Trip Reports

Hello whalewatchers,
Today we had great weather with light winds and calm seas. We started out with a few dolphins and a few shearwaters. The morning started  a little slow and then we got started!  First it was a pair of humpbacks and then a single blue whale that we had a really good looks at.  Then a few more humpbacks and then the usual slow period south of the entrance to Bahia Magdalena. We came across a Bryde’s whale and then shortly after that a fin whale. So we have seen four different species of baleen whales just today.
There were plenty of pink-footed shearwaters and the further south we got more red phalaropes, jaegers and frigatebirds. The tally on the phalaropes reached into the thousands.
We came across another Bryde’s whale that gave us a good look and then the finale with a very large blue whale  that we were able to stay with. We had some excellent looks up close of this blue whale and that made everyone very happy.
The sunset is fabulous and we are looking forward to some more whales tomorrow.
Capt Art

Hello whalewatchers,
We had a tremendous day in Laguna San Ignacio today. There are a lot of whales in this lagoon.  The census reported 325 whales four days ago and there has been a steady stream of whales all day. Passengers enjoyed lots of close encounters with cows and calves. We had a cow and calf visit us here at the Searcher for an hour or more and that is always a treat to see.
The weather was great with sunny skies and light winds all day. With the clear skies it should be great for l”ights out” this evening.
Looking forward to tomorrow with more panga trips to visit the whales and a mid morning mangrove trip with the tide.
Capt Art

Hello whalewatchers,
We had a great day today at Islas San Benito–great weather light winds and sunny skies. There were lots of Northern elephant seals, sea lions. Guadalupe furs seals and a few harbor seals. And good looks at ospreys on their nests.
Everyone enjoyed the hike to the lighthouse with almost everyone participating. The flowers are in full bloom with even more flowers than two weeks ago. There are carpets of yellow flowers, lots of blue dicks, cliff spurge, island mallow and a few Dudleya blooming.
We are currently traveling southeast towards Laguna San Ignacio arriving after breakfast tomorrow. Looking forward to getting back there. Especially with the latest census numbers with over 300 hundred gray whales in the lagoon.
More tomorrow,
Capt Art

Hello whalewatchers,
We have departed on our second trip and had our first opportunity to view some wildlife today. What an incredible day it was! We saw a few dolphin outside of Ensenada and then we saw all three pinnipeds at Islas Todos Santos along with all the usual birds to go with them.
Before lunch we had seen gray whales, fin whales and humpback whales. The grays were northbound, The fins were just milling around, and the humpbacks seemed to be staying in the same area. One of our naturalists, Lee Morgan, recognized the humpbacks. They are a pair that he has seen before and photographed in Canada late last year. He also told us the same two whales have been seen in Cabo San Lucas. They are named whales as well: Spreckles and Sarge. Pretty remarkable! All this happened before lunch.
After lunch the species list grew with both short- and long- beaked common dolphin, Pacific white-sided dolphins and some more fin whales to make the total of 10 fin whales for the day.
The birdwatchers had a great day as well with plenty of shearwaters, alcids and a Laysan albatross (shown in the photo here).
We have seen four different dolphins, three different baleen whales, and three different pinnipeds and it is day 1.
I think we need to start pacing ourselves.
More tomorrow,
Capt Art

Hello whalewatchers,
We had another great day with sunny skies and calm seas. The group went ashore on Isla Santa Catalina early and everyone loved the cactus. I went for a walk for some exercise and found a few things in bloom and plenty of greenery on the various shrubs. Upon returning there was alot of interest in a Krazy Koastal Kruise (with Kaptain Kenny or Kole) so we sent three skiffs out for some birdwatching and photography of the scenery. A few people also went for a snorkel.
We left the island and immediately found two blue whales–and a cow and calf pair of blue whales in the distance. We stayed with one of the individuals for awhile because it was fluking which is always a crowd=pleaser. We were able to get a good look at this whale and its flukes.

We decided to head west towards Isla Monserate with hopes of finding more whales and maybe a different species or two. We found four more blue whales and another one pleased us with its tail fluke. Two fluking blue whales in an afternoon–that was great!
We are headed to the Bahia Agua Verde area for the night and we will take it from there. Looks like good weather again tomorrow.
Capt Art

p.s. Photo by Val Shore. Thanks, Val! See you next year!

Hello whalewatchers,
We had an extraordinary day today! It started with a great sunset at Punta Colorado, Isla San Jose, then a skiff ride followed by a hike on the island, and then a snorkel for those interested. The water was a bit chilly in the mid 60’s with good visibility.
Then the fun began. I have seen quite a few spectacular things in the Sea Of Cortez and today has to be one of the top 10 in my career. We started seeing large groups of birds diving and the closer we got the more life was seen with 2000 to 3000 common dolphin along with 10 to 12 Brydes whales, all feeding in the same area on small bait fish. We saw Brydes whales lunging through these large balls of baitfish, dolphins in the same area along with pelicans, frigates, gulls and a few boobies. There were at least 10 different schools of bait fish twice the size of the Searcher in a 2 square mile area. It was hard to decide which area to be in. We narrowed it down to where the Brydes whales were feeding. This all happened in less than an hour from leaving Punta Colorado. In every direction you looked there were feeding frenzies.

After about 2 hours of observing this we decided to leave and head for a tall spout in the distance and found it to be a blue whale. It was diving deep and down for several minutes so we continued on and the boys up top found another blue whale that turned out to be  a cow and calf. We followed them for about a half an hour and decide since we only had an hour of daylight left to continue on and see what else we could see. Just as we sped up to leave the calf surfaced right next to us, we stopped and the calf about 35 feet in length came alongside us and went right under the bow. It circled us for about a half hour staying very close. It was incredible to have this happen. I have only seen it maybe twice before so it was very special . We saw the cow about a half mile from us and she stayed at that distance while the calf stayed with us. What an experience! When we thought the calf had left us there was another whale that surfaced right next to us and we realized it was not the blue whale calf but a Brydes whale. It came out of nowhere and surprised all of us. We started seeing multiple spouts in the area and we thought there might be 4 blue whales and 2 Brydes whales within a half mile of us. What a way to end this incredible day.
Just when you think you’ve seen it all on one of these trips events like this happen and you know that you never know what might happen in this special place.
More tomorrow,
Capt Art