Captain's Blog

Howdy whalewatchers, Today started with a sunrise on Punta Colorado and it was stunning. The passengers had a nice walk on the island and then we went off to whalewatc. We didn’t go more than a mile off of the island before we encountered five blue whales and we were fortunate to have them fluking for us. After that the wind backed off to nothing and we saw lots of mantas jumping and a few marlin. We saw a couple of fin whales that were headed south and so we left them and headed north. We watched  the sun setting over the Baja peninsula with a herd of 2000 long-beaked common dolphin feeding on bait and birds joining in. So we’re off to Isla Santa Catalina for a morning walk on the island, and then off to find some more wildlife.
Good whalewatching and observing nature as it comes to you, Capt Aaron and Searcher crew

Howdy whalewatchers, We had another wonderful sunrise and then all I can say is “humpbacks humpbacks humpbacks!” They put on a show for us with jumping, flipper flapping and tail lobbing. We had three whales breach, one after another and our finale was the best. We had two jump a few times right as everyone was having lunch, making great scenery for the view windows in our restaurant! Along with calm seas, blue water and sunshine, it was another perfect day aboard Searcher.
Good whalewatching and observing nature as it comes your way,
Capt Aaron and Searcher crew

Howdy whalewatchers: It all started with a fantastic sunrise and calm seas. Shortly after we found our first blue whale, and shortly after that, we found the blue whale we were looking for–a large animal and it fluked every dive. We couldn’t ask for better conditions. The sunlight was perfect and the water was clear enough to see the whole animal under water. This animal literally fluked 35 feet off the bow of the Searcher. It didn’t get any better and it was just hard to explain with words what everyone saw. Unfortunately we had to leave the whale to head south. We found a group of pilot whales and got to observe them for a bit. As we continued south we had a sun setting with another group of about 100 pilot whales. It was a great way to end the day.
Good whalewatching and observing nature as it comes to you,
Capt Aaron and the Searcher crew

Howdy whalewatchers,  Well it happened again–another phenomenal day in the lagoon. Our first trip out we went to the mangroves and it turned out a success for the the birders. And then it happened–the wind stopped and the next three trips out were “game on”! Whales, whales, whales and they were friendly. So we’re on out way traveling south, looking for more wildlife outside of mag bay. Stay tuned! Happy whalewatching and observing nature as it comes to you.
Capt Aaron and the Searcher crew
p.s. Here you go, Dylan. Here’s your grandmother touching a gray whale!

Howdy whalewatchers: The first day of San Ignacio Lagoon is gonna be hard to beat tomorrow! After entering the lagoon we had gray whales escorting us in until the anchor went down. Once the panga drivers showed up and left with the passengers, it was minutes before they were touching whales. It was awesome! They were so close that i could still hear the people laughing and talking about their first whale. The weather was really good too and it will be very hard to beat tomorrow. So wish us luck and we will let you know how it goes.
Good whalewatching and observing nature as it comes to you, Capt Aaron and the Searcher crew.

Howdy whalewatchers:, It started at daylight and it’s finishing with a red sunset–a great day! First pacific white-sided dolpins welcomed us to San Benito Island just before arriving and during the day, the island walkers encountered large amounts of Guadalupe fur seals (photo by Chris Shields), elephant seals and some more California sea lions. The ospreys were on the move today also–they seemed to be enjoying the lovely sun and calm weather too. Shortly after leaving the island we were in a zone with nine blue whales though they were a bit on the difficult side to observe since they were holding their breath for close to 20 minutes at a time. But with nine of them around, there always seemed to be one whale on the surface to see with your binoculars. After moving on, there were rafts of black-vented shearwaters. It had to come to a end sometime and that was with the red sky sunset. So we’re off and headed south to San Ignacio Lagoon.
Good whalewatching and observing nature as it comes to you.
Capt Aaron and the Searcher crew

Howdy whalewatchers: Today was a wonderful first day and we hope for more to come.  We had a good look at a masked booby (photo by Lee Morgan) at the south end of Todos Santos island along with elephant seals, harbor seals, and California sea lions.  Shortly after leaving the island we were lucky to find a very large group of short-beaked common dolphins, we’re guessing there were around 700-800 animals. Then the fin whales! Five fin whales in a group and we were lucky to stay with three of them for some time and had really good looks. As we were headed to the fin whales there were four humpback whales, all withing a square mile of each other. One of the humpbacks breached wonderfully in front of us, surprising us nicely with his/her aerobatics. As the day went on we saw more fin whales, humpbacks and northbound gray whales. Tomorrow we will be at Islas San Benito.
Happy whalewatching and observing nature as it comes to you,
Capt aaron and the Searcher crew