Captain's Blog

Hello whalewatchers,

We arrived in Laguna San Ignacio and we were greeted by many gray whales in the entrance. Passengers had two trips in the pangas and there were some close encounters with gray whales. Unfortunately the weather turned into steady rain showers! Intrepid passengers went out in the rain after lunch and they had a good trip. A second panga went out for the final trip in the rain and they had a close encounter with a mom and calf gray whale.

Capt Art and Team Searcher

Hello whalewatchers

We spent part of the day at Isla San Benito under rainy conditions–which is very unusual. Everyone got ashore while skies were clear, and then 11 am there was a downpour for an hour! Everyone returned early to get out of the weather. Despite the conditions, there were good sightings on pinnipeds: Northern elephant seal pups, weaners, a few females and even a few males still hanging around. There were Guadalupe fur seals in their spot on the island, and a few California sea lions were at the anchorage. Birds to watch include osprey, peregine falcon, Cassin’s auklets, black-vented shearwaters, and a masked booby flew by after leaving the island and landed on the water. We got a close look at it! A red footed booby also did a fly-by.

We are headed to Laguna San Ignacio for tomorrow.

Capt Art and Team Searcher

Thanks to Peter Dunn for photos.

Endemic savannah sparrow

Walking the island (photo from previous trip)

Masked booby surprised us

Hello whalewatchers:

Our first day of the trip started with clearing officially into Mexico. We traveled to Isla Todo Santos. We viewed several black oystercatchers, brown pelicans on the nest, western gulls, comorants, peregine falcons and a kestrel. Several harbor seals with pups, California sea lions and Northern elephant seal pups were on view also. The island is very green and in full bloom.

We saw several northbound gray whales south of the island with one large group of 8 gray whales close together! Our conditions changed and we had light winds and rain for most of the afternoon. We arrive at Islas San Benito tomorrow morning.

Capt Art and Team Searcher

Migrating gray whale

Islas Todos Santos

Gray whales

Hello whalewatchers:

We spent most of our day on dry land. We started at Punta Colorado on Isla San Jose and watched the sunrise over the sandstone cliffs. We went hiking and snorkeling there until lunch time. We then took off looking for marine wildlife around the northern end of Isla San Jose and the San Jose Channel. We saw very little, but got some good looks at the smooth-tailed mobula rays in the channel. We ended our day at Nopolo on the Baja peninsula looking for birds. Our birders were excited to find the endemic Xantus (Read all about the person Xantus here!) hummingbird here. We’ll be at Isla San Francisco tomorrow morning.

Captain Mike and Team Searcher

Xantus hummingbird

Walk on Isla San Jose

Mobula ray

Hello whalewatchers:

Wow, what a day here in the Sea of Cortez! We had beautiful weather all day today. We started our morning at Bahia Agua Verde this morning for a snorkel and a bird walk. The day didn’t really heat up until we left. Once we got above Isla Monserat we got into a huge area of feeding blue whales and fin whales. They put on quite a show for us. There must have been 30 of them within a few miles. They were up on the surface all around the boat, lunge feeding and skimming the surface as close as 50 feet from the boat.

Captain Mike and Team Searcher

Side-swimming blue whale feeding at the surface.