Captain's Blog

Hello whalewatchers,
We have had a WHALE OF A DAY! We added to the baleen whale list.
After lunch we saw two blue whales, one fluked over and over. We followed it for more than an hour, watching it at depth with the sonar and then having it come up right on the bow at 50 yards each time. It was a large animal and the lighting was superb so we had remarkable looks at a blue whale. We did see another blue whale in the distance.
After that we saw a fin whale cow and calf pair that we had a clear look at for ID purposes. The sun was very high and there was a large area of glare that the whales could have come up in and we missed them.
We saw common dolphin for miles and miles and so we elected to visit them. There were thousands! It was an area of feeding dolphin and they had birds associated with them– such as frigates, boobies, gulls and pelicans. We saw birds eating mackerel that the dolphin chased to the surface.
We are going to anchor and have dinner on the back deck and even enjoy some margaritas (passengers, not crew!).
More tomorrow,
Capt Art

Hello whalewatchers,
We have had a remarkable morning so far with toothed whales as the theme.
But first, right away we saw two adult Craveri’s murrelets with two chicks in tow. We had a very close look at these birds. I have seen several of these birds here, but never with chicks before.
Our next sighting was a group of common dolphin, followed by a small group of bottlenose dolphins, and then a group of 30 pilot whales with a few calves mixed in. We then saw several sperm whales on the surface with some up-close looks of females, one cow and calf, and one great big bull that was pretty close! We estimated 30 -50 sperm whales in a 5 square mile area.
We decided to continue south and look for something different and we were lucky to see a Brydes whale and we got a great look at it, including the three ridges on the rostrum.
Another great sighting was a red-billed tropicbird that flew directly over the boat so I’m sure everyone had a good look at it.
More later,
Capt Art

Hello whalewatchers,
Today we visited Isla Santa Catalina and as usual, this place is beautiful. We had great weather for a walk on the island–warm, sunny and a light breeze. The cardon and barrel cactus are spectacular.
We went ashore for a pre-breakfast excursion and saw the usual birds, then came back and had breakfast. Part of the group went back ashore the other part of the group went on a Crazy Coastal Cruise with Capt Kenny and Capt Cole.
Some people snorkelled in 72 degree, clear water.
After lunch we travelled towards the peninsula looking for whales. We found a blue whale cow calf pair and we did managed to get a few good looks. There were some common dolphin and a pair of humpbacks in the area also.
More tomorrow,
Capt Art

Hello whalewatchers,
Today we spent all morning with loads of humpbacks. I’m sure we saw 100 whales and we enjoyed all the great behaviors these whales exhibit–lots of breaching, tail lobbing, fluking and flipper flapping often very close to the Searcher. We saw a cow and calf with an escort and the calf was very young. It looked tiny in comparison to its mom.
The weather cooperated until about noon and then we had some wind and sea.
After lunch we went ashore at Bahia Los Frailes and everyone had a chance to see Xantus hummingbirds up close and those who wanted to snorkel did, in 74 degree, clear water.
We are headed north to Isla San Jose.
More tomorrow,
Capt Art

Hello whalewatchers,
We enjoyed great day for whalewatching with not much wind and very little sea, though we didn’t see a whole lot until the afternoon. We saw a sei whale briefly, just long enough to ID it. Then it vanished and we didn’t see it again.
We went a little further and saw humpbacks breaching in the distance so we went that way. We had a great show with breaching and tail lobbing. There were three whales together and we were able to stay with them for a while. We saw about 10 other humpbacks and some bottlenose dolphin.
Next we saw a area of about 100 black storm petrels feeding, along with the occasional frigatebird.
All in all a great day! Looking forward to tomorrow around the Gorda Banks for more humpbacks.
Capt Art

Hello there,
We had a picture perfect day in Laguna San Ignacio today. Clear skies, light winds and lots of whales.
We started the day with a early trip to the mangroves. All the usual species of birds were seen. After breakfast the pangas went out whalewatching on the first trip of the day. They saw plenty of whales but no curiuos encounters. The second trip this morning had a cow/calf pair that was curious and everyone had a close encounter. Lots of smiling faces!
We took a break for lunch and after lunch, we had one panga take a group to the beach and two pangas went back out to visit the whales. Everyone had a great afternoon.
We left the lagoon and are headed south to look for some more whales,
More tomorrow,
Capt Art

Hello there,
We had an excellent day today at Islas San Benito. The weather was perfect and just the right temp for hiking.
Our day started north of the island watching two blue whales with great looks at both whales. They seemed to be juveniles, not great big whales. It is good to see blue whales this early and this far north.
There were plenty of Guadalupe fur seals here. We looked at them on the way to the island. And lots of elephant seals. There has been some rainfall here this winter as the island has plant life leafing out and even a few flowers. Everyone enjoyed the island.
After we left we didn’t see any large whales but we did see lots of life with bait fish, pelicans, shearwaters, gulls and comon dolphin. The weather is better with diminishing seas and almost no wind.
Looking forward to our first visit to Laguna San Ignacio,
Capt Art

Hello whalewatchers:
We begin our 2010 natural history season!
We had good weather with a moderate swell and light winds and sunny skies. After a short visit to Islas Todos Santos where we saw several oystercatchers and the usual pinnepeds, we headed south looking for southbound gray whales. We saw just a few animals heading south. Before departing on this trip I had reports from other captains travelling north along Baja who saw several gray whales close to the coast. We enjoyed great bird watching with the highlight being two layson albatross.
We did see a large group of shortbeaked common dolphins, approximately 1000 animals, and one humpback whale. All in all, a great day offshore.
We will arrive at Islas San Benito tomorrow morning.
More tomorrow,
Capt Art