Captain's Blog

Whalewatching at Gorda Banks (humpback whale blow)

We also had a great sighting of a red-billed tropicbird on the water. They are crowd-pleasers!

After a great morning watching humpbacks we traveled northeast along the tip of the Baja peninsula to Bahia Los Frailes. Everyone went ashore for a nice walk for some bird watching and a walk on a beautiful sandy beach. Afterwards those who wanted to snorkel went into 72-degree water. This was a good preparation for a possible encounter with whale sharks (Click the link for the full story) tomorrow!

The beach at Los Frailes

While we were having dinner at anchor at Los Frailes, we turned on our new LED lights from the top of the wheelhouse. We attracted some krill and then a school of smooth-tailed mobula rays came by to feed! It was a nice bonus to end the day.

Mobulas came to the boat to feed under the lights.

Team Searcher

Lunch is served!

Well done, chefs!

But the highlight was a blue whale for dessert! The boys on the roof saw the blows far in the distance. It was down for 20 minutes before it surfaced again., but we were able to follow it closely because of the clear blue water. We could keep track of the whale visually underwater and follow it for several minutes until it surfaced again. Some fine photography took place by our guests.

Blue whale off the bow!

Team Searcher

Curious gray whale in Laguna San Ignacio!

Afternoon update:

We finished the day today with a either a beach walk or a whalewatch. Everyone had a great experience here in Laguna San Ignacio with close encounters with gray whales, bird watching in the mangroves and a beach walk on Punta Brounough.

Happy whalewatchers return to Searcher. New pangas are roomy!

We are headed south for a day at sea to look for whales, dolphins, birds and sea turtles.

More tomorrow,
Team Searcher

David Phelps, Searcher passenger. and Steven Swartz, gray whale expert (right) pose on Searcher in the sunshine.

Every year we provide support to Steven Swartz and his research group here in the lagoon. Steven published a book called “Lagoon Time“ and this year we are gifting our passengers with a signed copy. One of the guests on this trip, David Phelps of England, received a copy from his family in the USA.  As a result of reading the book from cover-to-cover multiple times David decided to make the trip abroad and visit Laguna San Ignacio.

Steven and his team came by the boat today to pick up a few things, and David and a other guests got to meet Steven. This year is his 40th anniversary of working in the lagoon! He has new information about the photo ID program and has discovered are several matches from 1977 of the same whales in this lagoon today. Pretty incredible to know that whales we have been seeing and interacting with for the last 40 years still return every year to this wonderful place. We assume they are in their 50’s, like us.

Here is a link to Steven’s article about the age of living gray whales which isn’t even in press yet: https://www.sanignaciograywhales.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Age-of-GW-FINAL-for-AMJ.pdf

A brand new motor gives the biologists a dependable panga for their work!

One item that we were able to help finance for Steven and his group was a new motor for the research panga! May it live long and assist these biologists who study and protect the gray whales.

Afternoon update:

Our activities are finished for today. Everyone enjoyed themselves with good whalewatching and plenty of whales to view. We had some fog midday that made viewing harder for awhile. But since, the weather has been great with light winds.
Check out our new shade awning for the back deck.

It’s a little larger this year and much sturdier.

We are planning to have “lights out” tonight so we can view the lunar eclipse, the “snow” full moon, and maybe the comet. The silence will be nice with the generator off and maybe hear the whales breathing.
Our plan is to go to the mangroves early in the morning to start the day.

Team Searcher

Free time for painting the scenery around you!

Team Searcher