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common dolphin

2016 Tour 1 offshore Ensenada and Islas Todos Santos

Hello whalewatchers: Our first day of the 2016 season was pretty exciting! We found plenty of life: common dolphins, pilot whales, and four different kinds of baleen whales: gray, humpback, a single minke, and several fin whales. One humpback whale gave us a breaching show too. It was a glorious day for weather with calm seas and almost no wind. And to end the day, we enjoyed a wonderful sunset with a green flash.
More tomorrow, Team Searcher

2016 tour1 pilot

A pilot whale surfaces and shows a distinctive dorsal fin.

2020-07-15T16:34:49-07:00February 9th, 2016|Trip Reports|
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Tour #5 Isla Santa Catalina

Hello whalewatchers: We’ve had another beautiful day in the Sea of Cortez. We started with a nice walk on Isla Santat Catalina and shortly after that, a very nice snorkel in perfect conditions. Not very long after we left the island there were a lot of dwarf sperm whales on the surface and we got to have several really good looks at those. After that we saw a small group of pilot whales and then it was dolphins pretty much all afternoon. To finish the day there was a couple square mile area of jumping smooth-tailed mobulas leaping all over the place. So we’re headed to Agua Verde for tomorrow. Today’s photo is the elusive endemic rattleless rattlesnake from Isla Santa Catalina.

tour 5 snake

Capt Aaron and the Searcher crew

2020-07-15T16:34:53-07:00April 2nd, 2015|Trip Reports|
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Tour 4 Isla Santa Catalina

Hello whalewatchers: The weather  is a highlight this trip with calm seas and light winds. We had a great morning aat Isla Santa Catalina with a good walk and a snorkel session along with a Crazy Coastal Cruise for those who wanted to go.
In the afternoon it was the dolphin show. A group of 25 bottlenose dolphins first entertained us. Then a large group of long-beaked common dolphin. There was between 1500 and 2000 dolphin. Another large group of 100 bottlenose performed in the wake for us.
We also had some smooth- tailed mobula leaping that everyone enjoyed. Two different areas kept us busy for a while. We can’t forget the landscape of the peninsula that is very dramatic in this area west of Bahia Agua Verde where we will anchor for the night. The finale was a great sunset that interrupted dinner. Everyone left the galley with their cameras .
Team Searcher

2020-07-15T16:34:54-07:00March 19th, 2015|Trip Reports|
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Tour #6 Capt Art’s favorite spot April 19

Hello whalewatchers,
Well our final day of 2011 season is here and we started the day in a great place at a great time–sunrise at Punta Colorado Isla San Jose. This is one of my favorite places in all of Baja.Thank you to Ilka Serpell who took this shot of Searcher at Punta Colorado earlier this year.

We had a beach walk on this beautiful island and then  started south towards Los Islotes looking for whales. We saw a juvenile humpback and a fin whale in windy conditions. We arived at Los Islotes and the wind died and we were able get a skiff ride and a snorkel in. We had great looks at blue-footed boobies and lots of sea lions.
We ended the trip by seeing a big group of long-beaked common dolphin and then had a quick look at a dwarf sperm whale.
What a great day for our final day! And what an incredible season we had with really good whale sightings all season and terrific guests! I can’t say enough about the people we met this year and how much fun we all had.

Thank you all so very much for joining us this year and we hope to see some of you in the future.

Keep checking my blog as we’ll continue to report from the San Diego area and about our upcoming Memorial Day Wildlife Weekend.

Capt Art

2020-07-15T16:35:22-07:00April 20th, 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 #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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Tour #2 Mid-day dolphins and humpbacks Feb 12

Hello whalewatchers,
Here’s our mid-day report from offshore Bahia Magdalena. We had calm seas, sunny skies, and a beautiful day. We came across a few dolphin this morning and the first bird we saw was a red-billed tropicbird. We also found a few humpback whales that were  traveling so we added another species of whale to our list.
A little further south we came across a megaherd of common dolphin. There had to be 2000 animals spread over a square mile area. It was really exciting to see so many dolphins! We followed one more humpback whale for awhile with great looks, but no acrobatics or fluking so we are taking a lunch break before continuing on.

More later,

Capt Art

p.s. Sally Walton took this photo of a big herd of common dolphins last year!

2011-02-12T13:02:04-08:00February 12th, 2011|Trip Reports|
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Tour #1 Feb 2 Gorda Banks

Hello all,
Today we are in the Gorda Banks area to look for humpbacks. Windy conditions further north weren’t good for whalewatching so we moved south. We started our day with a very large herd of common dolphin and then we added yet another species to our list. We saw a sei whale and got great looks at it. We thought it was a smaller fin whale but after looking at some great photos we determined it was definitely a sei whale.

We saw humpbacks over a large area. We were spotting mostly single whales until we came across a group of five whales and we stayed with them for quite awhile. Unfortunately the wind came up and the conditions made it hard to stay with the whales. We elected to go to Los Frailes and drop the anchor where it was calm.
We have seen 14 different species of cetaceans this trip for a total of 19 marine mammals (whales, dolphins, seals, and sea lions).
What a trip! Looking forward to the next one,
Capt Art

2011-02-03T07:08:32-08:00February 3rd, 2011|Trip Reports|
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Tour #1: Jan 24 at Islas Todos Santos and southbound

Hello all,

Wow! What a tremendous start to our 2011 natural history season. We had calm seas, no wind, and sunshine–just a glorious day.

We stayed really busy all day. Right after leaving Ensenada Harbor, we ran into about 1000 long-beaked common dolphin and as we approached Islas Todos Santos, we saw a fin whale and a pair of gray whales. The island is really green from all the rains earlier in the year. There were about 15 northern elaphant seals visible–one large male and some females with pups. There were harbor seals too.

After leaving the island we followed four gray whales for a while, and continuing south, we came across fin whales–about 15 individuals with some surface feeding involved. There were Risso’s dolphin and more long-beaked dolphins. That was all by lunch time!

Travelling south we saw a small group of short-beaked common dolphin and then during a green flash sunset, we saw a large group of short-beaked common dolphin.

The birding was a little slower, but along with the fin whales there were 100’s of Cassin’s auklets and with the common dolphin, an occasional shearwater. We also saw a few black-legged kittiwakes and red phalaropes. What a start! People asked what we can do for an encore and I can just tell them we are just getting started. There is plenty more to come.

The forecast looks great for the next few days. Check back tomorrow when we report from Isla San Benito.

Capt Art

2011-01-24T18:19:43-08:00January 24th, 2011|Trip Reports|
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2011 blog begins! Tour #1: Jan 24

Our 2011 tour season is officially underway.The first tour left last night as passengers arrived during a San Diego 70-degree sunny day. This morning, Capt Art is reporting beautiful sea conditions and a pod of 500 or more common dolphins around the boat (thank you to Sally Walton for her photo here) as they leave Ensenada Harbor enroute to Islas Todos Santos and beyond to search for nesting seabirds and harbor seals, and then southward for migrating gray whales and more.

The natualists for this tour are Tom Jefferson and Rob Nawojchik.

2011-01-24T07:45:55-08:00January 24th, 2011|Trip Reports|
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