Hello whalewatchers!
Our passengers enjoyed humpback whale songs this morning. Capt Art recorded it and sent an audio file. We’ve attached some photos taken by our past passengers so you can listen and enjoy as well.
Happy Valentine’s Day from the courting humpbacks!
Team Searcher
Hello whalewatchers,
We have had a great morning! We’ve enjoyed several humpback whale sightings: singles, doubles and up to four whales in a group. We followed a group of four for over an hour, and we could say they followed us at times too. The whales hung around the boat, they laid under the bow, and with clear sea water we were able to have a great view of them. Loads of photo opportunities for everyone!
For the birders we had great looks at masked boobies, red billed tropicbird, California gulls, pink-footed shearwaters and frigatebirds. Needless to say, we have been busy. We’re really enjoying the great weather with light winds and calm seas too. The photo at the top is of humpback whales watching us.
Day’s end report:
It was a full day of humpback whales today. We saw approximately 35 humpback whales today, with multiple breachings in the distance with some lobtailing and flipper flapping too. Also had good bird watching, some bottlenose dolphin sightings, and the occasional sea turtle. It was a great day for everyone and we are looking forward to some more humpbacks tomorrow. 
Here is a photo of a humpback whale surfacing close to the boat. We were drifting and waiting for the trio of whales to come up, and they turned around and headed towards the boat. Two of them laid under the bow as we were drifting. It was great to see them in such clean water.
Captain Art and Team Searcher
Hello whalewatchers,
Mangrove birding excursions
We had more wind today but we managed to get two whalewatchings trips in. After lunch the group went into the mangroves for a good birding trip during the high tide.
To read about some of the birds we see on our tours, including mangrove species, click here: Birds of Baja
Unfortunately, they noticed a dead adult whale on the beach on their way back to the boat but everyone could see the size and shape of the whale.
After a quick break, the pangas went out for the final trip to see the whales. As usual, Laguna San Ignacio provided everyone with a chance to visit gray whales in their natural place and it was a successful visit. We have lots of happy people currently enjoying a Baja sunset. We are always grateful for our time spent here, among the whales, birds, fishes, and more.
Captain Art and Team Searcher
Hello whalewatchers,
We had a great today with calm seas and light winds. Navigating the lagoon’s entrance was similar to last year and so we had an easy journey in to anchor among the gray whales. After we anchored, two small boats (pangas) arrived to take the first whalewatching trip out by 8:30 this morning. We were able to get four trips in the pangas today. There were close encounters between gray whales and passengers on many of the trips. Everyone is very happy in the galley this evening and the happy hour flag is up!
We were lucky to have an adult gray whale breach close to the boat and that is our photo of the day.
Breaching gray whale next to Searcher!
Capt Art and Team Searcher
(Thank you to Nigel Carter for the large photo above.)
Hello whalewatchers,
Osprey by Colin Barber
We had a great day at San Benito today. With overcast conditions and light winds, everyone enjoyed great hiking weather. The group saw lots of elephant seals and 7 Guadalupe fur seals, a rare and endangered seal. There were female elephant seals with pups on the beach at the village where we land our skiffs, and a pair of osprey on the rocks there as well.
We are headed south again enroute to Laguna San Ignacio. We have seen several Cassin’s auklets on the way with a trio of gray whales headed south as well.
Skiff returns to Searcher with happy hikers!
Captain Art and Team Searcher
Hello whalewatchers,
We departed on our first Baja Whales and Wildlife trip of 2019 and we are excited to get started!
We arrived in Ensenada to take care of all the Mexico immigration requirements. Then we made a brief stop at Isla Todos Santos for viewing wildlife at this offshore island. We observed pinnipeds such as elephant seals, California sea lions, and harbor seals. For bird life, we saw oystercatchers, cormorants,
American oystercatchers by Nigel Carter
pelicans and Western gulls. Click here to see many birds to be seen on our Baja trips: Birds of Baja
After leaving the island we saw several southbound gray whales— approximately 30-40 whales. For the seabirds, we saw several black-vented shearwaters, Cassins auklets and the highlight of the day was seeing three black-footed albatross flying and sitting on the water.
Black-footed albatross by Tom Blackman
We are arriving at Islas San Benito tomorrow morning after breakfast.
Captain Art and Team Searcher
A wonderful group of whalewatchers departed San Diego last night for a southbound migration to Baja California!
“San Diego to Cabo San Lucas, and lots of whales and wildlife in between!”
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Hello all,
For our final day on this research trip, we stayed another day at Isla Cerralvo. Our schedule was a little more relaxed than the rest of the trip. Our scientists needed time to work on their notes, enjoy some snorkeling time and recover from 12 days of hiking and collecting. The consensus from all is that the trip has been a huge success with new records of plants, insects, mammals, and reptiles. The data will be submitted and a new book on the islands of the southern Sea of Cortez will be published.
It was a privilege for Team Searcher to be a part of this expedition and help rewrite science for the region. Thanks to everyone involved, especially Sula Vanderplank.
We ended our day with one of Baja’s famous colorful sunsets!
Captain Art and Team Searcher
Hello all,
Today is our second day at Isla San Jose. The small mammal team went ashore after we picked up the overnight campers at first light. We moved north a couple miles to the largest arroyo on the island (pictured here). It is located on the western side in the middle of the island. The botany team went ashore for the day. A few hours later we picked up the mammal team. They had a very successful morning getting important data on kangaroo rats and deer mice on this island.
Botany team stays busy in the evenings by pressing the plants collected during the day.
After lunch the reptile team went out and had minimal results. We picked everyone up and moved to the south of the island and took the entire group into the mangroves. Everyone enjoyed the trip! We saw lots of birds and many enjoyed a snorkel trip too. We are traveling south to our last island tonight which will be Isla Cerralvo for 2 days.
We’ve seen a juvenile humpback whale and bottlenose dolphins around the islands. Not much else to report for cetaceans!
Captain Art and Team Searcher
We are all enjoying the Sea of Cortez sunsets!
November 17
Hello all,
We started our day at Isla San Diego, a small island north of Isla San Jose. 
The list of plants surveyed on this island today is 4 pages long! We spent two hours there and it was a successful visit with some new records of plants by the botanists.
We traveled south to the north end of Isla San Jose where there is a lagoon with some dune habitat. Also on that beach there are sea turtle nests. People snorkeled there and reported seeing hundreds of garden eels!
We moved again to a spot where we went ashore and set the mammal and reptile traps that will remain overnight. After dinner a nocturnal team went ashore for more scorpion viewing. There are also four overnight campers enjoying the night skies.
Scott Tremor, San Diego Natural History Museum’s mammalogist and key investigator on this trip, shows us the device he is using to identify
the Sea of Cortez bats. He is able to recording their sounds which identifies the species of bat flying around!
Captain Art and Team Searcher
