Howdy whalewatchers,
After our required immigration stop in Ensenda, we went to Islas Todo Santos for a brief look at elephant seals hauled out on the beach, and soon we saw our first whale!
It was a southbound gray whale, and there were many more gray whales to be seen throughout the afternoon, all headed south. We’re also headed south in hopes of seeing some more life. The weather is great and we’re excited about what’s ahead.
Afternoon report
We’ve seen lots of southbound gray whales this afternoon, and we had a brief look at a pair of Bryde’s whales. The finishing touch for the day was a large herd of short-beaked common dolphins that rode off into the sunset alongside Searcher. We’re headed south for tomorrow’s activities.
Capt Aaron and Team Searcher
Editor’s note: We received the gray whale census in Laguna San Ignacio for January 18: There were 11 mother/calf pairs and 8 singles, for a total of 30 whales. The next census will be completed this week. Then numbers should grow as we are seeing large groups of gray whales migrating past southern California now.