New 2012 trips!
We’ve added our 2.5 day Memorial Day Weekend trip for May 26-28 and our 5-day Pelagic Birding trip for Sep 3-7 onto the web site. Ready for bookings!
Killer whale feeding event on 1 November
Friends and colleagues from Fishermans’ Landing were finishing up a local fishing trip and encountered a large pod of orcas who were attacking and feeding on a fin whale. This took place just offshore San Diego near the Los Coronados islands. This footage was taken by Rick Maxa, who was joined by Carl Schmidt and Doug Kern. We thank them for passing on the footage so we could get it to the experts. This pod is probably the same pod that Capt Art encountered on a trip two years ago coming home from Isla Guadalupe on a shark diving trip. There is a very distinctive juvenile with a scarred area where it’s dorsal fin WAS.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXymfn6KOwE&feature=related
The orcas are attacking the fin whale in this footage. (Whale’s blow is high and slow)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSwmTPYp38g&feature=related
Great footage of a curious juvenile after the attack
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUoYoF8z8pw&feature=related
After the 2-hour event, the fishermen drove away and a large orca said his own goodbye!
A book recommendation
Sue and Larry Schott from Ontario, Canada, wrote to recommend a book about Laguna San Ignacio. They read it in preparation for their February, 2012 tour to that same spot!
“We came across an excellent book which you may already know about. It is called ‘Whales Touching the Mystery’ by Doug Thomson. It is primarily about the gray whales, the history and the current ‘keepers of the lagoon.’ I am reading it for the second time. It is one of the books that intrigued us initially on San Ignacio Lagoon and being able to get close encouters with the gray whales. It is an excellent read for anyone doing your whale watching tour.”
(photo by Chef Charles Howell from Laguna San Ignacio)
April in Baja!
Our April 7-18, 2012 tour is a confirmed departure! Ready to go? Besides the great weather and whales in April, there are some terrific prices on the Cabo San Lucas to San Diego flight for your return home. Email today and we’ll save you a spot.
White chinned petrel!
Seabirders on the September 5-9 trip were thrilled to report a very unusual sighting of a southern ocean bird–the white chinned petrel. They are searching around the Channel Islands today and the bird flew past the boat. We should get photos when the birders return on Friday morning! All on board got a new life bird today, including all the esteemed leaders, Todd McGrath, Paul Guris, Terry Hunefeld, and Adam Searcy.
April in Baja?
Join us for a special springtime visit to beautiful Baja in April, 2012. Spots are selling now for April 7-18–to the gray whale lagoons on the Pacific coast to the gorgeous islands and blue whale waters of the southern Sea of Cortez. Don’t miss out!
July 3 blue whales sighted by Capt Art
Hello whalewatchers,
The other day on our way home from a 4-day fishing trip, we were fortunate to see several blue whales in a concentrated area. We stopped for awhile and watched since it is so great to see blue whales ANY time. It turned out that there were 20 blue whales in a 2-mile area and they were feeding on the surface–that made this sighting even more special!
We were close to the coast, about 190 miles south ast of San Diego. We have seen blue whales in this area in the past. Everyone was amazed with what they saw. People come from all over the globe to get a look at a single blue whale so to see 20 in a very short period of time is really special. I would love to show everyone this special creature!
Capt Art
Sunny skies and …
…a BLUE WHALE! Capt Art finally has the conditions we hoped for (no wind) and has found a beautiful blue for Wildlife Weekenders to watch. Full report later!
Capt Art checks in
Hello all,
Our conditions have been less than perfect so far this trip, with big seas and strong winds. We made it out to San Clemente island yesterday evening and had very difficult conditions. Our sightings were good until lunch time. We had sooty and pink-footed shearwaters, black-footed albatross, black storm petrel, Sabines gulls, and Arctic tern. We didn’t see any marine mammals yesterday which was a disappointment.
We anchored in Pyramid Cove last night and then headed east today with 30 knot winds and 8 foot seas. Thankfully we were going the same direction as the sea and swell ,so it made for a comfortable ride. We weren’t able to turn on any birds or whales, so we looked at whatever came by.
We had several shearwaters and storm petrels–both black and leach’s. A south polar skua was the bird of the day! We did see several short-beaked common dolphin and as we approached the Coronado Islands, we saw a few Rissos dolphin and some bottlenose dolphins.
We toured the Coronado Islands and saw oystercatchers, brown boobys, double crested, brandts and pelagic comorants, and hundreds of juvenile brown pelicans. In the pinnipeds, we saw northern elephant seal, harbor seal and Californina sea lion.
We have high hopes for tomorrow, with the forecast calling for less wind and swell. We will go west of the Coronado Islands and then northwest towards the nine mile bank in hopes of seeing dolphins and whales that we can actually stop and look at.
More tomorrow,
Capt Art
