We are a bit behind on our reporting, but the group has had good success so far. Ashy and Wilson’s storm petrels, pink-footed and Buller’s shearwaters, black-footed albatross…and…this morning, a Hawaiian petrel! All are thrilled with that sighting and have high hopes for the rest of the day, up in the central California islands and deep canyons.
Hello all,
The final day of “Wildlife Weekend” has been great with calm seas and sunny skies. We had great viewing of pinnipeds at Islas Los Coronados with all three species –harbor seals, Northern elephant seals and California sea lions. We had great looks at both types of oystercatchers, cormorants, brown pelicans with chicks, peregrine falcon, American kestrel, surf scoter and the highlight was the sighting of two pigeon guillemots not seen very often this far south.
Pigeon Guillemots at Los Coronados. photo by Tom Blackman
We left the islands and saw shearwaters, Cassins auklets, Xantus murrelets and then we came upon a group of bottlenose dolphin feeding. We were able to stop in the middle of the group and listen to them vocalize through the hydrophone that we permanently installed in the hull. We are glad to know the hydrophone works in its new spot on the boat.
A little further north we came upon about 200 common dolphin. What a great way to end our trip! All in all a fantastic trip.
Tom Blackman’s photo of adult Risso’s dolphin with a calf jumping out of the water!
Thanks to all who joined us and those who’ve read along,
Capt Art
Hello whalewatchers,
We left the Coronados at 1:00 am and travelled west 40 miles to the San Clemente basin and then went north for 10 miles, staying in US waters. We started with several black storm petrels, sooty and pink-footed shearwaters and a fin whale. It didn’t taske very long with the fish oil chum behind the boat to draw in a black-ooted albatross.
The weather continued to get better with very little wind and diminishing sea conditions. We went through an area where there were dark-rumped and light-rumped leachs storm petrels, along with black and an occasional ashy storm petrel as well.
We continued to see fin whales with a total for the day at 8 or 9 whales. Midday we came across a group of Rissos dolphin. In the group were a couple of breaching dolphin, and the highlight was two cow and calf pairs that allowed us to get very close to and follow for quite sometime.
After that we laid out a large chum slick and added Northern fulmar to the list and also two south polar skuas.
With great weather now–sunny skies and calm seas we continued east in US water the rest of the day and had plenty to look at. A few Xantus murrelets, and Cassins auklets were added to the list. Once we reached the 9-mile bank we came across a group of 10 bottlenose dolphins.
We are hopeful that on our way back to San Diego tomorrow we will end the trip with a big herd of dolphin.
We are spending a couple of hours at the Coronados in the morning to take a look at the pinnipeds and the brown boobies and maybe an oystercatcher or two.
More tomorrow,
Capt Art
Hello all,
Our first day of our spring wildlife weekend was a success. Good birding! Black-vented, sooty, flesh-footed and pink-footed shearwaters, Cassin’s and rhino auklets, common murres, Xantus murrelets, red-necked phalaropes, black and ashy storm petrels, royal and elegant terns, and plenty of gulls.
We saw bottlenose dolphin in the harbor with California sea lions. Since the weather was a little choppy we elected to head downswell to the area with some whale reports. We saw one blue whale really close and about 20 fin whales really close at times. We also saw about 20 Rissos dolphins. What an afternoon of whale watching! You can’t ask for more than that. We are headed offshore tonight and we will see what tomorrow brings.
Capt Art
Wish them luck finding whales and seabirds this weekend! Winds are high today, but forecasts show it diminishing tonight and tomorrow. Unusually cold San Diego weather greeted our guests at the dock this morning, but it’s supposed to warm up!
Mid-day report: Black and ashy storm petrels, pink-footed and black-vented shearwaters, brown booby, royal and elegant terns, Cassins auklets and Xantus murrelets, and now watching a blue whale!
Our Baja and birding naturalist, Peter Gaede, brought his son, Lucas Gaede. We are seeing the next generation of wildlife leadership!
Dear whalewatchers:
After a beautiful sunrise at Isla Cerralvo, we had perfect ocean conditions but very little wildlife action for the morning. However things heated up around lunchtime as we found bottlenose dolphins with a juvenile humpback, several more humpbacks, and even a trio of humpbacks (mother, calf and escort) that allowed us to observe them for more than an hour. The calf surfaced often right next to the boat.
We travelled south to find more whales and also found a large school of smooth-tailed mobula rays that swam right under the surface and also right next to the boat. Every few minutes one would leap out of the water, challenging the photographers. But the water clarity let us follow the entire school for about 30 minutes.
At sunset, two humpbacks joined a single after it breached several times for all to see. We watched a trio into the sunset to end our day.
Tonight we’ll share our last dinner and stories from this fun trip.
Capt Art
We have great whalewatching weather today so we are “Searching…”
Dear whalewatchers:
Today was a day full of wildlife activities. We started with a pre-breakfast mangrove skiff ride to see birds such as herons, egrets, osprey, night herons, shorebirds, oystercatchers, and the elusive mangrove warbler! There were many warblers today, maybe because their nesting season is approaching and the males were territorial enough to chase each other around. It was a beautiful morning in a special place on the south end of Isla San Jose.
After breakfast we visited Isla San Francisco and everyone enjoyed this gorgeous beach and cove. Some people hiked up the cliff for a view of the Sea of Cortez and others snorkeled in the rocky cove and over the sandy bottom.
After a bit of travel, we arrived at Los Islotes for another snorkel with the sea lions. We decided to do something different on our last trip of 2012 and have a beach party with Charles’ BBQ and a fantastic sunset from the beach tonght. Oh yeah, there’ll be some margaritas to drink too.
We are looking forward to more whalewatching in the humpback zone tomorrow. Who knows what else we will find!
Capt Art
Hello whalewatchers:
Today we went ashore at Isla Santa Catalina. There was a slight breeze so it was cooler today. That resulted in less reptiles with the exception of two rattlelss rattlesnakes. They were in the same area as last trip. As usual, the cactus are tremendous and all the cardons are within days of full bloom.
Part of the group had a snorkel session and a few people went on a Krazy Koastal Kruise with Kapt Kenny to see dolphins and Sally Lightfoot crabs.
We had lunch at anchor and then ventured out to look for whales. It was windy so we worked south with the wind and swell. We saw a large herd of common dolphin and a humpback whale that breached a few times.
Looking forward to tomorrow at Isla San Jose and Isla San Francisco.
Capt Art
p.s. Marin “helping” Chef Charles clean the frosting bowl…
