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Trip Reports

Tour #5 Islas San Benito March 27

Hello all,
Today we arrived at Islas San Benito. Prior to getting here we had two pairs of albatross in our wake–one pair of laysan albatross and one pair of black-footed albatross. We also had a red-billed tropic bird.
After arriving at the island we put our skiffs in the water and got everyone in for a skiff ride to look at the Guadalupe fur seals, California sea lions and northern elephant seals before going ashore for a hike.

Everyone had a great day and after we departed, we were really fortunate to get a group of Pacific white-sided dolphin that bow rode for quite a while.
We are headed south towards Laguna San Ignacio arriving tomorrow morning.
Looking forward to getting there again.
More then,
Capt Art

2011-03-27T16:44:43-07:00March 27th, 2011|Trip Reports|
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Tour #5 Whale and seabird day March 26

Hello whalewatcher,
Today was an excellent day with several whale sightings. We started the day with a group of long-beaked common dolphin in Bahia Ensenada. Then prior to arriving at Islas Todos Santos, we saw a fin whale that we are sure is the same whale we have seen on previous trips.
After a brief stop at the island where we saw all three pinniped species: elephant seal, harbor seal and California sea lion, along with oystercatchers, peregrine falcons and pelicans on the nest with older chicks.
We headed south and came across some short-beaked common dolphin and another group of long-beaked common dolphin. Shortly after that we saw a group of northbound gray whales and just as we were getting in good position to have a close look, a minke whale surfaced on the bow. We spent some time with the minke and had some great looks with perfect lighting so as to see the white pectoral flippers.
After the minke whale we went a little further south and came across a group of three humpback whales and we had some great fluke shots. All this before lunch–pretty amazing!
Also we have had good birdwatching with the highlight being black-footed albatross. We also saw lots of Sabines and Bonaparte’s gulls, sooty shearwaters , black-vented shearwaters, Xantus’ murrelets and Cassin’s auklets.
Truly a remarkable morning….
This afternoon we came across an area that had at least 25 fin whales, and with some up-close looks and we were able to see the classic field mark on the fin whale of the white lower right jaw. Then we found a few more humpbacks and red phalaropes and Bonaparte’s gulls galore.
I believe we have seen over 50 whales today and our total species list is six different cetaceans and three different pinnipeds.
More tomorrow,
Capt Art

p.s. photo thanks to Matthew Dillon.

2020-07-15T16:35:23-07:00March 26th, 2011|Trip Reports|
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Tour #5 Big First Morning! March 26

Dear whalewatchers:
We have seen 9 species of marine mammals since leaving Ensenada harbor (for our immigration stop into Mexico) and it’s not even lunchtime yet! We’ve seen fin, gray, humpback, minke whales, and two species of dolphins. We also saw elephant seals, harbor seals, and California sea lions at Islas Todos Santos.

The weather is fine too. A full report for the day will follow.

Capt Art

2011-03-26T16:04:49-07:00March 26th, 2011|Trip Reports|
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Tour #4 Another whale species and underwater fun March 19

Hello whalewatcher,
Ttoday was another remarkable day with calm seas and wind. We started the day at the south end of Isla San Jose in the mangroves. Everyone enjoyed the skiff ride. We left there and headed south towards Los Islotes for another skiff ride and a snorkel with the sea lions.
Everyone enjoyed the stay at Los Islotes. The water was warm and there was a tremendous amount of life around the islets–lots of bait fish, pelicans diving and lots of sea lions.
We left there and headed south. We travelled for an hour and spotted three dwarf sperm whales on the surface. We were able to get close and I think it was best look we have ever had of these whales. The water was glassy and extremely calm, and we got within 50 feet of these whales. What a treat and a great way to end an incredible trip!

The group was awsome and the naturalists Michael Ellis and Armando Quintero from Footloose Forays were superb.
Looking forward to next trip,
Capt Art

2011-03-20T08:35:41-07:00March 20th, 2011|Trip Reports|
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Tour #4 Sunset/moonrise in Baja March 18

Hello whalewatchers,

Today we started at beautiful Bahia Agua Verde with a pre-breakfast walk. One of the local fishermen guided the group up to a small cave that has some cave paintings in it. Everyone enjoyed the cave and the walk.

