Hello whalewatchers: Our first day in Laguna San Ignacio has been great so far with awesome conditions–no wind and overcast skies make conditions perfect, AND lots of whales! The last census counted 220 whales–singles and mothers with calves. 
Pictured is a panga (skiff) out on the glassy lagoon.
Team Searcher
Hello whalewatchers: We are truly blessed with a calm ocean so far on this trip–no wind and almost no swell. Everyone had a great hike on west Isla San Benito today. There are still quite a few flowers blooming. The female elephant seals are off to feed, and there are a few males and many of this year’s pups on the beaches. 
Since we arrived early we were able to get everyone ashore early and back on the boat by 2:30 and that allowed us to get offshore to look for a whale or two. We got lucky and had a good look at our first blue whale and our first fin whale. Both whales were in the same area and so waiting for the blue whale to surface the fin whale came up!
So we have added twoo= more whale species to our list. We are headed to Laguna San Ignacio and will arrive after breakfast. Looking forward to another visit to one of the greatest places on earth.
Team Searcher
Hello whalewatchers: Our first day was very busy in the morning with lots to see. Islas Todos Santos was alive with nesting brown pelicans, peregrine falcon and plenty of oystercatchers. There has been a change with more independent elephant seal pups. We had a glimpes of a pelagic cormorant. South of the island there were plenty of northbound gray whales and a single humpback. We also found a good-size group of short beaked common dolphin. Once again the weather is awesome with calm seas and no wind. Looking forward to tomorrow at Isla San Benito! Team Searcher
Hello whalewatchers: We just completed a wonderful snorkel session at Los Islotes! We had lots of participants and everyone had a great time. We also did a skiff ride to see the sea lions from the surface. Earlier we did a skiff ride into the mangroves at the south end of Isla San Jose and that was a hit as well. We hope to see a whale or two to end a marvelous trip. Our excellent weather stands out as the highlight for me.
Today’s picture is of the skiffs standing by the snorkelers at Los Islotes.
Team Searcher
Hello whalewatchers: We are so blessed to have weather conditions again today. The boat barely moved last night. We had a waonderful sunrise and left the anchorage right away to enjoy it to its fullest. It didn’t take long to start seeing blue whales and common dolphin. We had some great flukes from different blue whales but we settled in with one that was at the surface regularly. I think we saw 10-12 blue whales this morning and we elected to go further east into deeper water to look for a toothed whale. We were rewarded with a sighting of three dwarf sperm whales that gave us good views. Then the boys on the roof spotted some short-finned pilot whales in the distance. With this weather you can see for miles and miles. There were more blue whales in the area as well. As one of passengers said it was a magical morning. For those interested in birds we had several Craverris murrelets everywhere we went along with boobies, shearwaters, and plenty of gulls and pelicans.
The picture is a blue whale fluke, Awesome!
Hello whalewatchers: We had a great afternoon with a single blue whale that fluked for us. Plenty of common dolphin in different spots. We saw a humpback as well and it breached once for us.The weather is phenomenal–glassy, calm and sunny. The boat isn’t even moving–it truly is like being tied to the dock. Looking forward to tomorrow, Team Searcher
Hello all,
Another beautiful day in the Sea of Cortez!! We are currently at Isla Santa Catalinaeveryone went ashore this morning and had a good walk. A few side-blotched emerald tail lizards were out. The birding was good based on the list on the white board. The whole group went on a Crazy Coastal Cruise, There were some jelly fish in the snorkel area so we opted to not subject anyone to them. Looking forward to getting offshore this afternoon in the calm water. Hopefully we can find an area of whales to look atMore later,
Team Searcher
This morning’s picture is of elephant rock in the anchorage.
Hello whalewatchers: Happy Valentines day! We had a wonderful day with great weather, sunny skies ,and calm seas. Punta Colorado was beautiful as usual at sunrise. The group enjoyed the walk and snorkel session with warm water and good visibility. We saw a big herd of common dolphin after leaving the island, along with lots of manta rays jumping and on the surface. A few small humpbacks and a Bryde’s whale cow and calf filled in the afternoon. We ended the day with more common dolphin and a tail-lobbing humpback in the moonlight. Looking forward to tomorrow.
Team Searcher
Today’s picture is one of the groups of common dolphin.
Holy Humpbacks! 
Here’s the female humpback next to Searcher on her back. The pair spent an hour and a half with us. and all the conditions were right with calm seas, clear water and sunny skies for good lighting. I’ll be sharing several other photos and videos after returning to San Diego. Headed north tonight. Looking forward to tomorrow,
Team Searcher
Hello all,
What a morning! We have been drifting at the Gorda Banks area now for an hour or more with the same pair of humpbacks!. Needless to say everyone has enjoyed close up views of these remarkable whales. SD cards are full, and GoPro bateries are dead! We all got our exercise for the day running back and forth, from side to side, and bow to stern. We have seen this in the past and we are still amazed as to why these whales were curious enough to stay with us. No explanation, just enjoying the moment. I decided to get another cup of coffee and captured the picture from the galley with Sue Schott from Canada in the foreground and the female humpback flukes in the frame.
I have other photos to share later but I couldn’t resist this one.
More later, Team Searcher
