West Coast of Baja / Sea of Cortez Expedition
15-26 March 2007 Trip Report

Naturalist: Isidore Szczepaniak

Thursday, March 15

Passengers arrived from 1700 to 2000. At 21:00 we had a brief orientation and introduction and then left. We stopped at the bait tanks and had good looks at California sea lions, great blue herons and black crowned night herons. Bird count for the day was 9 species.

Friday, March 16

We woke up as we entered Ensenada harbor. After a brief visit by Mexican Immigration officials we departed for Isla Todos Santos. On our way we had our first cetacean sighting, a group of Pacific white-sided dolphins. It was a small group of 3-4 animals. Shortly after leaving Ensenada we entered a thick, low fog bank and visibility was limited.

At Todos Santos we took skiff rides on the southern side of the islands. Three species of pinnipeds were seen; California sea lions, harbor seals and northern elephant seals. Todos Santos is a harbor seal breeding site. We saw about 50 harbor seal female/pup pairs.

After leaving Todos Santos we encountered another fog bank and had reduced visibility for one hour. Fortunately the seas were fairly calm with little wind. After the fog lifted we had several sightings of gray whales. Bird count for the day was 20 species, including some great looks at black-footed albatrosses.

Evening program was a talk by Izzy on Pinnipeds. Every evening program also included a summary of the day and a review of the next day's activities.

Saturday, March 17

Our day began about 2 hours north of Isla San Benitos. The seas remained calm although the wind increased over the night.

The entire group got off at West San Benitos Island. On the island it was cool and breezy with overcast skies. The group went to the main elephant seal pupping beach and we spoke to them about the biology and exploitation of this species. Izzy took a group of about 17 people for a longer hike to the beach below the light house. A few people turned back as we approached the steepest part of the walk. The remainder of the group continued along to the beach below the lighthouse, had lunch there, and then returned to the landing site. Mark stayed with the elephant seals on the beach and also went to watch ospreys at an active nest.

After returning from the lighthouse walk Izzy took some folks over to the smaller elephant seal haul out beach on the other side of the hill from the village to look at the seals there. In total there were over 400 elephant seals. This year there were two adult males still on the beach.

The most interesting structure on the island has been the small church. The light blue church had room for about 10 people inside. There was only a small altar and no chairs. This year the church was gone and in its place was a new larger church under construction.

After we were all back on board the Spirit of Adventure we motored over to East San Benitos Island to look for Guadalupe fur seals. From the skiffs we viewed the haul out sites on the south side of the island. There were considerably more fur seals and fur seal pups than last year, at least double. The fur seals were hauled out on the rocks, playing "king of the mountain" on the rocks and also playing in the water.

California sea lions, harbor seals and elephant seals were also scattered on the beaches, rocks and water. Only once did we see any interaction between two species. A young sea lion and a fur seal appeared to be playfully (?) snapping at each other.

After the skiff rides we headed south towards San Ignacio Lagoon. We looked for whales and dolphins the remainder of the day but did not encounter any. For most of the time looking we had favorable sea conditions, although white caps did begin to appear at about 1700. Bird count for the day was 20 species.

Evening program: Mark gave a talk on Nature Photography. He reviewed the 10 Rules of Nature Photography. They are:

1. Keep it simple.
2. Keep it low.
3. Keep it wide.
4. Keep it tight.
5. Keep it steady.
6. Remember the 1/3 rule
7. Remember the light.
8. Be original.
9. Be prepared.
10. Persevere.
11. Break all the rules.

Sunday, March 18

At sunrise we were about 10 miles northwest of the entrance to Laguna San Ignacio and making about 10 knots heading for the lagoon entrance. Crossing Bahia Abrejos we had numerous sightings of gray whales. We successfully navigated the sand bar at the lagoon entrance and made our way up the lagoon to our anchorage at Rocky Point. The local ponga drivers met us shortly after the anchor went down and we began our whale watching from the pongas shortly afterwards. We had two ponga sessions in the morning. Everyone in the group experienced "friendly" whales during the morning session and excited passengers were busy taking photographs of one another touching the mothers and calves. The pongas returned to the Spirit of Adventure for lunch.

The afternoon ponga rides began at approximately 1300 and continued until 1630. All boats had "close encounters" with moms and calves. During both morning and afternoon sessions we had many sightings of bottlenose dolphins. The dolphins were active with some leaping and attempts at bow-riding. Several times the dolphins would swim to the bow of the pongas and hover at the bow looking at the ponga as if asking us to speed up.

Bird count for the day was 17 species.

Evening program: Izzy gave a talk on Gray Whales.

