FacebookTwitterYouTubeInstagram

Trip Reports

Research Expedition to Sea of Cortez (November 8-21)

Hello all,

We started our day at Isla Montserrat this morning and then made the crossing to Isla Santa Catalina. It was nice and calm in the southern anchorage so we got everyone ashore.

Upon returning to Searcher, everyone was very pleased with their day with plenty of sightings and recordings of plants, lizards and snakes.

We returned some scientists back to the island after dinner so this “nocturnal team” could look for whatever lurks on the island in the darkness. They came back with great results: scorpions, snakes and lizards.

Three people are electing to stay the night on the island to sleep under the stars.

A view from Isla Santa Catalina towards the Baja peninsula

 

 

We are going back ashore in the morning and if we have good weather/less wind, we hope to go to a different place on the island.

Capt Art and Team Searcher

2020-07-15T16:34:20-07:00November 15th, 2018|Sea of Cortez Island Research, Trip Reports|
Read More

Research Expedition to Sea of Cortez (November 8-21)

Hello all,

We changed locations this morning to the south end of Isla Carmen within the Bay of Loreto National Marine Park. We’re seeing a little different terrain with some sand dunes at this end of the island. Also, we saw more big horn sheep as we travelled down the island.

The group was able to survey ashore for about 3 hours. We got everyone back aboard and travelled 10 miles to the east to Isla Montserrat. We are contending with some very windy conditions , but the predictions point to a reprieve on the wind tomorrow.

This is just one of the protected marine parks that we are able to access this trip with the required research permits obtained by the scientist team on board. We are very grateful to host this expedition and further the knowledge about this region. It has a special place in our hearts!

Parque Nacional Bahia Loreto (The Bay of Loreto National Marine Park) was created in 1996.  The Park covers 2,065 square kilometers in the Sea of Cortez. The marine park consist of five islands Isla del Carmen, Isla Santa Catalina, Isla Coronado, Isla Danzante and Isla Montserrat. The primary mission of the Parque Nacional is to balance the needs of Loreto’s people with the protection and sustainability of the biological resources found inside its boundaries.

Capt Art and Team Searcher

2020-07-15T16:34:20-07:00November 14th, 2018|Sea of Cortez Island Research, Trip Reports|
Read More

Research Expedition to Sea of Cortez (November 8-21)

November 12, 2018

Hello all,

We landed today at Isla Carmen. We anchored in a calm spot and everyone went ashore for most of the day. The landing is a sandy beach and some people went for a swim after hiking to survey plants, insects, and birds.

Collected plants in presses, drying in Searcher’s warm engine room

Isla Carmen is known for its population of big horn sheep and there were multiple sightings of them today. There is a hunting lodge here, run by the owners of the island.

A few people have elected to camp overnight on the beach and a team who are studying the nocturnal animals will go over for a few hours to survey and set traps. We will go ashore early to collect the small mammal traps, retrieve the data and then release any animals. We will cover the south end of the island tomorrow.

One of the San Diego Natural History Museum‘s curators aboard now for this research expedition is Jon Rebman. He states:

The natural world that I seek out in the desert regions of Baja California and southern California provides me with scientific adventure, excitement towards botany, respect for nature, and overall feelings of peace and purpose.

Read more about Dr Rebman’s Botany Department here. We are honored to have Jon and the rest of the scientists aboard!

Captain Art and Team Searcher

2020-07-15T16:34:20-07:00November 13th, 2018|Sea of Cortez Island Research, Trip Reports|
Read More

Research Expedition to Sea of Cortez (November 8-21)

Hello all,

Our day at Isla San Marcos was a big success yesterday and today we focused on another island in the area: Isla Tortuga. 

Capt Chris and I hiked to the crater edge on this volcanic island. It was tough terrain with lava rocks and vegetation. We saw 6 rattlesnakes during our hike and we had lots of great views of the Sea of Cortez along the way.

We arrived at the crater and the view was tremendous! It was worth the trip. Everyone that made it there agreed. also everyone saw multiple snakes and lizards. Here is a photo from the rim of the crater!

We are north of Loreto and Bahia Concepcion, as you can see on the map at left, and will work our way south tomorrow. Our target island will be Isla Carmen, the large island off Loreto.

Capt Art and Team Searcher

2020-07-15T16:34:20-07:00November 12th, 2018|Sea of Cortez Island Research, Trip Reports|
Read More

Research Expedition to Sea of Cortez (November 8-21)

Hello all,

We arrived at Isla San Marcos just after breakfast and found a calm area to anchor. The landing spot is next to an arroyo that goes across the island. We sent part of the group ashore there for the day. The rest of the group went ashore next to the huge gypsum mine. It’s the second largest mine in the world. In fact a deep-draft bulk freighter is being loaded with gypsum (pictured right) today. There is a plant that is only found in the gypsum rock. The botanists found that plant and a few others they hoped to find. This group joined the morning group in the arroyo for the afternoon and several people went for a snorkel to cool off after a long hike on the island.

We offered a skiff ride for birders along the coast to census that area. This evening there are 10 people ashore looking for this island’s reptiles, insects, and small mammals until midnight. The remaining people aboard are very busy placing plant samples in presses.

We are headed to Isla Tortuga to survey snakes, seabirds and plants later tonight.

