Captain's Blog

Hello whalewatchers,

We started the day with a trip to the mangroves for everyone where we found loads of male mangrove warblers and all the other usual birds. The trip was enjoyed by everyone. We had a quick break and then headed back out on the lagoon to visit gray whales. the conditions are great with no wind. Everyone had a close encounter with a gray whale this morning.
We had a great lunch and then went back out in calm conditions. Another close encounter for everyone.

The last trip was a beach walk/whalewatch so half the group went to the beach for a walk, and the rest went out for the last whale watch. The gray whales were active with lots of spyhopping and calves breaching. What a good final trip! Everyone was a little wet but happy.
We exited the lagoon and saw lots of mother/calf pairs in the surf.

Headed south tonight,

Capt Art and Team Searcher

Hello whalewatchers:

We arrived early to Laguna San Ignacio and were able to cross the bar at daylight! The pangas were ready to take us whalewatching when we got to the anchorage.

Everyone had a close encounter with a gray whale cow and calf on their first trip. Passengers were all smiles upon returning to Searcher. During lunch time we had a mother and calf gray whale visit Searcher so lunch was interrupted a bit….no one seemed to mind!

Capt Art and Team Searcher

(Many thanks to February, 2018 passenger Colin Barber for the use of his beautiful osprey photo!)

Hello whalewatchers,
We arrived to Islas San Benito before daylight today. We turned off most of our lights so the night-flying auklets and murrelets weren’t disoriented. A few that came aboard so we had a chance to get a good look at these birds before sending them back on their journeys safely.
We had windy conditions today and chilly temperatures–not feeling like “Sunny Baja” yet! The group saw Northern elephant seals–mostly pups/weaners, with a few females and sub-adults returning to molt–Guadalupe fur seals, and ospreys as well,
We are now travelling south towards Laguna San Ignacio and we have seen loads of shearwaters, Cassin’s auklets, and Scripps murrelets, and a brief visit from a laysan albatross.
Capt Art and Team Searcher

Hello whalewatchers,

We had a great day today with lots of wildlife sightings. We started off with about 1000 long=beaked common dolphin close to Islas Todos Santos.  We also saw multiple gray whales, most of them headed north, but one juvenile was headed south and we followed it for awhile and had a few good looks. There was another large group of common dolphins and plenty of sea birds: shearwaters, terns, black-footed albatross, fulmar, surf scoters, loons, and Cassins auklets too.

The further south we got the more wind we had, and several albatross visited us–mostly black-footed but also three laysan albatross late in the day.

We are arriving at Isla San Benito before breakfast tomorrow.

Capt Art and Team Searcher

Hello whalewatchers:

We all had a great day today starting with a good walk on Isla Santa Catalina–including finding the endemic rattleless rattlesnake! We offered a  “Crazy Coastal Cruise” and a snorkel session at this beautiful island as well.

We left the island and travelled west towards the peninsula hoping for some whales and dolphin. We were lucky again and found a single blue whale that was wonderful to watch. It dove for 10 minutes and was then on the surface for two minutes, all in the same area. We also saw a cow and calf blue whale to end this Baja-perfect day.

Laughing gull

We also found lots of bird life with elegant terns, Heermann’s gulls, brown pelicans, and a rare laughing gull.

We are having dinner on the back deck tonight with margaritas and music!

Capt Art and Team Searcher

Hello whalewatchers,

We had a very successful day starting with a great Baja California Sea of Cortez sunrise. Then everyone went in pangas to snorkel or observe whale sharks it was a great trip with lots of happy passengers. The weather was awesome and the visibility was clearer than normal so even the people that went to observe had great views. We left La Paz and travelled north. We came across a fin whale and the lighting was perfect to see the distinct lower right jaw. Great looks!

We ended the day at Los Islotes with a skiff ride and a snorkel session. We are headed further north tonight.

Capt Art and Team Searcher

(Many thanks to Moira Johnson for us of her dolphin photo from a previous trip!)

Hello whalewatchers,

We are enjoying great weather and great humpback whalewatching–lots of tail-lobbing as well as breaching and flipper flapping.  Even a few mothers and calves getting in on the action too! We all had plenty of opportunities to get different photos of tail flukes today.

We had a visit from some bottlenose dolphins in very clear water, and so the viewing of those dolphin on the bow was tremendous.

Red-billed tropicbird @ Rich Crossen

A red-billed tropicbird circled the boat at daylight and we’ve seen loads of Bonaparte’s gulls as well.

More later,

A tail-lobbing humpback whale entertained us this morning.

Captain Art and Team Searcher

Hello whalewatchers,

We’ve had a busy morning with loads of pelagic birds including storm petrels, boobies, frigates, Craveri’s murrelet, shearwaters, Sabine’s gulls and red phalaropes. (Click to see some Birds of Baja from our tours!)

We came across a single humpback whale that was breaching and pectoral “flipper flapping” repeatedly. We spent over an hour watching this great performance by a humpback whale.

More later,

Capt Art and Team Searcher

Hello whalewatchers,

We had a busy afternoon with another session with a humpback whale that was breaching and tail-lobbing. It was another great performance. (Notice the all white underside of the fluke on this whale.)
We were lucky to come across two very large herds of common dolphin with several thousand dolphins,  along with frigatebirds, shearwaters, gulls and a few boobies. The first group of dolphins had a large group of sea lions with them. It is always great to spend time with dolphins.

The weather was pretty good throughout the day with a little breeze this afternoon.

Headed over night to the Cabo San Lucas and Gorda Banks areas for tomorrow.

Capt Art and Team Searcher