Captain's Blog

Hello all,

We spent another day at Isla Clarion and I had a chance to go ashore, which is a first for me. What a great spot!

I went to the navy base, walked around and then headed for the beach.  I saw the endemic raven, wren and mourning dove, along with three Laysan albatrosses. Two were nesting and one was flying around. There was evidence of sea turtle nests with tracks from the water up the beach. We saw green sea turtles in the bay as we approached the island. I also spotted the endemic iguana on shore.

So far the researchers are having success with their objectives here at the Revillagigedos islands. There will be a full report with findings after the trip returns. One scientist is here to re-sight the five different species of land snails. No one has looked for them since the original study done by Cal Academy of Science in 1927. He is sure he has found all five. This is great stuff for science.

We will spend the morning here and then travel to Isla Soccorro on Saturday .

More later,

Captain Art and Team Searcher

Hello all,

We arrived to Isla Clarion yesterday and were able to get everyone ashore easily. The Mexican Navy was very helpful and they were happy to get some cold sodas and some new soccer balls. We witnessed a soccer game later that day!

Reports from researchers sounded like a success with good plant sightings and plenty of insects to survey. Part of the group came back for a snorkel session that was awesome. We found lots of fish and a few sharks (white tips and black tips). Sixteen passengers went back to the island with dinner to-go for camping on the beach. We had bottlenose dolphins around the boat last night chasing and eating flying fish. Here are some photos of the landing place below the navy base, the snorkel spot and the old guy driving a skiff with campers returning for breakfast.

More later,
Captain Art and Team Searcher

Hello all,

We are arriving at Isla Clarion this morning and are seeing lots of boobies as we approach. The bird team is busy so far.

Everyone is very excited to be at our first island. Yesterday the group shared presentations and meetings about logistics. They each inspected their gear so that any bits of plants or dirt are removed and not transferred to a remote island where exotic species could be damaging. Most of the researchers will spend tonight on the island in order to assess species active during nocturnal and dawn hours.

The weather is overcast and the seas are calm with light winds. We are here for 2.5 days and then we will travel to Isla Soccorro.

Captain Art and Team Searcher

Hello all,

We departed yesterday from Cabo San Lucas with 24 researchers aboard. There are eight Mexican and 16 US/Canadian researchers aboard along with two representatives from the Mexican reserve. Their research interests cover birds, plants, marine mammals, insects, and ecology of these remote islands.

We are headed to Isla Clarion first for three days, and then to Isla Socorro for two days and then a partial day at Isla San Benedicto. These scientists are returning to the islands to follow up on plant, bird and insect surveys from a previous trip a few years ago.

Today the birders had a great morning with loads of Cooks petrels, Leach’s storm petrels and a few Sooty shearwaters. The Cook’s petrels are migrating north from New Zealand after breeding there–an incredibly long migration. We have also seen some bottlenose dolphins.

We have an acoustic array towing behind the boat–about 200 ft back–recording sounds as we travel. They hope to hear sounds from whales, and in particular, a beaked whale species that frequents these waters.

Our photos from travel day are of the birders on Searcher’s flybridge, the line off the stern for the acoustic array and a meeting in the galley reviewing logistics for our stay on Isla Clarion.

Captain Art and Team Searcher

Hello whalewatchers:

We had another great day here in Baja off Bahia Magdelena.  We had wind and a big swell, however we found lots of wild life. We had a “mega-pod” of dolphins that surfed the wake and stayed around the boat for a long time.  Then we found some Bryde’s whales that were very easy to observe.  Three of them were grouped up and stayed right on the surface.  We found humpbacks which were travelling very fast so we didn’t spend too much time with them.

We had a long afternoon not seeing much, then we found some blue whales late in the day.  There were two different areas.  I think we saw between 12-15 of them this evening, including a couple of whales that showed their flukes, a mother and calf pair, and some lunge feeders.  And we added a fin whale to our list for the day!

Captain Mike and Team Searcher

Hello whalewatchers:

We had another nice day in Laguna San Ignacio today.  We started the morning in the mangroves for the birders.  We did two midday whale watching trips after the mangroves.  The mother and calf pairs wanted to play again today! Everyone got close to a whale again today so spirits are high. The wind came up in the afternoon so we opted for an afternoon beach walk for our last trip of the day to look at the shells and the whale and dolphin bones.  We got across the bar just before sunset and we are on our way to Bahia Magdelena right now.

Captain Mike and Team Searcher

April 11

Hello whalewatchers:

We got across the sandbar at the entrance to the lagoon this morning and started seeing gray whales right away. The numbers are lower as they begin their migration back north, but the mothers and calves here are friendly!

We are hoping for some more of that tomorrow. We’re going to start at the mangroves in the morning for some birdwatching.

Captain Mike and Team Searcher

April 9

Hello whalewatchers:

We left Ensenada this morning with some difficult conditions for viewing. It was quite foggy for most of the morning.  However we found a humpback mother and calf with an escort group right outside the bay. We also saw common dolphin throughout the day.

Late in the day we started seeing Black-footed and Layson albatross.  We also found a large area of bluefin tuna up on the surface so we got some good looks at them.  We will be at Isla San Benito first thing in the morning.

April 10

We arrived at Islas San Benito at around 7am and got everyone ashore.  The group did the hike around to the lighthouse and were on the island for the better part of the day.  There were lots of Guadalupe fur seals, California sea lions and Elephant seals (pictured) around and on the island today.  We got everyone back on the boat around 2 pm and took off south.

A few miles below the island we found a small area of humpbacks, which included a mother and calf pair and a few whales were breaching.  After a bit we continued south and found a mother and calf pair of fin whales.  We spent about 30-45 mins observing them.  They were close and stayed right on the surface.  We are now on course for Laguna San Ignacio.

Captain Mike and Team Searcher

Hello whalewatchers:

We woke up at Tombobiche this morning in calm weather. We got everyone ashore for a walk around the lagoon. After the walk we went for a snorkel on the point and took off south for Nopolo.

On our way south we ran into a manta ray migration. There were thousands of them as far as you could see in every direction. We pulled into Nopolo at around 3:30 and sent everyone ashore again in search of the Xantus hummingbird and other land birds that reside in the mangroves.

We had our back deck BBQ there and took off for Isla San Francisco at around 9pm.

Captain Mike and Team Searcher

Hello whalewatchers:

We woke up to a picturesque Sea of Cortez sunrise. After a nice hike and a snorkel we travelled north up the east side of Isla San Jose. We didn’t have to go far.  We started seeing Blue Whales right away. We saw two mother and calf pairs, followed by multiple pairs and singles.  We had a fluking whale as well that popped up a couple hundred feet from the stern, swam around the boat, then fluked right off the bow. Quite the day for blue whales here!

We anchored at Tambobiche bay for dinner and the evening.  We’re going to go for a walk around the lagoon for some birdwatching then do a snorkel and take off south around lunchtime.

Captain Mike and Team Searcher

Punta Colorado, Isla San Jose (photo from Trip #1 by Gillian C)