but got some good looks at the smooth-tailed mobula rays in the channel. We ended our day at Nopolo on the Baja peninsula looking for birds. Our birders were excited to find the endemic Xantus (Read all about the person Xantus here!) hummingbird here. We’ll be at Isla San Francisco tomorrow morning.
Captain Mike and Team Searcher
Xantus hummingbird
Walk on Isla San Jose
Mobula ray
2020 Tour #2 Feb 22-Mar 4
Hello whalewatchers:
Wow, what a day here in the Sea of Cortez! We had beautiful weather all day today. We started our morning at Bahia Agua Verde this morning for a snorkel and a bird walk. The day didn’t really heat up until we left. Once we got above Isla Monserat we got into a huge area of feeding blue whales and fin whales. They put on quite a show for us. There must have been 30 of them within a few miles. They were up on the surface all around the boat, lunge feeding and skimming the surface as close as 50 feet from the boat.
Captain Mike and Team Searcher
Side-swimming blue whale feeding at the surface.
2020 Tour #2 Feb 22-Mar 4
Hello whalewatchers:
We had some great whalewatching today! We travelled out towards Islas Las Animas first thing this morning. We were able to get close and observe the California sea lions and the Guadalupe fur seals colonizing the small islet. We then headed towards the peninsula and located a large area of sperm whales. I estimate there were at least 20 in the area, multiple mother/calf pairs, groups of three or four, and several who fluked upon diving. We had what we believed was a breacher as well, but never got close enough to properly identify it.
(Thank you to Rob N for use of his photo of sperm whales.)
We ended our day at Puerto Gato with some some snorkeling and a bird walk up the wash. We added four new species to the bird list, including an endemic gray thrasher. Beautiful weather all day today.
Captain Mike and Team Searcher
Guadalupe fur seals
Sperm whale fluke
California sea lions
