Trip Reports

Greetings whalewatchers,

We started the Sea of Cortez portion of our trip this morning. We are enjoying beautiful weather, 72.5 degree blue water, and good action on the humpback whales. We kept working up the line and never ran out of whales to observe. By 10 a.m. we arrived to Gorda Banks and all of a sudden, it was whales everywhere!

We had humpback whale breachers, flipper flappers, and a red-billed tropicbird all at the same time! At noon we left the whales to head up the line for a beach excursion and bird watching. We finished off the day anchored in the lee of Punta Arenas for dinner before heading to La Paz.

Captain Buzz and Team Searcher

Breaching humpback whale

 

Greetings whalewatchers:

Our day started southwest of San Lazaro on the 100-fathom curve. The day’s itinerary was to travel down the curve looking for marine mammals and sea birds. We enjoyed a good variety including humpback whales, common dolphin, and California sea lions. Then highlight of the day was encountering an adult blue whale that was very cooperative and stayed with us for just over two hours. The last hour of that was spent in the company of a fin whale within 200-300 yards of the blue whale much of the time.

A small loggerhead turtle and a variety of birds finished the list. Tomorrow’s report will be coming from the East Cape.

In the company of a blue whale

Capt Buzz and Team Searcher

Greetings whalewatchers,

Today we arrived at the bar outside San Ignacio and were greeted by numerous spouts and small surf. After crossing the bar and heading to the observation area, we saw a good number of whales. The whale count was up 50% from are previous trip. Friendly whales and singles were the order of the day. Once the passengers were off on the pangas most of the people experienced a friendly whale or two! The lagoon was calm, the sun was out and there was no shortage of whale activity. Most of the activity consisted of breaching and spy hopping. It’s “lights out” tonight and we will see what tomorrow has in store for us.

Capt. Buzz and Team Searcher

Greetings whalewatchers,

San Ignacio day #2: Last night we shut down all the engines and gazed at about a million stars and listened to the whales blowing in the dark. Today was a busy day starting with good whalewatching from Searcher. As soon as we got people in the pangas there was plenty of action including friendly whale activity. After a morning of great whales some people went birding in the mangroves and some went ashore to explore one of the many beaches. We made our exit in the late afternoon accompanied by an escort of dozens of gray whales. We’ll travel all night and spend tomorrow offshore.
Capt Buzz and Team Searcher

Greetings whalewatchers:

Searcher and all aboard enjoyed a gently rolling swell last night as we made our way down the Baja coast to San Benitos. We arrived first thing in the morning and everyone went ashore for a pleasant hike around the island. California sea lions, elephant seals, and Guadalupe fur seals were seen by the hikers as well as both sea and land birds.

While waiting on Searcher for the hikers to return to the beach for pickup, we witnessed a classic elephant seal fight between a grizzled old bull and a young upstart trying for a piece of the harem. They fought on land and fought in the water until the young one had enough. The whole thing encounter lasted less than ten minutes and the parties went their separate ways. The old bull in the picture is resting and surveying his harem.

We are now heading south to Laguna San Ignacio where we will spend the next two days.

Capt Buzz and Team Searcher

Elephant seal bull defends his harem.

Greetings whalewatchers,

We’re getting our Tour #2 with Naturetrek started. We checked into Ensenada just after daylight and we’re on our way.

A short stop at Isla Todo Santos allowed us to observe elephant seals, harbor seals, and even a peregrine falcon.
We charted a course for Islas San Benito and headed down the coast in hopes of finding whales and other sea life.

After a short search we found an area with gray whales, common dolphin and a variety of sea birds. We are really enjoying the blue skies and calm seas on our way south. Enjoyable first day on the water!

Capt Buzz and Team Searcher

Evidence of the blue skies and calm seas!

Gray whale fluking.

Intrepid adventurers from Naturetrek in the UK arrived to rain in San Diego, but the dawn brought clear and sunny skies (though very chilly temperatures). Some walked off their jet lag and others spent the day birding, but all arrived to Searcher with anticipation for their Searcher Natural History Tour to Baja! Meeting Team Searcher and having the safety features explained started the trip off right. Stay tuned for the wildlife highlights from this special trip.

Cup of tea and comparing bird sightings

Soaking in the blue skies on deck

Hello whalewatchers,

Today we spent the morning at Isla Santa Catalina. Everyone went ashore for a walk in the beautiful desert arroyo. After the walk we offered a snorkel session or a “Crazy Coastal Cruise” along the shoreline to see birds and more. Everyone enjoyed the island and the other activities.

As we were retrieving the skiffs to go offshore, I spotted a whale south of the island. We pulled the anchor and headed that way. We found a fin whale adult with a calf!  We had several good looks at these whales, including a couple of very close looks. We were able to see the lower right jaw that is white on a fin whale

We decided to head in a different direction with plans to get over to the peninsula.  We didn’t have to go very far when we spotted two orcas, and then two more showed up, and after a few more minutes two more appeared! Seeing orcas on these trips is a real treat because it is rare. We spent the next two hours with these whales and had several great looks at a male with a big dorsal, four females and a juvenile. We witnessed them feeding on a manta ray which is also something we don’t see very often. It was a very special afternoon.

We are celebrating the orcas with margaritas and a back deck buffet: BBQ ribs and all the fixins!

Capt Art and Team Searcher

(Someone has their lucky whale socks  on today…)

Hello whalewatchers,

We started our day with a beautiful sunrise at Punta Colorado on Isla San Jose. We had breakfast with a view of the beautiful sandstone point in the background. Naturalist Paul Jones calls it one of his favorite places on earth!

After breakfast everyone went ashore for a walk in an arroyo with desert plants and birds. Wish us luck for our afternoon explorations!

Capt Art and Team Searcher

Hello whalewatchers:

Happy Valentines Day!

Satellite view of southern Baja California peninsula

We started the day in Bahia La Paz (the large bay on the eastern side of the Baja peninsula, seen at lower left). Our whale shark partner from Chicalera Tours met us to provide the whale shark service. Everyone came back thrilled with the trip with plenty of opportunities to view and photograph a whale shark.

We left there and travelled north in the bay looking for wildlife and came across a group of bottlenose dolphin. We visited one of the bays at Isla Partida to take a look at the nice beaches. We saw a blue-footed booby, an osprey and a peregrin falcon in the bay.

Before lunch we came across a herd of long-beaked common dolphins, about 400-500 dolphins.

A day of love and chocolate, and whale sharks!

Los Islotes: snorkeling with sea lions and reef fishes

We ended the day  with a snorkel session with sea lions and a skiff ride around the islet for the non-snorkelers. The conditions were perfect. Chefs Dan and Sara served a wonderful dinner of rack of lamb, roasted red potatoes, squash, fresh bread, and then peach cobbler with fresh whipped cream for desert.

Capt Art and Team Searcher