2017 Tour #2 Departure and Islas Todos Santos

Hello whalewatchers:

Passengers gathered in San Diego yesterday and boarded Searcher for a day to relax, bird, sight-see, or just get to know fellow passengers. We departed last night around 9:30 p.m.

We cleared into Mexican Immigration this morning in Ensenada harbor and all went well. We then made the crossing over to Islas Todos Santos in choppy conditions. We have some strong NW wind and large swells from a recent front that passed through the area.

At the island, we looked at northern elephant seals, harbor seals, peregrine falcons, cormorants, brown pelicans and black oystercatchers. We traveled south under sunny skies and had one large group of common dolphins visit for a while. Then as the morning progressed, we noticed that hundreds of Bonaparte gulls have shown up. This small gull is very pretty, and last trip we saw only 3 or 4 birds.

But the highlight came in the afternoon with great viewing of albatrosses! We saw both black-footed and layson albatrosses, and multiples of each. Some of the birds came very close to the boat so if you wanted a photo or just a good look, it was possible today.