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Tour #1: Bahia Agua Verde

Hello whale watchers:
We had another great day with a early walk on the peninsula at Bahia Agua Verde. The weather is still good with a few clouds and a light breeze. The temperature dropped quite a bit with a frontal passage today.
A few snorkellers went in the water at this great spot and then we headed out to look for whales. We found six different blue whales just east of Agua Verde, one of which was a fluking whale. We enjoyed some great looks, then we headed south in search of a toothed whale. We found a group of 30 or 40 bottlenose dolphin that gave us a good show.
We continued south with not much luck on whales but we did see 5 or 6 redbilled tropic birds up close. They are such pretty birds. We also found a few boobies and lots of pelicans.
As we travelled further south towards the south end of Isla San Jose, there was a little bioluminescence and good star gazing in the dark.
Looking forward to tomorrow, as usual.
Capt Art
p.s. Team Searcher is proud to announce a new member to the team. Capt Aaron Remy and his wife Ali had a 9 pound, 9 ounce baby boy today–Channing Mitchell Remy. Congratulations to them and we can’t wait for Channing to come aboard!

2012-02-17T07:12:55-08:00February 16th, 2012|Uncategorized|
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Tour #1: Isla Santa Catalina and surroundings

Hello whalewatchers,
We had another great day with sunny skies and calm seas. The group went ashore on Isla Santa Catalina early and everyone loved the cactus. I went for a walk for some exercise and found a few things in bloom and plenty of greenery on the various shrubs. Upon returning there was alot of interest in a Krazy Koastal Kruise (with Kaptain Kenny or Kole) so we sent three skiffs out for some birdwatching and photography of the scenery. A few people also went for a snorkel.
We left the island and immediately found two blue whales–and a cow and calf pair of blue whales in the distance. We stayed with one of the individuals for awhile because it was fluking which is always a crowd=pleaser. We were able to get a good look at this whale and its flukes.

We decided to head west towards Isla Monserate with hopes of finding more whales and maybe a different species or two. We found four more blue whales and another one pleased us with its tail fluke. Two fluking blue whales in an afternoon–that was great!
We are headed to the Bahia Agua Verde area for the night and we will take it from there. Looks like good weather again tomorrow.
Capt Art

p.s. Photo by Val Shore. Thanks, Val! See you next year!

2012-02-22T14:55:06-08:00February 15th, 2012|Trip Reports|
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Tour #1: Isla Santa Catalina

Hello whalewatchers,
We had an extraordinary day today! It started with a great sunset at Punta Colorado, Isla San Jose, then a skiff ride followed by a hike on the island, and then a snorkel for those interested. The water was a bit chilly in the mid 60’s with good visibility.
Then the fun began. I have seen quite a few spectacular things in the Sea Of Cortez and today has to be one of the top 10 in my career. We started seeing large groups of birds diving and the closer we got the more life was seen with 2000 to 3000 common dolphin along with 10 to 12 Brydes whales, all feeding in the same area on small bait fish. We saw Brydes whales lunging through these large balls of baitfish, dolphins in the same area along with pelicans, frigates, gulls and a few boobies. There were at least 10 different schools of bait fish twice the size of the Searcher in a 2 square mile area. It was hard to decide which area to be in. We narrowed it down to where the Brydes whales were feeding. This all happened in less than an hour from leaving Punta Colorado. In every direction you looked there were feeding frenzies.

After about 2 hours of observing this we decided to leave and head for a tall spout in the distance and found it to be a blue whale. It was diving deep and down for several minutes so we continued on and the boys up top found another blue whale that turned out to be  a cow and calf. We followed them for about a half an hour and decide since we only had an hour of daylight left to continue on and see what else we could see. Just as we sped up to leave the calf surfaced right next to us, we stopped and the calf about 35 feet in length came alongside us and went right under the bow. It circled us for about a half hour staying very close. It was incredible to have this happen. I have only seen it maybe twice before so it was very special . We saw the cow about a half mile from us and she stayed at that distance while the calf stayed with us. What an experience! When we thought the calf had left us there was another whale that surfaced right next to us and we realized it was not the blue whale calf but a Brydes whale. It came out of nowhere and surprised all of us. We started seeing multiple spouts in the area and we thought there might be 4 blue whales and 2 Brydes whales within a half mile of us. What a way to end this incredible day.
Just when you think you’ve seen it all on one of these trips events like this happen and you know that you never know what might happen in this special place.
More tomorrow,
Capt Art

2012-02-22T14:56:25-08:00February 14th, 2012|Trip Reports|
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Mid-day report from Isla Santa Catalina

