Captain's Blog

Hello whalewatchers,

Our first day in Laguna San Ignacio was a whalewatching success! Our passengers enjoyed encounters with gray whales, good weather and so we have lots of happy whalewatchers aboard. (Our photo is from Chris Earley’s last trip with us. He’s returned with a group from Worldwide Quest in Canada. Also pictured is Marc Webber who is Searcher’s guide this trip.)

Bottlenose dolphins

We’ve also seen lots of bottlenose dolphins this trip. There is a good amount of bait fish in the lagoon this year and so the bottlenose dolphins are finding plentiful food. Tonight we we will turn the generators off for some silence, look at some stars and listen to the sounds of the lagoon.

Capt Art and Team Searcher

Hello whalewatchers,

We had a great day at Isla San Benito today! Female elephant seals are returning to the island to molt and there are still plenty of this year’s pups on the beaches. (Photo thanks to Chris Earley.) They had good views of Guadalupe fur seals and ospreys on the nest and taking care of eggs and young.

Large blow from a surfacing blue whale.

After we departed Isla San Benito and on our way south, we were extremely lucky to find a blue whale. We spent some time oobseerving this whale since it is our first sighting.  We are travelling to Laguna San Ignacio, arriving after breakfast tomorrow. While underway, we saw a laysan albatross this afternoon. Yesterday, we saw a black-footed albatross and both birds are lifers for David Brewer who has joined us from Canada!

Captain Art and Team Searcher

Hello whalewatchers,

We started our trip by visting Islas Todos Santos for a look at elephant seals and harbor seals with pups both on the beach and in the water around the island. The island’s flowers are in full bloom and the island is very green.

American oystercatchers @ Chris Earley

The island’s bird sightings included oystercatchers and our usual peregrine falcon. After leaving the island, we found a group of four northbound gray whales. They stayed very close to the surface and everyone enjoyed really great looks at our first whales. Late this afternoon we watched a few black-footed albatross and lots of other birdlife. Just a few common dolphin came by to visit. We’ll hope for more as we have more travel time.

Captain Art and Team Searcher

Hello whalewatchers,

We started the day with a great sunrise at Punta Colorado on Isla San Jose this morning. After breakfast the group went ashore for a walk in the arroyo trail to observe desert plants and birds. We departed Punta Colorado and went east into deep water. We had great conditions again with light winds. The crew spotted some Peruvian pygmy beaked whales that are only found in deep water. Unfortunately they don’t stay at the surface very long, so we just got a look in the distance. We spotted a blue whale next–we have seen blue whales in four different locations within five days. That doesn’t happen every trip.

Blue whale on the surface

We travelled south and arrived at Islas Los Islotes for a snorkel session and a skiff ride with the sea lions. Everyone enjoyed the snorkel. The reef fish at this spot is one of the best places to snorkel in Baja. We ended the day with anchoring in Ensenada Grande at Isla Partida where we will have our back deck buffet and Margarita Night. We will spend the night and then head south to La Paz bay to visit the whale sharks.

Capt Art and Team Searcher

Hello whalewatchers,

It’s been a perfect day in the Sea of Cortez! We started with a walk on Isla Santa Catalina among the giant cactus, and then provided the chance to get underwater with a snorkel session. The weather is fantastic with calm seas, no wind and sunny skies. We then travelled west towards the peninsula hoping to find some whales, dolphins and any other wildlife. We came across a mega herd of common dolphin, estimated at about 2500-3000 dolphins! We spent some time with them and then continued west.

Fin whales in Sea of Cortez

We started to see some life with more dolphin and birds. Capt Mike saw a spout out about 5 miles, so we went that way and the further we went, the more whales we found. We spent the rest of the day with blue and fin whales, and they were all in the same area. It was fantastic whalewatching with great looks at both species. A highlight was four fin whales crossing the bow. The lighting was perfect and you could see the whales underwater.

We finished the day with chicken coq au vin and it was delicious!

Capt Art and Team Searcher

Hello whalewatchers,

Our trip north into the Sea of Cortez turned out to be a wonderful ride and we arrived at Isla San Francisco just after breakfast. The group went ashore for a walk and then came back and went for a snorkel. The garden eels were a hit as usual. We had a great lunch of “Cheeseburgers in Paradise” as we travelled up the San Jose channel looking for whales. We came across a single sperm whale, which we had to wait for an hour and 10 minutes for it to surface again. We saw it in the distance and got a look at it fluking. We decided not to invest another hour waiting so we went further north. We saw a single humpback whale and then some more sperm whales. We spent the rest of the afternoon with about 12 sperm whales, with four calves.
We ended the day with an awesome sunset.

Surfacing sperm whale

Capt Art and Team Searcher

Hello whalewatcherss,

We all enjoyed the good conditions and great whalewatching this morning! There were humpback whales and a blue whale in shallow water. We saw all the familiar behaviors: flipper flapping, breaching, fluking, and a cow and calf traveling together.

Diving humpback whales

We are headed north for dinner and then travelling up in to the Sea of Cortez tonight.

Capt Art and Team Searcher

Hello whalewatchers,

We spent the day off Bahia Magdalena today and watched a few humpbacks early. We saw an occasional school of tuna on the surface with royal terns associated with the fish. After lunch we saw a pair of black-footed albatross. The further south we travelled, the more the ocean warmed and cleared. We started seeing a lot of life: birds, sea lions, turtles and loads of common dolphin.

We saw a Brydes whale and had really good looks at it. We went a little further and then we saw two blue whales. One of the whales was fluking, so we stayed with that whale for an hour. Then the second whale joined the other whale and they both were fluking. We had great lighting and another hour with those two blue whales. It was a great way to end the day with blue whales, a nice sunset and fresh swordfish for dinner.

Photo by Rob Nawojchik

Capt Art and Team Searcher

Hello whalewatchers,

We have great conditions this morning to start our day! We plan to get four panga trips in today with two in the morning and two in the afternoon. Last night we turned the generator off and had some silence for a while. We were able to hear gray whales breathing around us. The stargazing was great as well.

Close encounter with a curious gray whale!

Here is a photo of a close encounter with a cow and calf and one of our pangas. Our longtime friend Frederico was the lucky panga and shared with the other two pangas so everyone had a close encounter with a whale in good conditions.

Capt Art and Team Searcher

Hello whalewatchers:

(Photo by Claire Sansom)

We had a windy transit from Isla San Benitos to Laguna San Ignacio, but here were lots of gray whales in the entrance to the lagoon to greet us. Everyone had an opportunity to take a panga ride to visit the gray whales this morning. A few people had a close encounter with a cow and calf, and everyone else had good whale watching. After lunch with the wind increasing, we decided to take advantage of the high tide and make a trip into the mangroves. The trip into the mangroves was a success with lots of birds seen. Everyone enjoyed their visit. In addition, the group went ashore and looked at the dead gray whales on the beach. We have a group of veterinarians with us this trip, and so they were interested in seeing the whale. Here is a photo of a curious whale approaching the bow of  Searcher.

Capt Art and Team Searcher