After breakfast we had a combo skiff ride and snorkel for those interested. The water has warmed up to the low 70’s whish is a huge improvement over the past three trips. Around lunch time we went offshore to look for a whale or two we found a cow and calf Bryde’s whale, a cow and calf blue whale, fin whales in the distance and to finish the day, we came across about 100 to 150 pilot whales. That was spectacular! The moon rise and the sunset with the colors in the sky was as good as it gets. Just when we thought it couldn’t get any better, we shut the boat down including the generator and had complete silence with pilot whales spouting and the sunset along with the moon rise. Now it doesn’t get any better than that. It was a very powerful experience for everyone.
Headed south after the back deck buffet and margaritas.
More tomorrow,
Capt Art

2011-03-19T06:30:42-07:00March 19th, 2011|Trip Reports|
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Tour #4 Pilot whales and more March 17

Hello whalewatchers,
Today we spent the morning at Isla Santa Catalina and everyone had a great morning with a early hike among the amazing cactus, a snorkel before lunch and a few people had a “Crazy Coastal Cruise with Capt Cole.” They had bow-riding bottlenose dolphins in the skiff and that was pretty “Crazy.”
We left and went offshore to see if we could find some toothed whales. We were lucky and found a group of 100 pilot whales with a few bottlenose dolphin mixed in. We spent some time in deep-water looking for the other toothed whale (if you’ve been with us, you know who that is…) with no luck yet.
We did see 7 to 10 fin whales east of Isla Carmen and another herd of common dolphin at sunset. The area had a lot of life with whales dolphin, birds, fish and more. It was a very good ending to a perfect day.
More tomorrow,
Capt Art

2011-03-18T07:18:15-07:00March 18th, 2011|Trip Reports|
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Tour #4 Isla San Jose March 16

Hello whalewatchers,
Today started with a great sunrise at Punta Colorado on Isla San Jose. We took the group on a pre-breakfast skiff ride along the shoreline for about an hour and everyone thought it was worth getting up a little early for. After breakfast the group went ashore for a couple of hours and enjoyed the walk. After a quick break back at the boat, most people went snorkelling. The visibility is good and the water is now 70 degrees, which is six degrees warmer than last trip.
We had “Chuckwagon Burgers in Paradise” as we left Punta Colorado and went out searching for whales. We found a great big herd of common dolphins, a cow and calf Bryde’s whale and some other small baleen whales in the area. We spent most of our time during sunset with the dolphins, which was spectacular.
We are headed for Isla Catalina for the night and tomorrow morning.
Capt Art

2011-03-17T08:21:48-07:00March 17th, 2011|Trip Reports|
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Tour #4 Humpbacks!! March 15

Hello whalewatchers,
Here’s our mid-day report from the Gorda Banks area. We had great viewing of humpback whales all morning with all the classic behaviors associated with humpbacks. We started the day with a group of five whales and there were two in particular that breached several times. We have seen cows, calves and escorts multiple times with the calves breaching and flipper flapping. There have been times where every direction we looked, there were whales. It was an incredible morning. We put the cherry on top by stopping for 15 minutes with the hydrophone over the side. We had a great audio experience with multiple sounds coming from the humpbacks.
Oh and I forgot to mention we have calm conditions and it’s sunny and warm for a change, and dare I say it no wind!
More from Bahia Los Frailes later.
Capt Art

2011-03-15T20:39:13-07:00March 15th, 2011|Trip Reports|
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Tour #4 Bryde’s whales March 14

Hello whalewatchers,
We had a little slow period this afternoon where we didn’t see too much, but then we came across an area of bait fish on the surface. First we noticed the shearwaters feeding,  then we had great looks at a Bryde’s whale cow and calf. The ridges on the cow’s rostrum were very evident. Then we went a little further and came across a great big blue whale that we were able to track and we had some awesome close looks with perfect lighting, Then as a finale, the whale fluked right next to the boat! It doesn’t get much better than that.
The weather is good and we are looking forward to tomorrow where the forecast looks good as well.
Capt Art

2011-03-14T20:31:51-07:00March 14th, 2011|Trip Reports|
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Tour #4 BLUE whales! March 14

Hello whalewatchers,
Well we have had quite a morning already. It is only 9am and we have seen breaching humpbacks, a large herd of short-beaked common dolphin and two blue whales. They are all heading northwest so we haven’t really gone anywhere thus far, but we don’t mind!
The weather is good with a large ground swell that is very far apart and a light breeze from the northwest. Good enough conditions to work in today.
More later,
Capt Art

p.s. Photo is by Charles Howell of a surfacing blue whale, looking right down the blowholes. Notice the greenish water just below the surface? That’s the part of the whale still underwater.

2011-03-14T11:33:33-07:00March 14th, 2011|Trip Reports|
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