Many thanks to the participants of the 2017 Pelagic Trip. Please enjoy the images captured by our Searcher crew photogs, and do consider joining us next year for this fun trip!
Error 190: Invalid OAuth Access Token. Try using the admin panel to re-validate your plugin.[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]
Howdy birders,
This afternoon didn’t show any new birds for us, but we still saw lots in the windy conditions that we had: like jaegers chasing around some tern birds. Trying to find a calm spot for the night to look for a couple of hours before we get back to the dock in the morning. It’s been a great trip this year.
Capt Aaron and Team Searcher
Long-tailed jaeger @ McGrath
Howdy birders,
We have seen several red-billed tropic birds and 4 Cook’s petrels for our morning. The weather has come up more but the wind has the birds flying!
-Capt Aaron and the Searcher crew
Howdy birders,
The afternoon was a little slower than the morning. (still nice weather though) We saw a distant flesh-footed shearwater and another Cook’s petrel. We had some really good looks at a Townsend’s storm petrel today.
-Capt Aaron and the Searcher crew
Townsends storm-petrel @ McGrath
Howdy birders,
Nice morning here on the open ocean, with steady viewings of black-footed albatross and we have seen some more Buller’s shearwaters. Our highlights of the morning were a Cook’s petrel, some Baird’s beaked whales and a quick look at a Guadalupe murrelet. Hoping for more action this afternoon.
-Capt Aaron and the Searcher crew
Howdy birders,
This afternoon was not the best for birding due to complete fog block but we did see lots of the usual supects in the breaks of fog. The weather is nice and we’re anchored up for the night and will be headed offshore to a couple of sea mounts tomorrow. Here’s a photo of some of our passengers birding in the bow.
Capt Aaron and the Searcher crew
Howdy birders, it was a good morning again with flat calm weather – our big sightings from the morning were a Buller’s shearwater and several jaegers: (pomarine, parasitic, and long-tailed) and Risso’s and common dolphins, too!
Capt Aaron and the Searcher crew
Howdy birders,
Great first day on the ocean: the wind backed off to nothing, and the birding was great. It started with the sighting of 2 magnificent frigatebirds in the San Diego Bay, and then several black-vented shearwaters. We also saw a pair of brown boobies, and a life bird for many this afternoon was a Cassin’s auklet. In the marine mammal department, we saw bottlenose dolphin, fin whales, and a few blue whales, one fluking!
Dinner was fantastic, second only to a great day of wildlife sightings!
More tomorrow,
Capt Aaron and the Searcher crew
Hello Whalewatchers!
We started our day at Isla San Francisco with a yummy breakfast strata, made by Charley and Dan! After breakfast, we hiked and strolled along the beach. The cove here is beautiful with a long white sandy beach. The hike up the trail to the top of the ridge offers great views of the bay.
While everyone was ashore the crew went for a snorkel and reported back that there were several fish species and loads of garden eels in the sand at the bottom. When everyone returned from their on-shore adventures, they also went for the last snorkel session of the trip. Everyone enjoyed it immensely!
In the afternoon, we headed south and spent the rest of the day looking for whales. We’ll report back later on what we were able to see.
Team Searcher
Six sperm whales surface in a line in front of Searcher’s bow.
The afternoon just got better and better for weather and wildlife sightings! Our expert spotters found a large area of scattered sperm whales on the surface. We followed and observed a group of six sperm whales that surfaced, breathed, and then fluked at about the same time. It was a stunning sight! We turned on the hydrophone to hear the sonar clicks of the whales too.
A layson albatross circled the boat several times and then landed next to the boat during lunch, which most people ate while alternatively watching the sperm whales and the albatross. Still later we found a very cooperative group of jumping mobula rays. It was great entertainment for photographers to try to capture a ray or two in the air!
Tonight we will share our last dinner of a wonderful tour.
Team Searcher
Hello Whalewatchers!
A great day for whale watching with flat calm conditions! We started the day off after breakfast with a single humpback
whale, followed by a big group of bottlenose dolphin. While we always hope to see this on each of our trips – it doesn’t actually happen that often. The dolphins were showing off their acrobatics on the bow and in the stern wake repeatedly. We spent over an hour with this group and it was awesome! Later on, we got to see a large group of common dolphin, who also gave us a great show. We continue on and came across some sea turtles and even more dolphins, another group of bottlenose. Today’s theme was clearly “day of the dolphin.”
To finish the morning, we spotted an unusual sighting of whales, a humpback and a Bryde’s whale together! It is extremely rare to see two different species traveling together. We have seen gray and humpback whales together in the past but only once. It is always great to see something unique.
We head to Isla Catalina for a snorkel session, a crazy coastal cruise and a hike. The snorkel session was great with lots of fish and warm water. The hike is always good with great lighting on the cactus. The cardon cactus have bloomed and are now with fruit and close to going to seed. We found 3 rattleless rattle snakes , a few emerald tailed lizard and desert iguana’s. The photo is of the biggest cardon cactus in the arroyo.
The grand finale was our traditional back deck BBQ with margaritas. Charley’s ribs are always a big hit!
Team Searcher
