News

Photo by Alisa Schulman-Janiger⁠

Photo by Alisa Schulman-Janiger⁠

It’s a great time to get offshore to deep-water pelagic zones to search out exciting seabirds such as Cook’s Petrels, Scripps’ Murrelets, Black-footed and Laysan Albatross; Black, Leach’s and Ashy Storm-petrels; Brown and other Boobies; South Polar Skua; Pomarine, Parasitic, and Long-tailed Jaegers; and Arctic Terns. Plus we’ll have a long list of usual species found in our waters, often gathering around underwater banks, mounts, and canyons. This trip is limited to ABA-waters, including coverage of the southern-most areas of it.

⁠

Happy New Year from Team Searcher! Wishing you and your family a whale of a New Year.

Happy Holiday from Team Searcher! Wishing you and your family a whale of a holiday.

We were send these beautiful mask by Betsy Gillingham. It makes wearing a mask that much more fun. We may not be back to normal but with beautiful thing like this it can certainly life our spirits. Thank you so much Betsy.

Photo by Alisa Schulman-Janiger⁠

Photo by Alisa Schulman-Janiger⁠

It’s a great time to get offshore to deep-water pelagic zones to search out exciting seabirds such as Cook’s Petrels, Scripps’ Murrelets, Black-footed and Laysan Albatross; Black, Leach’s and Ashy Storm-petrels; Brown and other Boobies; South Polar Skua; Pomarine, Parasitic, and Long-tailed Jaegers; and Arctic Terns. Plus we’ll have a long list of usual species found in our waters, often gathering around underwater banks, mounts, and canyons. This trip is limited to ABA-waters, including coverage of the southern-most areas of it.

⁠

This is an incredible photo of a gray whale. Happy #GivingTuesday. In case you don’t know or are unaware of Giving Tuesday, often stylized as #GivingTuesday for the purposes of activism, refers to the Tuesday after U.S. Thanksgiving in the United States. It is a movement to create an international day of charitable giving at the beginning of the Christmas and holiday season.⁠
⁠
On this #GivingTuesday we are giving back to a few of our favorite foundations and reacher groups. Every little bit can go a long way. If you want to donate here are some we chose to donate to this #GivingTuesday.⁠
⁠
Foundations and non-profits:⁠
⁠For Whale Sharks
⁠
For Vaquita
⁠
For Gray Whales
⁠

Mystery Monday revealed! The answer is:⁠
⁠
Sperm Whale⁠

📷⁠ by Sally W. ⁠⁠

📷⁠ by Mike W. ⁠

Paul Jones shared this sighting report from our last 2020 tour. Check out the recorded underwater vocalizations in the video below!

“On March 18 aboard Searcher we found a group of about 20 sperm whales just east Isla Espiritu Santo in the Gulf of California. We had 20 animals that surfaced very near Searcher in 5-7 smaller groups. One whale swam straight toward Searcher affording a great view of its asymmetric blowhole before it fluked up and dove. Others bobbed at the surface for long periods as they recharged their muscles with oxygen, providing excellent opportunities for passengers to take photos of these impressive, deep-diving whales.”

https://youtu.be/2nReXeB39Zc

Happy Mystery Monday!⁠
⁠
Can you guess this animal? We decided to make it a bit harder this week. This photo was taken on one of our trips in Baja. We’ll reveal the answer on Friday, so stay tuned for the answer and more from the field!⁠
⁠
📷 by Team Searcher⁠

Mystery Monday revealed! The answer is:

Humpback 🐋

📷 by Mark W.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Monday’s Mystery photo showed just a glimpse of a humpback whale. But there’s so much more to see of these magnificent whales. Humpbacks are known to be very active and even acrobatic at the surface, which can catch the eye of whalewatchers even at a distance of miles.

Lunging, jumping, slapping or thrashing their flukes, or as in this reveal photo, breaching, all cause large disturbances at the surface. Humpback whales are very social, so acrobatics are likely related to interactions such as male to male competition, mothers protecting calves, aunties protecting mothers, and juveniles…well…playing!

We spend a lot of time with humpbacks when we can on our tours in Baja California because there is so much to observe and photograph. Our calm presence doesn’t seem to change them and we are often afforded wonderful looks.

Passengers on a trip got to listen to the lovely songs of the humpback whales. These humpbacks were singing for quite sometime and naturalist Marc Webber was able to record their songs and sounds on this recording off the Gorda Banks.

https://youtu.be/AB4BXyahM18