Capt Art and Team Searcher

2020-07-15T16:34:20-07:00November 11th, 2018|Sea of Cortez Island Research, Trip Reports|
Read More

Research Expedition to Sea of Cortez (November 8-21)

Hello friends!

We are pleased to support a bi-national research and collecting expedition to many of the smaller and little-studied islands in the southern Sea of Cortez. In Cabo San Lucas, 25 botanists, mammalogists, herpetologiest, ecologists, conservationists, and citizen scientists boarded Searcher for the start of this exciting itinerary. Researchers came from San Diego’s Natural History Museum, universities in US and Mexico, and conservation organizations. Many aboard hope to discover and describe new species on islands not surveyed before. Stay tuned!

Captain Art will send reports from the field and photos when he can.

Lines away and ready for research!

SD Natural History Museum’s herpetology curator, Brad Hollingsworth, loads his snake traps onto Searcher in San Diego.

November 9:

Hello all,

We arrived at our first island this morning after breakfast: Isla San Francisquito. Our Searcher Natural History Tour passengers will recognize this island with the beautiful white sandy beach and steep cliffs to climb for the views .

On this trip, we anchored here to get everyone trained on boarding the skiffs safely and then everyone went ashore. The trip was a success with 10 new plant species not recorded before! Our on-board herpetologist, Brad Hollingsworth,  found all 7 expected lizard species too. Our photo is of the approach to the island with calm seas and beautiful Baja sky.

We are continuing north to our furthest northerly islands in the morning: Isla San Marcos and Isla Tortuga.

Guest captain, Jim Hughes, joined Searcher crew on this trip, including chef Geri Sue.

Capt Art and Team Searcher

Capt Art and crew loaded traps, plant presses, research equipment onto Searcher in San Diego.

2020-07-15T16:34:20-07:00November 10th, 2018|Sea of Cortez Island Research, Trip Reports|
Read More

2018 Pelagic Birding Tour (Sep 3-7), day 4

Hello birders,

We’ve had another busy morning with the highlight being a Cook’s petrel and red-billed tropicbird!

Cook’s petrel from previous trip @McGrath

There are also black-footed albatross, loads of shearwaters, Arctic terns and Townsend’s storm petrel too. Here’s a Guadalupe fur seal off the bow.

More later,

Capt Art and Team Searcher

2020-07-15T16:34:20-07:00September 6th, 2018|Trip Reports|
Read More

2018 Pelagic Birding Tour (Sep 3-7), day 3

(murrelet photo courtesy of Todd McGrath)

Hello birders,

Black-footed albatross soars past the boat.

We’ve enjoyed a very busy morning with loads of birds: black-footed albatross, Buller’s shearwater, Guadalupe murrelet, long-tailed and pomarine jeager, leach’s storm petrel, and arctic terns! In addition er had  good looks at fin whales, a distant look at a blue whale fluking, and plenty of common dolphin. Guadalupe fur seals also!

Capt Art and Team Searcher

 

 

Afternoon report:

Hello birders,

Buller’s shearwaters

A productive day today! The seas were incredible today with very little wind and sea. Starting from daylight there was a constant chatter on the leaders’ radios with sightings of birds and marine mammals. Black footed albatross, pink footed, sooty and loads of Bullers shearwaters! Jaegers, terns, leech’s storm petrels, red phalropes, fin whales, blue whales and Baird’s beaked whales and several groups of short-beaked common dolphin. We also had a brief sighting of a red-billed tropicbird late in the day. We had as many as 9 black footed albatross behind the boat at one time. The chum worked well. We are looking closer to home tomorrow starting 120 miles west of San Diego.

Capt Art and Team Searcher

2020-07-15T16:34:21-07:00September 5th, 2018|Trip Reports|
Read More

2018 Pelagic Birding Tour (Sep 3-7), day 2 (day’s end)

(Dolphin photo courtesy of Chris Earley)

Hello birders,

We had a productive afternoon with plenty of pink-footed shearwaters, and a new shearwater: Buller’s. We sighted multiple birds. We also enjoyed more common dolphin with shearwaters associated with them.

The finale was a large area of jumping, large bluefin tuna with lots of shearwaters and a masked booby that came by the boat so everyone could see it! It was an impressive show of birds and tuna. We added a few northern fulmars to the list and a single distant black-footed albatross.
We are headed to San Miguel island for the night.

Capt Art and Team Searcher

2020-07-15T16:34:21-07:00September 4th, 2018|Trip Reports|
Read More

2018 Pelagic Birding Tour (Sep 3-7), day 2 (mid-day)

Hello birders:

(brown booby photo courtesy of Tom Blackman.)

We started our day at Santa Barbara Island observing a colony of brown boobies that have made the island their home and are nesting here. There was one Nazca booby there as well. We were able to get the boat in close to the island safely to get a great look at the birds on the rock.

We have travelled west most of the morning and crossed into the Santa Cruz basin and into deeper water. So far we have seen shearwaters, storm petrels, boobies, terns and jaegers. We’ve encountered 3 different groups of short-beaked common dolphins with boobies and shearwaters associated with them. We are headed northwest now in shallower water towards the Channel Islands.

2020-07-15T16:34:21-07:00September 4th, 2018|Trip Reports|
Read More

Baja Whale Blog Toolbar

Captain's Blog

Categories

Archives

x
Go to Top