Trip Reports

Hello whale watchers,

Due to windy conditions we had to deviate from the normal itinerary today.

We started at the south end of Isla San Jose at the mangroves. Everyone
enjoyed the 2 hour trip in the skiffs. There was excellent birdwatching.

We pulled anchor and went over to Isla San Francisco for a beach walk and
a snorkel. The conditions were great with 73 degree clean water and sunny
skies. The snorkelling was great with garden eels being the highlight for
the snorkellers.

After lunch we pulled anchor and went north up the San Jose channell. We
saw a quick glimpse of a larger balleen whale and a brydes whale. Not much
after that with the exception of a tremendous sunset.

I forgot to mention the lunar eclipse last night that was incredible. The
skies were clear and so everyone that woke up had a great view of the
eclipse.

Today’s photo is of the beach at Isla San Francisco. Not a bad alternate
spot.

Team Searcher

Dear whalewatchers:

We had three kinds of excursions today: a mangrove visit for birdwatching, a beachcombing trip onshore, and whalewatching outings too. It was a great day with the whales and all the other wildlife here. Passengers are enjoying a seared ahi dinner and recalling the whale encounters over the last two days. Today’s photo is our naturalist, Rob Nawojchik, offering interpretation to the guests in a panga.

More tomorrow, Team Searcher

Dear whalewatchers:

We arrived in Laguna San Ignacio this morning and were greeted by many gray whale cow-calf pairs. There were several pairs to watch all day long, and many of them wanted to interact with passengers in the pangas. We are so grateful to be here for one more trip, and share this magical place with people from all over the world. Close encounters, seeing eye-to-eye, capturing breaches and spyhops with a camera, watching how cows care for their calves, and enjoying the view from sea level in the pangas and aboard Searcher at anchor filled our day today. More to come tomorrow. Today’s photo is Capt Art with a gray whale.

Team Searcher

Dear whalewatchers:

After a calm night of travel, we arrived at Islas San Benito this morning. Before getting to the island, we had good views of black-footed albatrosses and a cow-calf pair of humpbacks. Our group had a wonderful walk around the island to spend time with elephant seals (returning, molting sub-adults and weaners) and Guadalupe fur seals. The number of fur seals has certainly increased over the season. The plants were very interesting, and the ground-nesting bird burrows were abundant and active. We also saw osprey, one with two large chicks, and side-blotched lizards. We left the island under calm seas and spotted our first herd of long-beaked common dolphin around the boat in clear blue water.

We are looking forward to our visit to Laguna San Ignacio tomorrow,
Team Searcher

Hello whalewatchers:

We started our final trip of the 2014 season and we had a great first day. We had a short visit to Isla Todos Santos and saw three different pinnipeds, oystercatchers, peregrine falcons, pelagic commorants, and brown pelicans on the nest with chicks. Our first whales were seen just south of the island with a huge herd of short-beaked common dolphin.There were 2000-3000 animals spread out over a large area. We travelled further south and saw five gray whales northbound. Further south again we saw a total of 25 fin whales with at least 15 whales in a very small area of a couple of miles. Today’s photo is of one of the fins on the surface.

Team Searcher