February 3 census update from Laguna San Ignacio
76 cow/calf pairs, 32 singles = 184 total gray whales!
Tour #1: Islas San Francisco and Los Islotes
Hello whalewatchers: Well the wind is still with us, but not quite as strong. We had a good walk this morning at Isla San Francisco. After that we headed south looking for whales and heading towards Los Islotes for a skiff ride and snorkel.Everyone had a great time with the sea lions in the skiffs and the snorkelers raved about their session with the sea lions. An added bonus was seeing Brandt’s commorants feeding on a large bait ball.
This was a great trip despite our weather challenges (wind)–plenty of whales and wildlife seen, and of course, the scenery and beauty of the Sea of Cortez and the Baja peninsula. We are looking forward to our next trip already! Team Searcher
Tour #1: Isla San Jose
Hello all,
We started with a trip into the mangroves at Isla San Jose. everyone enjoyed the great bird-watching.
We left there and travelled up the San Jose channel looking for whales, dolphins and whatever we could find. We came across a large area of birds, frigates,pelicans, shearwaters, gulls and boobies. They were feeding with a very large herd of long-beaked common dolphin. We spent at least an hour with them and as we were watching we had three humpback whales join in on the feeding. It was classic Sea of Cortez activity. There was a tremendous amount of life in a small area. We had another large herd of common dolphin converge on the area after the feeding was over and as fast as they showed up all the life disappeared. The birds ,dolphin and whales all went their seperate ways and you wouldn’t know there was a feeding frenzy going on in the area.
We saw a couple other humpbacks before we lost our lighting. We are having margaritas and a buffet on the back deck Searcher -style tonight in a calm place.
Hoping for good weather again tomorrow.
Team Searcher
Tour #1: offshore Cabo San Lucas and area
Hello whalewatchers, We have had our share of wind the last few days, which makes for difficult conditions to see whales. Yesterday we found plenty of humpbacks– several sightings most of which were singles and doubles. We had afew hours where we had good conditions and we had some good looks and photos of flukes. We also saw schools of smooth-tailed mobulas that performed for us. It is always good to see those rays.
Today we stopped out of the weather at Isla Espiritu Santo and had a beach walk or a “Krazy Koastal Kruise with Kapt Kenny.” We are crossing our fingers with good whalewatching weather in the Sea of Cortez tomorrow, Team Searcher
Tour #1: Offshore Bahia Magdalena
Hello whalewatchers: We had windy conditions this morning but we still saw two large groups of common dolphin heading north. We had interesting seabirds such as frigatebirds, masked booby, and shearwaters. We also saw several gray whales outside the entrance to Mag Bay. We ducked in behind Punta Tosca (out of the wind) at the southeren entrance and saw quite a few grays there. Then the wind subsided! So we left there and continued south. We came across an area where there were humpback and gray whales and we followed a pair of humpbacks and one was tail-lobbing. Everyone enjoyed the show. We are headed south and should be in the Gorda banks area in the morning. Capt Art and team Searcher.
Tour #1: Laguna San Ignacio, day 2
Hello whalewatchers, We had another great day in Laguna San Ignacio! We had a little rain early in the morning and then the sun came out in the afternoon. We kept everyone out in the pangas with multiple trips today–two trips before lunch and two trips after lunch, with a beach walk included in the last trip. Plenty of time with gray whales and lots of close encounters for everyone. I confirmed with one of the panga drivers, Ramon, who was one of the original people we started working with. His son is now 19 years old and wasn’t born yet when we started working together sharing this wonderful place with our clients for 20 years. Ramon asked how many years I have been visiting Laguna San Ignacio and I told him 37 years, since 1976. He chuckled and said he was two-years-old when I first visited this place. Just thought I would share that anecdote with you all. We are headed south and plan to look for whales outside of Bahia Magdalena tomorrow.
More then, Capt Art and Team Searcher
Tour #1: Laguna San Ignacio
Hello whalewatchers,
Our first day in Laguna San Ignacio is glorious with sunny skies, warm temperatures and plenty of gray whales. The census yesterday counted 60 cows with calves and 21 single whales for a total of 141 whales. That is a pretty large number for january. With calm water, the whalewatching is great with some close encounters. This our 20 year anniversary of working with Kuyima. What a great relationship we have with these wonderful people. It is soooo good to be back. More later. Capt Art
Tour #1: Islas San Benito
(We have a temporary interruption in computer-delivered reports due to the break down of our on-board mouse! There is a replacement arriving to the boat tomorrow, but for now we can receive verbal reports via satellite phone.)
Today the group went ashore at Islas San Benito West to see the elephant seals and Guadalupe fur seals that use the beaches on this remote island for hauling out, resting, breeding and raising pups. Captain Art reported healthy population numbers for these pinnipeds, but mentioned that the island appeared really dry. Locals told him the only rain they have had recently came last night!
Just north of the island, the leaders chummed (with fish oil and popcorn) behind the boat and were rewarded with nice looks at a black-footed albatross.
They are motoring south and will arrive at Laguna San Ignacio in the morning. They have nice travelling weather tonight.
