Western gray whale heads east?
Here’s a link to the story of tagged Western gray whale “Flex.” It appears that he travelled from Russia to the migration path used by the Eastern gray whales. Let’s stay tuned!
19 February Gray Whale Census
284 gray whales in Laguna San Ignacio: 52 mother/calf pairs and 170 singles.
How many gray whales in Laguna San Ignacio now?
As of 13 February, there are 53 mother/calf pairs, and 90 singles for a total of 196 whales!
One of those mother/calf pairs was photographed by David Thompson. Many thanks for the use of his beautiful portrait here.
Tour #2 Feb 11 Laguna San Ignacio
Hello whalewatchers,
We’ve had another glorious day in Baja with sunny skies and calm seas, and lots of whales in the lagoon. Everyone had a great day. This afternoon there was a option to go to the mangroves and the beach. They saw great birds and a coyote and had a wonderful walk on the beach.
The other panga went back out to visit the whales and they had a phenomenal trip with close encounters with a cow and calf for the majority of the trip. They all came back to the boat soaking wet from their trip. A good time was had by all.
We finished the day with the green flash at sunset. The ocean is calm and the forecast looks great for tomorrow.
More then,
Capt Art
Tour #2 LOLLING
Hello all,
Today’s word, courtesy of our UK friends, is LOLLING–as in, the whales are lolling around today. We are enjoying wonderful weather with calm winds. And top that off with great whalewatching and plenty of whales in the observation zone. We had two trips this morning, and this afternoon we have an option for a beach walk and a mangrove trip. And for those who can’t get enough of the whales, and you know who THEY are, another trip to visit the whales.
More later with the day’s wrap-up,
Capt Art
p.s. Those on the mangrove trip spotted a coyote. Can you spot it in Hilary Thompson’s photo?
Tour #2 Feb 10 Laguna San Ignacio
Hello all,
This afternoon’s trip was a little slower than this morning’s but there was really good whalewatching with plenty of gray whales in the lagoon. We had a mother/calf pair near the boat today too. The weather changed a little and we had a light breeze that made it a little chilly in the pangas. But everyone had a great time. Dinner was excellent and we are planning to shut the generator off for a little while for some quiet time and do some stargazing. Hope we hear some whales breathing…
Looking forward to tomorrow with the weather forecast favorable. We plan on gettting an early start in the morning.
More tomorrow,
Capt Art
Gray whale census from 5 February
There were 135 gray whales counted that day: 61 single whales and 37 mother/calf pairs. Here is video from one of those single whales, filmed from Searcher during Tour #1:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1MnYk4NXWE
Video by Steve Lamb of http://www.wrongwaylamb.com
Tour #1: Jan 27 Laguna San Ignacio
Hello whalewatchers,
We had another great day in Laguna San Ignacio. We didn’t see as many close encounters today which reinforces the fact that it is all on the whales’ terms. We like to say it is not whether you touch a whale, it is whether a whale touches you. I am sure that happened to everyone in the last two days. The groups of single gray whales haven’t arrived yet, so there are some really young calves out in the lagoon right now.
We went to the beach this afternon and it was great as usual.
The ocean is calm as we left the lagoon and the forecast looks great for the next couple days. Oh yeah–we also enjoyed one of Baja’s spectacular sunsets.
More tomorrow,
Capt Art
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
January 13 report from census
The shore-based census in the LA area reported this: We saw “8 gray whales, including two calves. Both of the cow/calf pairs came in close. In the first sighting they milled, the calf kept rolling and lifting its head high and rode on mom’s back for a while. The second sighting we saw the mom come up with the calf on her rostrum. We could see the fetal folds down the calf’s back. At one point mom, calf and three sea lions circled around”
We see this kind of cow/calf behavior in Laguna San Ignacio as well. Our passengers on 2011 tours will, no doubt, enjoy observing this starting later this month!
