Trip Reports

Hello whalewatchers,

We had a wonderful sunrise at Punta Colorado, Isla San Jose this morning. Everyone went ashore for a walk. We had a snorkel session and then lunch. We traveled north in the Sea of Cortez towards the peninsula in the productive San Jose channel. We saw two groups of common dolphin and three red-billed tropicbirds along with a pair of laughing gulls in breeding plumage.
We arrived in the area where blue whales have been seen for the last trip and we found two blue whales. We followed one very large whale until we lost our light. It was a very successful day that ended with a back deck BBQ buffet and margaritas.

Capt Art and Team Searcher

Hello whalewatchers,

We spent the day watching humpback whales today in the Gorda Banks area. We also stopped and deployed the hydrophone and we listened to humpbacks singing. That is always a special moment when you first hear a whale on the speaker system. We spent some time with a mother and calf, or you could say they spent time with us. We had great looks at the pair along with another adult that was the escort.
We anchored at Punta Arena for a beach walk and a snorkel session to test out the snorkel gear prior to arriving in La Paz to view the whales sharks there.

Captain Art and Team Searcher

Hello whalewatchers,

We had a lovely day with whale sharks to start the day. Then there were cheeseburgers and fries for lunch followed by common dolphins, a skiff ride and snorkel session at Los Islotes with the sea lions, frigatebirrds, boobies and yellow-footed gulls. The finale of our day was a tremendous sunset.

Captain Art and Team Searcher

Mother (on left) and calf pair humpback whales

 

 

Hello whalewatchers,

Our day off Bahia Magdalena started off with breaching humpbacks and this afternoon we were busy with loads of common dolphins, more humpbacks, sea birds and sea turtles!
The weather was great with some sunshine, light winds and calm seas. It was very pleasant and a great sunset to end the day. Chefs Mike and Sara topped the day off with a great dinner: grilled flank steak with chimichurri sauce,  asparagus, roasted red potatoes and pineapple upside-down cake.
Capt Art and Team Searcher

Breaching humpback calf from previous trip (Photo by Peter Dunn)

Hello whalewatchers,

We arrived in Laguna San Ignacio and we were greeted by many gray whales in the entrance. Passengers had two trips in the pangas and there were some close encounters with gray whales. Unfortunately the weather turned into steady rain showers! Intrepid passengers went out in the rain after lunch and they had a good trip. A second panga went out for the final trip in the rain and they had a close encounter with a mom and calf gray whale.

Capt Art and Team Searcher

Hello whalewatchers

We spent part of the day at Isla San Benito under rainy conditions–which is very unusual. Everyone got ashore while skies were clear, and then 11 am there was a downpour for an hour! Everyone returned early to get out of the weather. Despite the conditions, there were good sightings on pinnipeds: Northern elephant seal pups, weaners, a few females and even a few males still hanging around. There were Guadalupe fur seals in their spot on the island, and a few California sea lions were at the anchorage. Birds to watch include osprey, peregine falcon, Cassin’s auklets, black-vented shearwaters, and a masked booby flew by after leaving the island and landed on the water. We got a close look at it! A red footed booby also did a fly-by.

We are headed to Laguna San Ignacio for tomorrow.

Capt Art and Team Searcher

Thanks to Peter Dunn for photos.

Endemic savannah sparrow

Walking the island (photo from previous trip)

Masked booby surprised us

Hello whalewatchers:

Our first day of the trip started with clearing officially into Mexico. We traveled to Isla Todo Santos. We viewed several black oystercatchers, brown pelicans on the nest, western gulls, comorants, peregine falcons and a kestrel. Several harbor seals with pups, California sea lions and Northern elephant seal pups were on view also. The island is very green and in full bloom.

We saw several northbound gray whales south of the island with one large group of 8 gray whales close together! Our conditions changed and we had light winds and rain for most of the afternoon. We arrive at Islas San Benito tomorrow morning.

Capt Art and Team Searcher

Migrating gray whale

Islas Todos Santos

Gray whales

Hello whalewatchers:

We spent most of our day on dry land. We started at Punta Colorado on Isla San Jose and watched the sunrise over the sandstone cliffs. We went hiking and snorkeling there until lunch time. We then took off looking for marine wildlife around the northern end of Isla San Jose and the San Jose Channel. We saw very little, but got some good looks at the smooth-tailed mobula rays in the channel. We ended our day at Nopolo on the Baja peninsula looking for birds. Our birders were excited to find the endemic Xantus (Read all about the person Xantus here!) hummingbird here. We’ll be at Isla San Francisco tomorrow morning.

Captain Mike and Team Searcher

Xantus hummingbird

Walk on Isla San Jose

Mobula ray

Hello whalewatchers:

Wow, what a day here in the Sea of Cortez! We had beautiful weather all day today. We started our morning at Bahia Agua Verde this morning for a snorkel and a bird walk. The day didn’t really heat up until we left. Once we got above Isla Monserat we got into a huge area of feeding blue whales and fin whales. They put on quite a show for us. There must have been 30 of them within a few miles. They were up on the surface all around the boat, lunge feeding and skimming the surface as close as 50 feet from the boat.

Captain Mike and Team Searcher

Side-swimming blue whale feeding at the surface.