Trip Reports

Hello whalewatchers, Today started with  a great sunrise but lots of wind. We were very lucky though, approaching Isla Santa Catalina we came across our first blue whale and we were able to see 6 or 7 surfaces. The whale seemed to be staying in the same general area so we decided to proceed and go ashore. Everyone enjoyed the island and I can tell you that the island is greener than usual and some of the trail is overgrown a little. The cactus are doing fine!
We returned to the Searcher for a Krazy Koastal Kruise (maybe by Kaptain Kenny) and a snorkel. The visibilty was outstanding but the temperature was a chilly 66 degrees!  We saw a few bottlenose dolphin before the sunset and some bird life.
Hoping for less wind tomorrow, Team Searcher

Hello whalewatchers: Happy Valetines Day!
We ended up at Isla Espiritu Santo this morning for breakfast and a beach walk. After having lunch in this great spot, El Candelero, we ventured up the island and visited Los Islotes for a skiff ride and snorkel session with the sea lions. Everyone had  a great time there with plenty of snorkel stories. There was good bird watching there as well with plenty of blue-footed boobies, frigates, yellow-footed gulls and more. We are currently heading north towards Isla San Jose with plans to stop in another calm spot for a few hours tonight so everyone can get some good sleep, as we had a bumpy ride last night.
More tomorrow from Isla Catalina.
Team Searcher

Hello whalewatchers: We had a wonderful morning in the Gorda Banks area at the tip of the Baja peninsula. We enjoyed lots of humpbacks, some with calves and escorts and groups of multiple animals. We saw breaching and pectoral flippers, flukes and more flukes. Just a great day with humpbacks. We also had time with long-beaked common dolphin, smooth-tailed mobulas and a few manta rays. We finished the day with a walk and snorkel at Los Frailes.
More tomorrow, Team Searcher

Hello whalewatchers: We had a productive day outside of Bahia Magdalena. It started with a masked booby at sunrise. Next was a good area of long-beaked common dolphin. Next we saw some northbound gray whales, followed by a close look at a Bryde’s whale with a calf. It is always a treat to get good looks at Bryde’s whales since the majority of the time they are a little hard to watch.
We found four humpbacks and had some great looks up close with flukes, and we were able to see their pectoral fins really well. Continuing south we came across an area of 15-20 northbound gray whales. The water is cleaner here than in Laguna San Ignacio so we were able to really see the whole whale. Always great to see gray whales this far south. We were 570 miles south of San Diego. We had a lull in the action in the afternoon and we are hoping for some action before dark.

Our photo shows the white “wings” on the humpback whales today.
Team Searcher

Hello whalewatchers,
Today was a great day in Laguna San Ignacio. There are more gray whales here  and while there hasn’t been a census recently, the estimate is around 200 whales total. We were able to get four trips in today and there were some close encounters for everyone. The weather was good with sunny skies though a little breeze made it chilly. There was a period late morinng until after lunch with no wind. It made for a great trip right before lunch. The lagoon was at its best at that point. We followed tradition and after dinner shut down the lights and the generator for some silence and some great star gazing. I think everyone enjoyed that.
Looking forward to tomoreow.
Today’s picture is a shot of a gray whale close to the Searcher from the upper deck. It was great whale watching from the Searcher all day.
Team Searcher

Hello whalewatchers,
We had a great day at Islas San Benitos today. It was a bit chilly and windy, but good temperature for a hike. Some of the group made the 6-mile loop to the lighthouse and the rest spent a lot of time with elephant seals and a few Guadalupe fur seals. There were not that many fur seals this trip, less than 10. Quite different from last trip where the group saw more than 200 in the same location. Marc Webber reported mating and fighting elephant seals, and Paul Jones had some great looks at osprey. We cruised by East island to see if there were more fur seals over there but didn’t see too many. They were out for lunch or something.
I went for my usual trek up to the lighthouse and back for some exercise.
We are headed south to Laguna San Ignacio for tomorrow. We should arrive after breakfast.
Team Searcher
Today’s photo is a skiff returning with passengers from the island hike.

Hello whalewatchers; Today was a great day! We had a good stop at Islas Todos Santos with all the usual suspects on the island. As soon as we got to the south end of the island we started seeing gray whales offshore. We saw a single northbound whale, and not very far away we saw a trio of southbound whales with several other whales in the area. We continued south and came across an area with approximately 10 fin whales. We had some great looks of them with good lighting and we were able to see the lower right jaw of the whale that is white. It makes it unmistakably a fin whale! We spent an hour in the area and then continued south. Shortly after the fin whales we came across two humpback whales that were hanging out in the same area so we had some great looks at them as well. We had a treat at the end of the day with an laysan albatross.
More tomorrow, Team Searcher

p.s. Photo by Charles Howell