Gray Whale Counts on 25 February: Laguna San Ignacio
25 February 2024 gray whale survey count in Laguna San Ignacio, as reported by Dr Steven Swartz
- 8 mother/calf pairs and 192 singles for a total of 208 whales
Photo thanks to Tabata O.
2024 Baja Whalewatching Tour: Sea of Cortez (Feb 15-26)
February 24
Dear whalewatchers:
We had a busy day today. We started with a sunrise at Punta Colorado at Isla San Jose. We travelled to the southern end of Isla San Jose and did a mangrove tour for birding opportunities from our skiffs.
We went offshore to look for wildlife midday and found some scattered mobula rays. We ended our day with sea lions at Los Islotes and a back deck BBQ at Isla Espiritu Santo.
We’re headed to la Paz to swim with the whale sharks for our last full day tomorrow morning.
Captain Mike and the boys
2024 Baja Whalewatching Tour: Sea of Cortez (Feb 15-26)
February 23
Dear whalewatchers:
What an awesome day in the Sea of Cortez today. We started with a walk around Bahia Agua Verde. The birders picked out four endemic Xantus’ hummingbirds, always a treat to see on the peninsula.
We left around lunchtime and kept tracking north where we saw our first blue whale about 5 miles away. We started seeing more spouts the further up we went we stayed with a single blue whale, which we followed for the better part of a hour.
Captain Ryan spotted some activity closer to the peninsula which looked like pair of blue whales together. We got closer and we realized we were in for a treat. We watched three blue whales lunge feeding around the boat for two or three hours until the sun went down. We think we saw somewhere between 6 and 10 blue whales today.
We’re anchored for dinner and going to head south for Punta Colorado tomorrow on Isla San Jose.
Captain Mike and the boys
2024 Baja Whalewatching Tour: Sea of Cortez (Feb 15-26)
February 22
Dear whalewatchers:
We woke up to a picturesque Baja sunrise and started the day with a nice hike at Isla San Francisco. We departed around lunchtime and started working up the Sea of Cortez looking for wildlife. We encountered a huge area of common dolphins near Isla San Jose. This herd was a couple of square miles with animals all spread out. We also saw some more humpback whales in the area.
We made our way up to Bahia Agua Verde for our anchorage tonight. We’re hoping for more tomorrow as we look for new species and landscapes.
Captain Mike and the boys
2024 Baja Whalewatching Tour: offshore Cabo San Lucas (Feb 15-26)
February 21
Dear whalewatchers:
Our humpback whale encounters today were as good as it gets! In the areas around Cabo San Lucas we found multiple friendly groups of mothers with calves, and escorts.
We stayed with a couple different groups for hours and our passengers had opportunities to photograph and observe breaching and tail lobbing behaviors that make humpback whales famous.
We needed the day by going ashore at a beautiful beach along the shoreline of the southern part of the Baja California peninsula.
We’re headed into the Sea of Cortez tomorrow.
Captain Mike and the boys
2024 Baja Whalewatching Tour: Bahia Magdalena (Feb 15-26)
February 20
Dear whale watchers:
Good evening,
Another epic day on the Pacific Ocean. We spent our day outside Bahia Magdelena looking at humpback whales all day. We enjoyed lots of active whales and up-close whales for great photography. We’ll be around the area of Cabo San Lucas and we are hoping for more of the same tomorrow.
Captain Mike and the boys
2024 Baja Whalewatching Tour (Feb 15-26) Laguna San Ignacio
February 18
Dear whale watchers:
We arrived to the entrance at Laguna San Ignacio around 0830 this morning. There was a pretty good swell but the Jesus from our friends and colleagues at Kuyima met us at the entrance and showed us the way in. We got our anchor down near Rocky Point at about 1030 and got the whale watchers out in the pangas (locals’ skiffs) right away.
There are lots of whales around, more than 100, here right now and it looks like more are on the way. There’s plenty to look at and a few friendly whales visited as well.
It’s been an awesome day with awesome weather. We’re camping out tonight and going to do it again tomorrow.
Captain Mike and the boys
2024 Baja Whalewatching Tour (Feb 15-26) Islas San Benito
February 17
Dear whalewatchers:
We had a nice day at Isla San Benito. The elephant seal population, as well as the fur seal population, on the island seem to be quite healthy. Excellent birding as well.
After leaving the island, we spent time with a few single humpback whales. We’re headed for Laguna San Ignacio now.
Captain Mike and the boys
2024 Baja Whalewatching Tour (Feb 15-26) Ensenada and southbound
February 16
Dear whalewatchers:
We departed last night on our first Baja adventure of the year. We cleared customs and immigration check in Ensenada around 0730 am and made a left turn for Islas San Benito.
Just south of Punta Banda on the Banda Bank, there was a lot of life around. We had gray whales, common dolphin and Pacific white-sided dolphin. Along with gulls, shearwaters, pelicans and cormorants. Later in the day, the action decreased though we did see a few distant albatross and late in the afternoon we had a red-billed tropicbird fly overhead. We’ll be at San Benitos first thing in the morning.
Captain Mike and the boys
Gray Whale Counts on 13 February: Laguna San Ignacio
Dr Steven Swartz reported (via Alisa Schulman-Janiger, the ACS Census Director) the following estimated numbers of gray whales during a 13 February 2024 count:
- 4 mother/calf pair and 115 singles for a total of 123 whales
Our drone photo is thanks to @GabeBergerhouse! Gray whale mother and calf travelling past Southern California.
