Captain's Blog

Hello whalewatchers: What a start to trip #4! After leaving Ensenada we came across a group of about 50 false killer whales. We spent close to two hours with the group and had some up-close looks at them. We also were able to turn the hydro =phone on and hear these whales vocalize. It is a high pitched squeal. Very cool!
Since we spent so much time looking at these rare whales we decided to forgo our time at Isla Todos Santos. We started travelling south and saw some long-beaked common dolphin, northbound gray whales and a single humpback that was exhibiting an unusal behavior, going through floating pieces of kelp and opening its mouth. It appeared to be feeding on what ever was associated with the kelp. It also did some pectoral flipper flapping. The weather is awesome with calm seas and no wind.
More later, Team Searcher

Hello whalewatchers: We had another great day full of activity. We started at daylight with a skiff trip into the mangroves at San Jose. We travelled south towards Los Islotes and we saw some more common dolphin, a humpback and a group of 50 short-finned pilot whales. We arrived at Los Islotes at 11 am and did a skiff ride and a snorkel session before lunch.  The finale was a blue whale that we were able to track and everyone had some great looks at a big blue whale and its flukes. A great way to end our trip. By the way the weather again was outstanding.
Team Searcher

Hello whalewatchers: We’ve had a busy morning with lots of common dolphins, bottlenose dolphin, surface-feeding humpbacks, manta rays, a pair of fin whales, a close-up tropicbird, and a blue whale in the distance. Wow! We are enjoying sunny skies and breezy conditions. We are headed south with a stop somewhere on the peninsula later.
Today’s picture is one of the fin whales.
Team Searcher

Hello whalewatchers: We had an interesting afternoon today. The crew found a humpback whale in the distance and the closer we got the more life we saw–hundreds of blue-footed boobies, which is something different this year. We attribute  it to the warmer water. The whale was feeding on the surface on the small bait fish in the area along with all the birds and hundreds of common dolphin. After a while the roof crew spotted another whale in the distance and it was a blue whale and another humpback in the same area. We spent the rest of the day with the blue whale. A very productive 2.5 hours….
Tonight’s picture is of a wavy barrel cactus bloom–very pretty.
Team Searcher

Hello whalewatchers: We enjoyed a beautiful morning ashore at Isla Santa Catalina. The group found two rattleless rattlesnakes!The plants are at various stages of blooming and some are just about to bloom. The cardon cactus are blooming as well as some of the barrell cactus. There was a Krazy Koastal Kruise with some bottlenose dolphin for a finale and a really nice snorkel session with 70 degree water and and good visibility.
Today’s picture is of some of our passengers in the arroyo this morning.
More later, Team Searcher

Hello whalewatchers: We had a great day starting with sunrise at Punta Colorado, a great ride up from Los Frailes which we are always grateful for, a good hike with lots of flowers, and then a good snorkel session. We left the island and came upon a megaherd of long-beaked common dolphins. We stayed with them for a while and got our fill of dolphins and then travelled northwest towards the peninsula. We saw several black storm petrels prior to finding our first blue whale. we followed it for an hour matching its speed and heading so everyone had great looks at this whale.
We are headed to Isla Santa Catalina to spend the night and go ashore in the morning.
Team Searcher
Today’s picture is of the cliffs at Punta Colorado at sunrise with the perfect lighting.

Hello whalewatchers: What an incredible day of humpback whalewatching! The weather is awesome, the air temps are in  the 80’s, and the group had a good snorkel session at Los Frailles with 75 -degree water and incredible visibility. Even Capt. Art went for a dip to cool off. This afternoon’s picture is a view of the beach at Los Frailes.
More tomorrow, Team Searcher

Hello whalewatchers: As Februrary comes to a close, I have to say we have had an incredible month of whalewatching! Today we are watching humpbacks in the Gorda Banks area. There are multiple groups of humpbacks from 3-8 whales in a group. It has been fantastic so far today and it is only 10 am (ships time). Once again we have had a group of whales hang out with the boat. It appears they were curious about us. Remarkable!
Today’s picture is of multiple whales on the surface in close proximity to us.
The weather is awesome with sunny skies, calm seas and warm temperatures.
More later, Team Searcher

Hello whalewatchers:Today started out with windy and tough conditions, but we saw a few common dolphin early and then a long dry spell. After lunch things livened up with a big group of common dolphin and some bird life– shearwaters, gulls, red phalropes and a single brown booby. We saw a single humpback whale and decided to follow this whale because we hadn’t seen too much. This whale provided all the entertainment for the day. It stayed with us for over an hour and tail-lobbed repeatedly for the entire time. At times it was directly under us on the sounder at 120 feet down and then on the surface right next to us. We had great looks and the tail-lobbing that close to the boat within a 100 feet was something we don’t see much. Today’s picture is of the whales flukes close by.
More tomorrow, Team Searcher