Hello whalewatchers: We’ve had a busy morning with lots of common dolphins, bottlenose dolphin, surface-feeding humpbacks, manta rays, a pair of fin whales, a close-up tropicbird, and a blue whale in the distance. Wow! We are enjoying sunny skies and breezy conditions. We are headed south with a stop somewhere on the peninsula later.
Today’s picture is one of the fin whales.
Team Searcher
Hello whalewatchers: We had an interesting afternoon today. The crew found a humpback whale in the distance and the closer we got the more life we saw–hundreds of blue-footed boobies, which is something different this year. We attribute it to the warmer water. The whale was feeding on the surface on the small bait fish in the area along with all the birds and hundreds of common dolphin. After a while the roof crew spotted another whale in the distance and it was a blue whale and another humpback in the same area. We spent the rest of the day with the blue whale. A very productive 2.5 hours….
Tonight’s picture is of a wavy barrel cactus bloom–very pretty.
Team Searcher
Hello whalewatchers: We enjoyed a beautiful morning ashore at Isla Santa Catalina. The group found two rattleless rattlesnakes!The plants are at various stages of blooming and some are just about to bloom. The cardon cactus are blooming as well as some of the barrell cactus. There was a Krazy Koastal Kruise with some bottlenose dolphin for a finale and a really nice snorkel session with 70 degree water and and good visibility.
Today’s picture is of some of our passengers in the arroyo this morning.
More later, Team Searcher
Hello whalewatchers: We had a great day starting with sunrise at Punta Colorado, a great ride up from Los Frailes which we are always grateful for, a good hike with lots of flowers, and then a good snorkel session. We left the island and came upon a megaherd of long-beaked common dolphins. We stayed with them for a while and got our fill of dolphins and then travelled northwest towards the peninsula. We saw several black storm petrels prior to finding our first blue whale. we followed it for an hour matching its speed and heading so everyone had great looks at this whale.
We are headed to Isla Santa Catalina to spend the night and go ashore in the morning.
Team Searcher
Today’s picture is of the cliffs at Punta Colorado at sunrise with the perfect lighting.
Hello whalewatchers: What an incredible day of humpback whalewatching! The weather is awesome, the air temps are in the 80’s, and the group had a good snorkel session at Los Frailles with 75 -degree water and incredible visibility. Even Capt. Art went for a dip to cool off. This afternoon’s picture is a view of the beach at Los Frailes.
More tomorrow, Team Searcher
Hello whalewatchers: As Februrary comes to a close, I have to say we have had an incredible month of whalewatching! Today we are watching humpbacks in the Gorda Banks area. There are multiple groups of humpbacks from 3-8 whales in a group. It has been fantastic so far today and it is only 10 am (ships time). Once again we have had a group of whales hang out with the boat. It appears they were curious about us. Remarkable!
Today’s picture is of multiple whales on the surface in close proximity to us.
The weather is awesome with sunny skies, calm seas and warm temperatures.
More later, Team Searcher
Hello whalewatchers:Today started out with windy and tough conditions, but we saw a few common dolphin early and then a long dry spell. After lunch things livened up with a big group of common dolphin and some bird life– shearwaters, gulls, red phalropes and a single brown booby. We saw a single humpback whale and decided to follow this whale because we hadn’t seen too much. This whale provided all the entertainment for the day. It stayed with us for over an hour and tail-lobbed repeatedly for the entire time. At times it was directly under us on the sounder at 120 feet down and then on the surface right next to us. We had great looks and the tail-lobbing that close to the boat within a 100 feet was something we don’t see much. 
Today’s picture is of the whales flukes close by.
More tomorrow, Team Searcher
Hello whalewatchers: We enjoyed another great stay in Laguna San Ignacio, with awesome whales on both trips today with close encounters for all. We also had a great beach walk with almost everyone participating. The weather was great with sunny skies and light winds. This afternoon’s picture is of the beautiful beach in the lagoon.
I get a chance to go for a walk each trip and I still marval at how pristine it is there.
Headed south. More tomorrow, Team Searcher
Hello whalewatchers: Our second day in Laguna San Ignacio started with a little wind from the north. Our first trip was to the mangroves was very successful since most of the group is keen on birds. While the group was gone we were visited by a cow and her calf. The crew got to scrub both whales with a scrub brush. This cow and calf visited us last night breifly for about 30 minutes. The last half hour of the day yesterday was remarkable with a superb sunset to the west and a large rainbow to the east and then the whales to cap it off. 
Today’s picture is of that cow and calf close tothe loading ladder with the crew.
Team Searcher
Hello whalewatchers: We’ve had another great day here in Laguna San Ignacio with plenty of close encounters with grey whales. The weather continues to be calm with a light breeze off the ocean this afternoon. We plan to go to the mangroves in the morning as much of the group is keen on seeing birds.
This afternoon’s picture is of Chris and Juliet having a laugh with our friends and pangueros (skiff drivers) Lico, Luis and Romolo after returning from a panga ride to see the whales.
More tomorrow, Team Searcher
