We love the story about the amazing gray whales of Laguna San Igancio published today in UK’s Daily Mail today, but an “old trout?!”
And best of all, scroll down to the video at the bottom–that was taken by Searcher passenger Matt Dillon on the early March, 2011 tour! Capt Aaron and his passengers are featured in it. Well, really the whales are the stars…
Hello whalewatchers,
Well our final day of 2011 season is here and we started the day in a great place at a great time–sunrise at Punta Colorado Isla San Jose. This is one of my favorite places in all of Baja.Thank you to Ilka Serpell who took this shot of Searcher at Punta Colorado earlier this year.
We had a beach walk on this beautiful island and then started south towards Los Islotes looking for whales. We saw a juvenile humpback and a fin whale in windy conditions. We arived at Los Islotes and the wind died and we were able get a skiff ride and a snorkel in. We had great looks at blue-footed boobies and lots of sea lions.
We ended the trip by seeing a big group of long-beaked common dolphin and then had a quick look at a dwarf sperm whale.
What a great day for our final day! And what an incredible season we had with really good whale sightings all season and terrific guests! I can’t say enough about the people we met this year and how much fun we all had.
Thank you all so very much for joining us this year and we hope to see some of you in the future.
Keep checking my blog as we’ll continue to report from the San Diego area and about our upcoming Memorial Day Wildlife Weekend.
Capt Art
Hello whalewatchers,
Well today we started our day at Bahia Agua Verde with a great sunrise and a beach walk, followed by a snorkel. There were a few schools of mobulas around and everyone got a good look at them leaping out of the water. We departed there and saw a good group of bottlenose dolphin. We stopped at Bahia Tambobiche for some birding and then moved on to Nopolo Village for the final stop of the day. We got great views of the endemic Xantus hummingbird and more there.
Tonight was margarita night and back deck buffet with Chef Charles’s famous ribs and Steve’s famous potato salad. What a team!
We are headed to Punta Colorado tonight and will visit there at daylight tomorrow.
More then,
Capt Art
Spring is shaping for a great offshore whalewatching and seabird season. Regular sightings of fin and humpback whales have been fantastic and we expect the migration to be in full swing for blue whales and seabirds. Surround yourself with wildlife for a weekend!
We have a dozen spaces open, so book yourself today. May 28-30, 2011 (over the holiday weekend). We’ll have Terry Hunefeld as your seabird guide and Dr Tom Jefferson as your marine mammal guide, plus our fabulous Searcher crew!
Hello whalwatchers,
Today we went ashore at Isla Santa Catalina. It was beautiful day with sunny skies and a light breeze. The cardon cactus were blooming and the birding was good. After it got a little warmer, there were several lizards out in the sun–desert Iguanas and emerald-tailed lizards. After the hike there were a few people interested in a snorkel. The visibility was good and there were plenty of fish.
Then we went offshore looking for whales and dolphins. We saw four fin whales and the highlight was a cow and calf that hung out with us for a while. The water was clean so we could see the entire calf next to the boat. The cow was one of those really big fin whales, at least 75 feet long. We also saw a group of 300 to 400 long-beaked dolphin and one more tropicbird. That brings the total to 10 tropic birds this trip so far.
Headed to Bahia Agua Verde for the night.
More tomorrow,
Capt Art
Hello whalewatchers,
Today’s weather is fabulous with sunny skies and calm seas. We started our day at the south end of Isla San Jose with a trip into the mangroves. The skiffs spent three hours in the mangroves and had a wonderful trip with lots of birds to see.
We left there and headed up the San Jose channel looking for whales and dolphin. At the northern end we found a fin whale and had great up close looks. A little north of that we found a dwarf sperm whale surface right next to us and we were able to have a great look at it. We saw two other dwarf sperm whales as well today. It’s always great to see that species!
We saw four tropicbirds, had great looks at Craveri’s murrerlets on the water with adults and chicks, one long-tailed jaeger, and a large flock of mixed red and red necked phalaropes. Towards the end or the day we saw another fin whale.
We headed north to Isla Santa Catalina for the night and to go ashore early tomorrow.
Capt Art
p.s. The photo is Chef Charles’ shot of a dwarf sperm whale cow and calf
British Airways will begin a non-stop route between London and San Diego on June 1, 2011: http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/apr/15/british-airways-flight-just-ticket-san-diego-touri/
Hello all,
We had some high winds so we chose to hide out a bit longer in Bahia Los Frailes. The group had good birding and a great snorkel–good variety and conditions. We left there at 2 pm and headed north. By the end of the day we had almost no wind but a residual swell from the wind the past two days. With no wind or swell, we will be able to get out and whalewatch.
More tomorrow,
Capt Art
Hello whalewatchers,
Today was a great day with excellent humpback whales. There seems to be fewer whales at this time but the ones we saw were great. (We think they might be starting to head north, into southern California in time for our Memorial Day Wildlife Weekend!) A group of six whales entertained us for a few hours with some breaching close to the boat and some flipper- flapping as well. We had a haze on the water that made for tough spotting but we managed to see at least 20 humpbacks, thanks to a crew! Plenty of fluke shots were available for the photographers.
The wind came up in the afternoon so we headed for Bahia Los Frailes and everyone enjoyed the late afternoon birding on shore.
We hope to head north tonight to Isla San Jose.
More tomorrow,
Capt Art
Hello whalewatchers,
We had breezy conditions today, but despite the wind we a great day of sightings. We had great birding throughout the day with hundreds of pink-footed and sooty shearwaters, sabine gulls, Craveri’s murrelets, frigatebirds, phalaropes, albatross, tropicbirds, and jaegers–a great day of seabirds.
We had a good look at a large blue whale, six humpbacks, and six Bryde’s whales. At the end of the day we had a group of 1000 common dolphin with a wonderful sunset. Not a bad day!
Looking forward to a warmer day tomorrow,
Capt Art
