Trip Reports

Hello whalewatchers: It’s another beautiful day in Baja! Sunny skies, warm temperatures and calm seas was the order of the day. We had some great looks at humpback whales, with the highlight being a group of 10 whales. Triple flukes for everyone. 
There were plenty of other whales in the Gorda Banks area. We had a treat finding a blue whale also, we don’t see them very often in this area. We had a great look at a green sea turtle as well. Travelling north in good weather, ahhhhhh!
Team Searcher

Hello whalewatchers: We have had a great day with good weather, light winds and calm seas that made looking for whales, dolphins, turtles and more much easier. Most of the action was before lunch with a tremendous amount of life north of the entrance to Bahia Magdalena, including large areas of birds. Our first whale was a Bryde’s which are always difficult to track, and then a humpback cow and calf. We travelled further south and came across a huge area of birds with common dolphin. It had to be 2000-3000 dolphins, a single humpback in the middle, and gulls, shearwaters, frigates, elegant terns, and pelicans all feeding on small bait fish. It was quite a show!
We continued on and came across multiple whales: two blues, a fin, and 5 or 6 humpbacks. One of the blues was consistently down for 13 minutes and on the surface for three breaths. The other blue whale we were able to follow for a long time with the sonar and we had some great looks close to the bow. It was the highlight of the day and today’s picture is of this whale off the bow.
To recap we saw 4 out of the 7 baleen whales before lunch, along with a megaherd of long-beaked common dolphin, and I can’t forget all the loggerhead turtles we saw with the calm conditions.
What a great day! Team Searcher

Hello whalewatchers: We had another great day in Laguna San Ignacio with good weather as well. This mornings’ trips were the best, with plenty of close encounters. This afternoon was a little windy.  The beach walk was a hit for everyone that went. We saw lots of shorebirds. Today’s picture is Capt Art with his tres amigos: Ramon, Chopy and Gaby. We are privileged to have such a good working relationship with all the pangueros and the people at Kuyima. This is our 21st year working with these folks.
More tomorrow, Team Searcher

Hello whalewatchers: We enjoyed another great day in Laguna San Ignacio. We had good weather with light winds and partly cloudy skies. There are plenty of gray whales still here. The latest census had 56 cow with calves and 6 single whales, for a total of 118 whales. The calves are noticably bigger this trip. Everyone had a great day with plenty of close encounters to go around.
Both Chefs Charles and Geri Sue had an opportunity to go out to visit with the whales too. They both got their gray whale fix for the season.
Looking forward to tomorrow.
Team Searcher
Today’s picture is of a panga returning with a load of happy whalewatchers. Capt. Kenny and panguero “Choppie” are standing.

Hello whalewatchers: Yesterday I left out our visit to Islas Todos Santos in my report. We spent an hour and a half there and saw the three different types of pinnipeds with more elephant seals on the beach than last trip, plenty of oystercatchers, nesting brown pelicans with chicks on the nest, double-crested commorants gathering nesting material and buliding nests, and a distant view of peregrine falcons.
Today at Islas San Benito everyone had a great day. There are more elephant seals here as well with the sub-adults retuning to molt. Also there are more Guadalupe fur seals as well, with about 200 animals seen today. They are returning to breed. The group saw a blue whale west of the island from the lighthouse and we saw another blue whale east of the island. It was hard to view because it was down for over 16 minutes and when it surfaced it was a long ways from where it dove. There are loads of Cassins auklets out away from the island. Our weather is good with a light breeze and sunny skies.
More tomorrow, Team Searcher

Hello whalewatchers: Our first day on trip #5 was great and we had good weather with overcast skies and light winds. We saw plenty of northbound gray whales, a single humpback that breached a couple of times, two groups of short-beaked common dolphin with one being a mega-herd of 3000-4000 dolphins!
We saw both types of albatross-laysan and  black-footed-plenty of murrelets and auklets, a light-phased northern fulmar and lots of Bonaparte gulls.
Everyone enjoyed our first day and we are looking forward to tomorrow at Isla San Benito.
Team Searcher

Hello whalewatchers: We have had another tremendous day starting at beautiful Punta Colorado for sunrise and a walk up the arroyo. That was followed by bottlenose dolphin on our way to Islas Los Islotes. Everyone had a good snorkel session with the sea lions. The finale was spectacular with a curious blue whale–up close looks as the whale did laps around Searcher! We stayed with the whale for an hour. Today’s picture is of a close encounter with a blue whale, note the heads in the foreground. Videos forthcoming.
Team Searcher

Hello whalewatchers: Today we had a marvelous day starting at Isla Santa Catalina with a early walk and then a snorkel session and a skiff ride for those nonsnorkellers. It has been interesting to me going to the island each trip and see the changes going on with the plants. The cardons are flowering and there are several different plants leafing out over the past 2 months. What a wonderful place.
We travelled down the channel and we received info about sperm whales in the channel. We arrived in the area to see multiple sperm whales on the surface. We spent 2.5 hours with various whales including a cow and calf. It is really a treat to view these whales. They are really different than all the other whales we see and is fascinating how they live their lives in the deep.
We found a calm spot to have our back deck buffet and margarita night. Everyone had a great time and as usual the food was great. Today’s picture is a sperm  whale fluking.
Team Searcher

Hello whalewatchers: Today we got a break from the wind. We were able to get out to look for a whale. We had a quick look at a  Bryde’s whale and a good look at a fin whale, and then we saw a tall spout that we thought was a blue whale. It was  down for 13-15 minutes and wasn’t very watchable so we elected to head north along the peninsula. We saw plenty of bird life– boobies, Sabines gulls, red billed tropicbird, and lots of least and black storm petrels, but a lack of whales or dolphins until we made it up to Isla Monserate. Then we saw common dolphin and a humpback whale feeding with lots of birds.
West of the island we saw all the signs associated with ballen whales such as krill, phalaropes, manta,s but no whales. The weather is calm and the forecast looks good for the remainder of the trip. Lookinfg forward to tomorrow at Isla Santa Catalina, Team Searcher.
Today’s picture is of a humpback in front of the boat.

Hello whalewatchers: Today we have windy conditions to deal with, so we took a trip into the mangroves at Isla San Jose for a great bird viewing trip. The tide was high so it allowed the skiffs to get to areas that are only accessible with high waters. The highlight was seeing roosting frigatebirds in the mangroves along with all the usual suspects. We had great looks at mangrove warblers too.
After lunch we tried to go up the San Jose channel but it was too windy. We anchored in a different bay by Punta Salina and we offerd a beach walk in a new spot. The forecast looks good for less wind tomorrow.
Team Searcher