As we began our 2016 Searcher Natural History Tours Baja Whalewatching season, we proclaimed the following:
“Our hearts are full – and we want to share the Baja love!”

(Click here to see our “We Can’t Help Falling In Love” video)

We asked passengers to recall moments when they fell in love during one of our Searcher Natural History Tours.

Here’s what our Searcher friends replied:

My “love affair” with that long, narrow peninsula, Baja, began in 1976, but it turned into a life-long commitment with my first Searcher trip in 1981. That first look into a gray whale’s eye changed my life in so many ways.

-Rafe Payne

I fell in love with Baja my first time working on the Searcher… So much so that I vowed to go back and work intimately with the gray whales in La Laguna San Ignacio! I spent the next two seasons working down there.

-Julie Kondor
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Photo Credit: Michael Larsen

 

Seeing a newborn gray whale riding on its mother’s back in Laguna San Ignacio on my Searcher trip is a memory I hold dear to my heart always.

-Ann Parker

I fell in love with the Searcher on the first evening as we left San Diego, watching the seals on the pontoons in the dark with the city lights behind. I knew then it was going to be the trip of a lifetime – then we hit the harbour bar and an exhilarating sea! We haven’t booked a holiday this year as nothing seems to match the Searcher and the wonderful Baja wildlife.

-Linda Riseborough

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Photo Credit: Chris Shields

Two years since my Searcher adventure and I still get a buzz thinking about it. I definitely fell in love with the ocean on that trip – its rhythms, colours and inhabitants will stay with me forever. I loved – literally – simply going with the flow.

-Carol Morris

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Photo Credit: Rob Nawojchik

As we planned early (2010) for our 25 th Anniversary (April 11, 2012), we were targeting the Galapagos Islands for our special nature trip. But then I read a book called “Whales Touching the Mystery” by Doug Thomson. It is a fascinating book about San Ignacio Lagoon and the friendly gray whales (I’ve read it twice).

Larry and I have been fascinated with nature and in particular whales for a long time. We had observed whales in Cape Cod, Cabo and Puerto Vallarta. As I was reading the book, I kept asking myself if it was “for real”. How cool to be able to really interact with a gray whale. But who do I contact? So I went back to the first page of the Introduction where the author talked about his first encounter with a gray whale while travelling on a vessel called “The Searcher”.

The internet being a wonderful thing, I searched for “The Searcher” and lo and behold, I found “Searcher Natural History Tours”. I contacted Celia, who provided great information and answered all of our questions. From that point on, Galapagos was out the window and we were going to do a once in a lifetime trip in Baja for our 25th Anniversary to see the gray whales up close and personal!

I still remember my excitement going out in the pangas, especially when I touched the smooth back of my first young whale. It’s hard to express the feeling in words. I was so thrilled, the first thing I did back at the Searcher was give Captain Art a great BIG hug. As Art famously says, I didn’t just touch the whale, the whale touched me.

Larry’s dream was to see a big blue whale. We didn’t see just one – but 20 of them – including a baby blue that thought we were its nanny! This is just a small taste of the natural wonders experienced in the 12-day adventure. I’ve learned about birds (thanks, Paul Jones!), pinnipeds (thanks, Marc Webber!) and many species of whales and dolphins.

We enjoyed it so much that we went back in 2014 and we just returned from our 2016 trip. Words cannot begin to express the amazing trips that Captain Art, Celia and the Searcher crew provide.

Thank you for memories of a lifetime (times 3!).

– Sue (and Larry) Schott – Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

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Did YOU fall in love during a Searcher Natural History Tour?  Tell us about it!

Email your “fell in love” story to searcher@bajawhale.com

🙂