Baja Whale Watching Tours

It is not too early to think about a trip to Baja California, Mexico, in order to enjoy the whales and other wildlife of the area. Searcher Natural History Tours have a number of 12 day tour is to whale watch, bird, to photography and snorkel.  They can be found on the web at http://www.bajawhale.com/wildlife-tours/baja-whale-watching-tours/.  This is an exciting adventure, plus the food is wonderful.  You can search my blog for more information.

 

 

 

 

You will get up close and personal with the gray whales.  So don't hesitate sign up now so you don't miss your opportunity for a trip of a lifetime.

Day Eleven of my Log of the Searcher Natural History Tour Around the Baja by Boat February 2, 2011

Oserving the Sunrise 

It is now February 2, the last full day of the Baja trip. We continue southward toward the Gorda banks and added a sei whale to our species. We now have seen 19 of the 21 species that are commonly found in the Gulf of California and on the Pacific coast of the Baja.

Humpback Whale Fluke

Humpback Whale Underwaer

Short-finned Pilot Whale with a Fluke injury probably secondary to fishing line

 
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Short-Beaked Common Dolphins Leaping

 Besides the Marine mammals that we saw there were also Manta Rays leaping .

We returned to Los Frailes/Cabo Pulmo to get some relief from the wind. We went ashore again to explore and bird watch. On the beach there was snowy plovers, that were mostly hunkered down to get out of the winds.  B laid on the sand and crawled up so I could get better pictures of them. Being battered by the wind wasn't bad, however, the sand was being blown straight at me. I did obtain the picture I wanted.

I was able to see and photograph the Baja-endemic Xantus's hummingbird, which is endemic to the Baja and is an accidental visitor to the US West.

Here is a photograph for an naturalist Rob trotting back toward the boat, prior to us leaving for the Searcher

We had had excellent roast beef dinner for supper, and afterward everybody recounted what they enjoyed about the trip and what it meant to them.

That is me in the blue

Our Most Excellent Chef Charles

Part of the great  Crew

An other Sunset

Day Nine of my Log of the Searcher Natural History Tour Around the Baja by Boat January 31, 2011

Continuing with my Blog of my trip around the Baja Peninsula on the searcher, today we anchored off Ilsa Santa Catalina. And as usual there was another glorious sunrise, with the sun light reflecting off elephant rock.

The skiffs took us onto the beach where we were greeted by yellow-legged gulls. We went on another trip up on Arroyo looking at the flora and fauna of the area. The Cardon cactus's were starting to flower, and there were a number of wavy barrel cactus's. Numerous species of birds were also found, including white-winged-doves Gila woodpecker, ravens and numerous other species.

After the trip up the Arroyo part of the group went snorkeling and the other part took a Krazy Koastal Kruise by Kaptain Kenny. We will first greeted by bottlenose dolphins. And then observed the geology of the area, which included areas of solid rock with flowering plants stuck in the rock. There were numerous Sally Lightfoot's around, plus the gulls, pelicans, cormorants and a great blue heron.

An area of the rocks on the island were very green in color, Olivine, which is a volcanic intrusion.

We then left the island to search for cetaceans. However, there was strong winds from the north and seas running which limited our viewing. In order to give us a smoother ride the searcher churned southward. We did observe a fiun whale whale mothercalf pair, some common Dolphins and some short-finned pilot whales
 
We also had an another glorious sunset.
 

Day Seven of my Log of the Searcher Natural History Tour Around the Baja by Boat January 29, 2011

It is now day seven of the trip and we rounded Cabo San Lucas and are now in the Gulf of California. There was again another spectacular sunrise. 

Sunrise

Observing the Sunrise from he Searcher

We motored to the Gorda Banks where humpback whales congregate. As we were enjoying breakfast, a hydrophone was lowered into the water and we were entertained by listening to the humpback whales singing. I have heard humpback whale songs on CDs, but it is different actually hearing them sing, while it is occurring. We spent the morning observing humpback whales breaching, flipper slapping and diving showing us their flukes. There were also groups of bottlenose Dolphins along with false killer whales observed.

Humpback Whale Flipper Slapping

Humpback Whale Breach

Humpback Whale Fluke

Humpback Whales

Humpback Whale Breach

Humpback Whale Breach

W also saw some pelagic bird species

Pink-footed Shearwater

In the afternoon, we landed at Los Frailes / Cabo Pulmo Marine Park and toured the island. In the campground, the campers had set up bird feeders and Hummingbird feeders to attract the birds. Numerous species of birds were observed. Some of our group snorkeled.

Costa's Hummingbird

Cardon Cactus

Common Ground-dove

Hooded Oriole

Ruddy Ground Dove

Hooded Oriole



The orioles also utilized the hummingbird feeders 

Costa's Hummingbird

Costa's Hummingbird

Snowy Plover

After this interesting visit to the Marine Park, the searcher then started heading North toward our next destination.