Captain's Blog

May 26-28 Wildlife Weekend Species List

Hello all,
The final day of “Wildlife Weekend” has been great with calm seas and sunny skies. We had great viewing of pinnipeds at Islas  Los Coronados with all three species –harbor seals, Northern elephant seals and California sea lions. We had great looks at both types of oystercatchers, cormorants, brown pelicans with chicks, peregrine falcon, American kestrel, surf scoter and the highlight was the sighting of two pigeon guillemots not seen very often this far south.

Pigeon Guillemots at Los Coronados. photo by Tom Blackman

We left the islands and saw shearwaters, Cassins auklets, Xantus murrelets and then we came upon a group of bottlenose dolphin feeding. We were able to stop in the middle of the group and listen to them vocalize through the hydrophone that we permanently installed in the hull. We are glad to know the hydrophone works in its new spot on the boat.

A little further north we came upon about 200 common dolphin. What a great way to end our trip! All in all a fantastic trip.

Tom Blackman’s photo of adult Risso’s dolphin with a calf jumping out of the water!

Thanks to all who joined us and those who’ve read along,
Capt Art

Hello whalewatchers,
We left the Coronados at 1:00 am and travelled west 40 miles to the San Clemente basin and then went north for 10 miles, staying in US waters. We started with several black storm petrels, sooty and pink-footed shearwaters and a fin whale. It didn’t taske very long with the fish oil chum behind the boat to draw in a black-ooted albatross.
The weather continued to get better with very little wind and diminishing sea conditions. We went through an area where there were dark-rumped and light-rumped leachs storm petrels, along with black and an occasional ashy storm petrel as well.

We continued to see fin whales with a total for the day at 8 or 9 whales. Midday we came across a group of Rissos dolphin. In the group were a couple of breaching dolphin, and the highlight was two cow and calf pairs that allowed us to get very close to and follow for quite sometime.
After that we laid out a large chum slick and added Northern fulmar to the list and also two south polar skuas.

With great weather now–sunny skies and calm seas we continued east in US water the rest of the day and had plenty to look at. A few Xantus murrelets, and Cassins auklets were added to the list. Once we reached the 9-mile bank we came across a group of 10 bottlenose dolphins.

We are hopeful that on our way back to San Diego tomorrow we will end the trip with a big herd of dolphin.
We are spending a couple of hours at the Coronados in the morning to take a look at the pinnipeds and the brown boobies and maybe an oystercatcher or two.
More tomorrow,
Capt Art

Hello all,
Our first day of our spring wildlife weekend was a success. Good birding! Black-vented, sooty, flesh-footed and pink-footed shearwaters, Cassin’s and rhino auklets, common murres, Xantus murrelets, red-necked phalaropes, black and ashy storm petrels, royal and elegant terns, and plenty of gulls.
We saw bottlenose dolphin in the harbor with California sea lions. Since the weather was a little choppy we elected to head downswell to the area with some whale reports. We saw one blue whale really close and about 20 fin whales really close at times. We also saw about 20 Rissos dolphins. What an afternoon of whale watching! You can’t ask for more than that. We are headed offshore tonight and we will see what tomorrow brings.
Capt Art

Wish them luck finding whales and seabirds this weekend! Winds are high today, but forecasts show it diminishing tonight and tomorrow. Unusually cold San Diego weather greeted our guests at the dock this morning, but it’s supposed to warm up!

Mid-day report: Black and ashy storm petrels, pink-footed and black-vented shearwaters, brown booby, royal and elegant terns, Cassins auklets and Xantus murrelets, and now watching a blue whale!

Our Baja and birding naturalist, Peter Gaede, brought his son, Lucas Gaede. We are seeing the next generation of wildlife leadership!