Researchers in Laguna San Ignacio provided us an updated census of gray whales recently.
On 28 February, there were:
And on 4 March, there were:
Hello whalewatchers,
For our last day of the trip we ended with a bang. We spent our day watching humpback whales between the Gorda Banks and Los Frailes. They were very frisky today and put on quite a show, tail lobbing flipper flapping and breaching from about 7am to about 3 pm we were in them. We will be arriving in the Cabo San Lucas to finish off a great trip.
Captain Mike and Team Searcher
Happy Whale Wednesday! Passengers on Trip #2 got to listen to the lovely songs of the humpback whales. These humpbacks were singing for quite sometime and naturalist Marc Webber was able to record their songs and sounds on this recording off the Gorda Banks. No better way to celebrate Whale Wednesday!
Hello whalewatchers:
We spent most of our day on dry land. We started at Punta Colorado on Isla San Jose and watched the sunrise over the sandstone cliffs. We went hiking and snorkeling there until lunch time. We then took off looking for marine wildlife around the northern end of Isla San Jose and the San Jose Channel. We saw very little, but got some good looks at the smooth-tailed mobula rays in the channel. We ended our day at Nopolo on the Baja peninsula looking for birds. Our birders were excited to find the endemic Xantus (Read all about the person Xantus here!) hummingbird here. We’ll be at Isla San Francisco tomorrow morning.
Captain Mike and Team Searcher
Hello whalewatchers:
Wow, what a day here in the Sea of Cortez! We had beautiful weather all day today. We started our morning at Bahia Agua Verde this morning for a snorkel and a bird walk. The day didn’t really heat up until we left. Once we got above Isla Monserat we got into a huge area of feeding blue whales and fin whales. They put on quite a show for us. There must have been 30 of them within a few miles. They were up on the surface all around the boat, lunge feeding and skimming the surface as close as 50 feet from the boat.
Captain Mike and Team Searcher
Side-swimming blue whale feeding at the surface.
Hello whalewatchers:
We had some great whalewatching today! We travelled out towards Islas Las Animas first thing this morning. We were able to get close and observe the California sea lions and the Guadalupe fur seals colonizing the small islet. We then headed towards the peninsula and located a large area of sperm whales. I estimate there were at least 20 in the area, multiple mother/calf pairs, groups of three or four, and several who fluked upon diving. We had what we believed was a breacher as well, but never got close enough to properly identify it.
(Thank you to Rob N for use of his photo of sperm whales.)
We ended our day at Puerto Gato with some some snorkeling and a bird walk up the wash. We added four new species to the bird list, including an endemic gray thrasher. Beautiful weather all day today.
Captain Mike and Team Searcher
Hello whalewatchers:
We started our day this morning on the Pacific ocean side of the cape looking at humpback whales. We found a mother/calf right at breakfast that was flipper flopping and breaching. They put on a pretty good show, including a scenic backdrop from the peninsula.
From there on we had steady action all the way around the cape and onto the inner Gorda Bank. The wind started to come up in the afternoon. We made it around to Punta Arena where we got in the water and got our first snorkel session in.
Captain Mike and Team Searcher
Hello whalewatchers,
This morning we woke up just North of Cabo San Lazaro and found a large area of humpback whales. We watched a group of four whales that were staying close to the boat for about a hour.
The middle of the day was slow for wildlife watching, but we moved into a new area mid-afternoon that was full of humpbacks and a few blue whales! We saw numerous humpbacks and 3 blue whales. There was a pair of blues and one single blue. We got some good looks at the single whale, as it showed its flukes often. It also stayed close to the boat for about a hour before we had to point south.
Also, we picked up a hitchhiker on the way. This brown booby joined the party and rode the bow for about a hour. 
Just before sunset, we found an enormous pod of common dolphins and rode them out into the sunset. It was a great way to finish off a great day. Oh and we had beautiful calm seas all day!
Captain Mike and Team Searcher
Hello whalewatchers,
We arrived to the entrance to San Ignacio Lagoon this morning at day break. We were greeted by gray whales and bottle =nose dolphin as soon as we got across the sandbar at the entrance. The wind stayed mellow enough throughout the morning and early afternoon. We did get some quality runs in the pangas today with multiple friendly encounters with gray whales.
However, strong winds came up quickly in the afternoon and closed the lagoon for activities around 2pm today. With a forecast of continued high winds for tomorrow, we’ve opted to leave the lagoon a day early and are headed south for better weather and an area of humpbacks and dolphins. We’ll report back tomorrow.
Captain Mike and Team Searcher