You’ll want to check back for a full report, but Capt Art called after lunch to report a huge feeding area of blue, fin, Bryde’s whales and a herd of common dolphins! This is after a morning on the island bird and lizard watching AND a nice snorkel session. Stay tuned…

2012-02-14T13:53:39-08:00February 14th, 2012|Trip Reports|
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Tour #1: Offshore Cabo San Lucas/Los Frailes

Hello whalewatchers,
Today was another great day! We watched several humpback whales seeing all their usual behaviors like breaching, flipper flapping, tail lobbing and more. We also saw a cow with a very young calf along with an escort. Great whale watching today. A special treat was that it got calm enough that we saw four dwarf sperm whales which are rare and we were able to get pretty close to them.

Then we went to Bahia Los Frailes and dropped the anchor for a couple of hours. There was a group that went on a short walk and another group went snorkeling for the first time on this trip. The weather is good so we are headed north to Isla San Jose.
More tomorrow,
Capt Art

2012-02-13T20:11:26-08:00February 13th, 2012|Trip Reports|
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Tour #1: Bahia Magdalena

Hello whalewatchers,
We had a spectacular day off of Bahia Magdalena today with a lot of life.
It started off with good bird life and a group of six masked boobies (which was a treat), a Laysan albatross and plenty of shearwaters, frigatebirds and gulls.
After identifying the boobies ,we had a humpback whale breach directly behind the boat and while we circled back around to take a look we spotted two blue whales. We spent a couple of hours with the blue whales and had some great looks with clean water and good sea conditions. We saw one other blue whale in the distance.
After leaving the blue whales we came across two very large groups of long-beaked common dolphin with birds associated with them, and some jumping small tuna as well.
After a “Whales of the World” lecture in the bow, we opened the Searcher boutique for some shopping and then finished the day with breaching humpbacks. We saw at least five humpbacks breaching at different times and we were able to get a close look at one breacher. It was a great way to end the day.
Looking forward to tomorrow and more humpbacks.
More then,
Capt Art

2012-02-12T20:31:26-08:00February 12th, 2012|Trip Reports|
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Tour #1: Laguna San Ignacio, day 2

Hello whalewatchers,
We’ve enjoyed another picture-perfect day in Laguna San Ignacio with clear skies and light winds. We started the day with a visit from a cow and calf next to the Searcher. The cow was interested in the anchor line and had a good time rubbing on it for a while. They returned for two more visits throughout the day and they were here right up until we had to leave this afternoon

The pangas had good whalewatching all day with great viewing and close encounters on just about every trip. The last trip of the day provided everyone with a trip of a lifetime with close encounters with a cow and calf.
We also had a trip to the mangroves for one panga. There was an interesting sighting made on that trip, a red tailed tropicbird was seen by all and some good photos to make sure of the ID. Not too many sightings of that bird in this area! Also there was enough interest in going to the beach for the final trip this afternoon for one panga.
We are headed south and look forward to the area outside Bahia Magdalena tomorrow.
More then,
Capt Art

2012-02-24T08:08:09-08:00February 11th, 2012|Trip Reports|
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Tour #1: Laguna San Ignacio

Hello all,
Today was our first day in Laguna San Ignacio. It is wonderful to be back in this very special place. The weather was phenomenal with clear skies, warm temperatures and very light winds all day. There are plenty of gray whales here and the group all had a close encounter with a whale. Mostly cows with calves! We viewed all behaviors today with a little mating and a couple of breaches and spyhopping.
The galley is buzzing this evening with happy whalewatchers sharing tales of today. Looking forward to tomorrow as the weather forecast looks favorable.
Can’t stress how great it is to be back here.
Capt Art

2020-07-15T16:35:20-07:00February 10th, 2012|Trip Reports|
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Tour #1: Islas San Benito

Hello whalewatchers,
Today was a glorious day at Islas San Benito. There has been some rain here in the recent past because there were some green areas and  flowers in bloom–blue dicks , island mallow, cliff spurge and more. There were plenty of northern elephant seals including hauled out males and females with pups. There was a lack of Guadalupe fur seals in the usual spots, but the large swell might have something to do with it. Some of the group found a colony of about 65 animals on the north side of west island. There were plenty of ospreys on the nests as well. All in all, it was a wonderful day with hiking, photography and wildlife watching
We are currently headed southeast towards Laguna San Ignacio, hoping to arrive just after breakfast tomorrow. We hope to find some whales and dolphins this afternoon.
More tomorrow,
Capt Art

2012-02-09T16:30:49-08:00February 9th, 2012|Trip Reports|
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