Captain's Blog

Hello Whalewatchers!

A great sunrise this morning! The lighting on the peninsula in this area is stunning! We arrived at Isla San Francisco for a walk and a snorkel session. The view from the ridge is certainly a highlight. From here you can see the bay with all the boats from the perfect elevation.

We left the island and headed south for our last afternoon of whale watching offshore. After lunch, we came across a group of pilot whales. They were laying on the surface not moving, which is something I haven’t seen in a long time. The pilot whales started to move and came right up to the boat! Allowing us to look down and see them under the surface of the

water. We spent about an

Pilot whales @ Rob Nawojchik

hour with this group when another group joined them. The two groups together totaled about 50 pilot whales. It was the best pilot whale viewing  we had this year. To cap the day off, we also had some more Dwarf Sperm whale sightings!

Team Searcher

Hello whalewatchers!
We’ve had a great morning at Isla Santa Catalina. First it was an early walk, then a skiff ride, and then a snorkel session.

Beautiful Isla Santa Catalina with giant cactus, birds, and a lovely cove for snorkeling.

The highlight, hands-down, was seeing bottlenose dolphin during the skiff ride! In fact, the snorkelers got out of the water and joined in in their skiff as well! There were about 75 dolphin in the group and they stayed in the same area for over an hour so the skiffs could join them. Bow-riding bottlenose dolphin in a skiff is pretty special and will truly be remembered as a trip highlight!

We left the island and shortly the crew spotted a big herd of common dolphin that we spent an hour with.  It has been the day of the dolphin so far!

Team Searcher

Hello whalewatchers: We are enjoying a beautiful sunrise at one of our favorite spots–Punta Colorado at Isla San Jose. We took everyone ashore early for some birding and botanizing as it is going to be a hot day.
More later, Team Searcher

Afternoon update:
We had another great day today. A walk, and then a snorkel or a skiff ride along the shoreline. After everyone was back aboard we decided to take a different route. We went north and east of Isla San Jose for 10 miles into really deep water. We are hoping to see some different toothed whales this afternoon. We came across an area of large manta rays on the surface and jumping.
We stayed in deep water and the crew saw a pair of blue whales in the distance–great job by Team Searcher crew on the lookout from the roof! We travelled for at least 5 miles before getting in the area. We spent about an hour with these whales and then continued on in search of toothed whales.
We saw a whale in the distance it was small and brown and it stayed on the surface for a while. We got to it and hung out for an hour, hoping for a look at it. We never saw it again, but we supposed it could have been a beaked whale.
We decided to travel towards Isla Santa Catalina, our destination for tonight and tomorrow.

We then came upon a group of dwarf sperm whales! There were at least 6 individuals. With the calm conditions we

Dwarf sperm whales at sunset (from another trip).

were able to get really good looks at these whales. It has to be calm in order to spot these guys. They are only 12 feet long and aren’t at the surface very long.
We started the day with a beautiful sunrise and ended it with a great sunset, part of Baja’s magic.

Team Searcher

Hello whalewatchers,
We started the day in Bahia La Paz with a beautiful sunrise and breakfast. The weather is awesome with light winds and calm seas. We plan to snorkel with whale sharks this morning. Our partner Jesus with Chicalera Tours arrived at 8 am. We loaded all the snorkelers and observers in two of his pangas.  Everyone had a wonderful experience! Curious about how that works? Click here: Whale Shark Encounter.
While the snorkelers were out, we spotted two blue whales to the west. They actually swam in between the boat and the beach. I’m sure the whales were in 30 feet of water. We reported the whales to the whale shark pangas, and after they we’re finished watching whale sharks they followed what turned out to be three blue whales for an hour. What a bonus! To see whale sharks and blue whales in the same trip is unheard of by us.

We left the whale shark area and headed north to end the day at los Isoletes with sea lions! We found a pair of humpback whales fluking and during first call for lunch “Cheeseburgers in Paradise,” we found three more fluking humpbacks., then another blue whale, some bottlenose dolphin, and  some smooth-tailed mobulas jumping. Then more blue whales and more mobulas.  Wow! On on to the sea lions at Los Islotes!
Team Searcher

Hello Whalewatchers,

What a great morning we had! We are very blessed to have no wind and calm seas again. We all agreed it was going to be another beautiful day.

The waters were active with sea creatures right from daylight when we spotted a long winded blue whale! We saw a variety of dolphin, including: Rizzo’s dolphin, common dolphin and bottlenose dolphin. In between dolphin sightings we had green sea turtles in every direction! Oh! And let’s not forget a

Photo Credit: Nigel Carter

pair of humpback whales. If that isn’t enough, there was a 25 foot whale shark on the surface! The water was crystal clear allowing us to see the entire whale shark even as it dove.

As lunch time approached we watched Humpback whales doing the usual behaviors, breaching, lob-tailing and pectoral flipper flapping in the distance. We were able to get close enough to have a good look. As part of our lunch-time entertainment, we had a trio of humpbacks fluking regularly and with the clear waters made them easy to track.

We traveled to Bahia Los Frailes for a walk and enjoyed the sunshine and amazing landscape. The water is 73 degrees F and 23.5 degrees C – perfect for our first snorkel session!

Team Searcher

Hello Whalewatchers,

We had a wonderful morning, we saw 4 different species of baleen whales. The group was able to see Fin, Humpback, Brydes and Blue whales all before lunch! We saw plenty of sea birds including shearwaters and phalropes. A few of our dolphin friends made an appearance as well.

After a lazy lunch (naps included), we started to see even more sea birds and sea turtles. We had some additional whale sightings in the afternoon, and ended the day with a group of 5 humpbacks.

Capt Aaron shared one of his many hidden talents rolling pretzels with homemade pretzel dough made by our fabulous Chef Charley which everyone enjoyed as a special mid-day treat.

We’ll be headed around lands end in the morning.

Team Searcher