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Tour #5 Friendly Gray Whales of Laguna San Ignacio March 28

Hello whalewatchers,
What a  remarkable day in Laguna San Ignacio, with cows and calf everywhere we look! We even had them hanging around Searcher all day. Everyone had a close encounter on both trips today. I think everyone was a little overwhelmed and a little reserved in the pangas today. I think that might change tomorrow and I hope we will have the same conditions. The weather was good with just a little wind to deal with after lunch. The whale watching from the boat today was also phenomenal.
Our plan is to start the day tomorrow with a trip to the mangroves since the tide is high at sunrise.
Also I wanted to mention that after posting  yesterday’s blog, we had a blue whale sighting after leaving Islas San Benito. It was single whale, that was a” long winded” as we say, staying down for 10 minutes and only staying at the surface for 3 or 4 breaths. We hope to have other opportunities to see blue whales later in the trip.
But this means we now have seen five different species of baleen whales in our first two days of this trip which is remarkable! We have seen nine different cetaceans so far, along with four pinnipeds.
More tomorrow,
Capt Art

p.s. photo by Charles Howell

2020-07-15T16:35:23-07:00March 28th, 2011|Trip Reports|
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Tour #5 Islas San Benito March 27

Hello all,
Today we arrived at Islas San Benito. Prior to getting here we had two pairs of albatross in our wake–one pair of laysan albatross and one pair of black-footed albatross. We also had a red-billed tropic bird.
After arriving at the island we put our skiffs in the water and got everyone in for a skiff ride to look at the Guadalupe fur seals, California sea lions and northern elephant seals before going ashore for a hike.

Everyone had a great day and after we departed, we were really fortunate to get a group of Pacific white-sided dolphin that bow rode for quite a while.
We are headed south towards Laguna San Ignacio arriving tomorrow morning.
Looking forward to getting there again.
More then,
Capt Art

2011-03-27T16:44:43-07:00March 27th, 2011|Trip Reports|
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Tour #5 Whale and seabird day March 26

Hello whalewatcher,
Today was an excellent day with several whale sightings. We started the day with a group of long-beaked common dolphin in Bahia Ensenada. Then prior to arriving at Islas Todos Santos, we saw a fin whale that we are sure is the same whale we have seen on previous trips.
After a brief stop at the island where we saw all three pinniped species: elephant seal, harbor seal and California sea lion, along with oystercatchers, peregrine falcons and pelicans on the nest with older chicks.
We headed south and came across some short-beaked common dolphin and another group of long-beaked common dolphin. Shortly after that we saw a group of northbound gray whales and just as we were getting in good position to have a close look, a minke whale surfaced on the bow. We spent some time with the minke and had some great looks with perfect lighting so as to see the white pectoral flippers.
After the minke whale we went a little further south and came across a group of three humpback whales and we had some great fluke shots. All this before lunch–pretty amazing!
Also we have had good birdwatching with the highlight being black-footed albatross. We also saw lots of Sabines and Bonaparte’s gulls, sooty shearwaters , black-vented shearwaters, Xantus’ murrelets and Cassin’s auklets.
Truly a remarkable morning….
This afternoon we came across an area that had at least 25 fin whales, and with some up-close looks and we were able to see the classic field mark on the fin whale of the white lower right jaw. Then we found a few more humpbacks and red phalaropes and Bonaparte’s gulls galore.
I believe we have seen over 50 whales today and our total species list is six different cetaceans and three different pinnipeds.
More tomorrow,
Capt Art

p.s. photo thanks to Matthew Dillon.

2020-07-15T16:35:23-07:00March 26th, 2011|Trip Reports|
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Tour #5 Big First Morning! March 26

Dear whalewatchers:
We have seen 9 species of marine mammals since leaving Ensenada harbor (for our immigration stop into Mexico) and it’s not even lunchtime yet! We’ve seen fin, gray, humpback, minke whales, and two species of dolphins. We also saw elephant seals, harbor seals, and California sea lions at Islas Todos Santos.

The weather is fine too. A full report for the day will follow.

Capt Art

2011-03-26T16:04:49-07:00March 26th, 2011|Trip Reports|
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