Trip Reports

Hello Whalewatchers!

We enjoyed a leisurely morning aboard the Searcher, and then headed off in two pangas before lunch. The first panga headed out to the mangroves, while the other went off in search of whales. In the mangroves, guests

In addition to the other sea life, we had a visit from some friendly bottlenose dolphins!

saw all sorts of shore birds; and our whalewatchers had two pairs of mother and calf whales. The weather was ideal for both excursions.

The weather held up nicely for our afternoon outings. While some of the group went whale watching, others enjoyed a beautiful walk on the beach. Again, our whalewatchers got the chance to get close enough to touch a whale while out on the pangas. We are headed out of Laguna San Ignacio, and are headed south to Bahia Magdalena Bay tomorrow to enjoy some offshore whale and sea life watching. The weather forecast looks great for tomorrow, and we are excited for another day of fun!

-Team Searcher

 

Hello Whalewatchers!

What a wonderful morning here in San Ignacio lagoon!  We’ve had two whale watching trips this morning filled with friendly and active whales. All of our whalewatchers were lucky enough to have touched a gray whale before heading back for a delicious lunch.  These photos are of a couple gray whales enjoying a swim alongside the Searcher.

In the afternoon there was a bit of wind, but that didn’t stop us from going out to pet some friendly gray whales.  We’re going be here again tomorrow for another great day in Laguna San Ignacio, enjoying all of the sea life this beautiful area has to offer.

Team Searcher

Hello whalewatchers: Everyone enjoyed a nice day on San Benito Island today. We had some breeze and a cloud cover, so it was perfect conditions for a walk–either a short one or getting around the entire island.  Passengers spotted Guadalupe fur seals, elephant seals and California sea lions, in addition to the nesting osprey and many of the island’s unique plants.

After leaving the island we encountered some long-beaked common dolphin that stayed with us awhile and rode the bow. We’ve seen an abundance of black-vented shearwaters, and Cassins auklets.

We are headed south to be at Laguna San Ignacio shortly after breakfast.

Capt Aaron and the Searcher crew

Tour #4 to Baja California is off and running! Team Searcher and naturalists Rob Nawojchik and Lee Morgan greeted guests while they got to know their new home and family for the next 12 days. Happy whalewatching!           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]

Hello Whalewatchers!

A great sunrise this morning! The lighting on the peninsula in this area is stunning! We arrived at Isla San Francisco for a walk and a snorkel session. The view from the ridge is certainly a highlight. From here you can see the bay with all the boats from the perfect elevation.

We left the island and headed south for our last afternoon of whale watching offshore. After lunch, we came across a group of pilot whales. They were laying on the surface not moving, which is something I haven’t seen in a long time. The pilot whales started to move and came right up to the boat! Allowing us to look down and see them under the surface of the

water. We spent about an

Pilot whales @ Rob Nawojchik

hour with this group when another group joined them. The two groups together totaled about 50 pilot whales. It was the best pilot whale viewing  we had this year. To cap the day off, we also had some more Dwarf Sperm whale sightings!

Team Searcher

Hello whalewatchers!
We’ve had a great morning at Isla Santa Catalina. First it was an early walk, then a skiff ride, and then a snorkel session.

Beautiful Isla Santa Catalina with giant cactus, birds, and a lovely cove for snorkeling.

The highlight, hands-down, was seeing bottlenose dolphin during the skiff ride! In fact, the snorkelers got out of the water and joined in in their skiff as well! There were about 75 dolphin in the group and they stayed in the same area for over an hour so the skiffs could join them. Bow-riding bottlenose dolphin in a skiff is pretty special and will truly be remembered as a trip highlight!

We left the island and shortly the crew spotted a big herd of common dolphin that we spent an hour with.  It has been the day of the dolphin so far!

Team Searcher

Hello whalewatchers: We are enjoying a beautiful sunrise at one of our favorite spots–Punta Colorado at Isla San Jose. We took everyone ashore early for some birding and botanizing as it is going to be a hot day.
More later, Team Searcher

Afternoon update:
We had another great day today. A walk, and then a snorkel or a skiff ride along the shoreline. After everyone was back aboard we decided to take a different route. We went north and east of Isla San Jose for 10 miles into really deep water. We are hoping to see some different toothed whales this afternoon. We came across an area of large manta rays on the surface and jumping.
We stayed in deep water and the crew saw a pair of blue whales in the distance–great job by Team Searcher crew on the lookout from the roof! We travelled for at least 5 miles before getting in the area. We spent about an hour with these whales and then continued on in search of toothed whales.
We saw a whale in the distance it was small and brown and it stayed on the surface for a while. We got to it and hung out for an hour, hoping for a look at it. We never saw it again, but we supposed it could have been a beaked whale.
We decided to travel towards Isla Santa Catalina, our destination for tonight and tomorrow.

We then came upon a group of dwarf sperm whales! There were at least 6 individuals. With the calm conditions we

Dwarf sperm whales at sunset (from another trip).

were able to get really good looks at these whales. It has to be calm in order to spot these guys. They are only 12 feet long and aren’t at the surface very long.
We started the day with a beautiful sunrise and ended it with a great sunset, part of Baja’s magic.

Team Searcher

Hello whalewatchers,
We started the day in Bahia La Paz with a beautiful sunrise and breakfast. The weather is awesome with light winds and calm seas. We plan to snorkel with whale sharks this morning. Our partner Jesus with Chicalera Tours arrived at 8 am. We loaded all the snorkelers and observers in two of his pangas.  Everyone had a wonderful experience! Curious about how that works? Click here: Whale Shark Encounter.
While the snorkelers were out, we spotted two blue whales to the west. They actually swam in between the boat and the beach. I’m sure the whales were in 30 feet of water. We reported the whales to the whale shark pangas, and after they we’re finished watching whale sharks they followed what turned out to be three blue whales for an hour. What a bonus! To see whale sharks and blue whales in the same trip is unheard of by us.

We left the whale shark area and headed north to end the day at los Isoletes with sea lions! We found a pair of humpback whales fluking and during first call for lunch “Cheeseburgers in Paradise,” we found three more fluking humpbacks., then another blue whale, some bottlenose dolphin, and  some smooth-tailed mobulas jumping. Then more blue whales and more mobulas.  Wow! On on to the sea lions at Los Islotes!
Team Searcher

Hello Whalewatchers,

What a great morning we had! We are very blessed to have no wind and calm seas again. We all agreed it was going to be another beautiful day.

The waters were active with sea creatures right from daylight when we spotted a long winded blue whale! We saw a variety of dolphin, including: Rizzo’s dolphin, common dolphin and bottlenose dolphin. In between dolphin sightings we had green sea turtles in every direction! Oh! And let’s not forget a

Photo Credit: Nigel Carter

pair of humpback whales. If that isn’t enough, there was a 25 foot whale shark on the surface! The water was crystal clear allowing us to see the entire whale shark even as it dove.

As lunch time approached we watched Humpback whales doing the usual behaviors, breaching, lob-tailing and pectoral flipper flapping in the distance. We were able to get close enough to have a good look. As part of our lunch-time entertainment, we had a trio of humpbacks fluking regularly and with the clear waters made them easy to track.

We traveled to Bahia Los Frailes for a walk and enjoyed the sunshine and amazing landscape. The water is 73 degrees F and 23.5 degrees C – perfect for our first snorkel session!

Team Searcher