Monday, March 19

We spent the entire day in San Ignacio Lagoon. Two full pongas of passengers went to the Mangroves in the morning. One boat saw the elusive mangrove warbler and both boats saw many species of wading and shorebirds. One boat caught a brief glimpse of a coyote, running in the sand and vegetation. That would be the only sighting of a terrestrial mammal on the voyage.

Like yesterday, there were two morning sessions and two afternoon sessions of whale watching. The whales today were not as approachable as yesterday. There were few "close encounters" but many whales wee seen. Again we saw lots of dolphins and a ridley sea turtle in the lagoon.

The highlight of the afternoon was the attempt by Matti Verkasalo to draw whales to the ponga. With the help of the Spirit crew, using a flexible tube and a funnel, he crafted a device where he would blow into the tube and with the funnel in the he would "talk" to the whales. His efforts to draw whales to us was a failure. However, when he started blowing the tube like you would blow in a trumpet, it did attract 30 bottlenose dolphins. They came to the ponga and hovered around the tube. They vocalized quite a bit around the funnel. Matti continued his communication with the dolphins as the dolphins could be heard vocalizing by everyone in the boat. When we turned to leave the dolphins began to leap and splash.

After the afternoon sessions we hoisted the anchor and began our voyage out of the lagoon. Grays whales we sighted the entire way out. From the bigger boat we were able to see over 130 gray whales as we navigated west through the lagoon and then out between the sand bars protecting the entrance. Whales were breaching all around us. It looked like a garden full of whales.

Bird count for the day was 34 species.

Evening program: We discussed the activities of today and reviewed what we would be doing the next two days.

Tuesday, March 20

The sun came up when we were passing west of Cabo San Lazaro which is just north of Magdalena Bay. The weather and seas were still favorable. Today was a day of travel through a usually rich feeding and transit area for large whales and dolphins, as well as, many sea birds. Our course was south southwest and we were roughly traveling down the 50-fathom line.

Throughout the day we had numerous sightings of small groups of common dolphins, some of which came to the boat to bow-ride. One of the dolphin encounters occurred in the vicinity of a large flock of (500-700) birds, mostly black-vented and pink-footed shearwaters.

Today was a day of mothers and calves. We encountered blue whale, humpback whale and Bryde's whale mother/calf pairs. During one of the blue whale sightings common dolphins were "bow-riding" the pressure waves generated by the large blue whale swimming through the water. It is easy to see how dolphins transferred this natural behavior of whale "bow-riding" to boats.

We had great looks of the accessory ridges on the head of one of the Bryde's whale cow/ calf pair. Great pictures were taken of the heads of both of the animals. Possibly useful photo-identification photographs were taken of the humpback and blue whales encountered.

Bird count for the day was 14 species.

Evening program: Mark gave a talk on Humpback Whales.

Wednesday, March 21

Sunrise found us off Cabo San Lucas. The morning was spent looking for whales in the Gorda Bank and Los Frailes Canyon areas. We had great ocean conditions but we did have to deal with a very thick, low fog for about an hour. Great sightings of humpback whales was the story of the day with a few encounters with bottlenose dolphins mixed in. During one of the whale sightings dolphins were "bow-riding" the whales.

Many photo-id shots were taken throughout the day and after reviewing the photos it appears as if we were with 2 groups of whales. Both groups regularly split up and then joined together again. One group was comprised of five animals, the second of six animals.

Both groups were very active with rowdy behavior the norm interspaced with periods of resting. In both groups it appeared as if a group of males were chasing after a female. There was lots of direction changing and lots of whales swimming in front off (cutting off) of one another. After periods of high activity the whales could be heard wheezing as they breathed. Throughout the day we saw lob-tailing, breaching, and flipper-flapping.

While following the whales we encountered a large swarm of pelagic red crab. We collected some for everyone to get a close look at a primary source of food for the whales we see in the area. Bird count for the day was 10 species.

Evening program: Izzy gave a talk on Sea Birds.

Thursday, March 22

We woke up to a glorious sunrise and calm weather off Punta Colorado at Isla San Jose. The skies were full of beautiful clouds which briefing sprinkled on us as we hiked. The first activity of the day was a 1.5-hour hike into the Punta Colorado Canyon. The hike began with the group going to the promontory to look at cetacean and sea turtle fossils. After the hike a small group of passengers went snorkeling while the remainder of the group went on skiff rides.

Departure from Isla San Jose was approximately 1200. We first went east towards Isla de las Animas to look at the seabirds on the island which included brown and blue-footed boobies and nesting brown pelicans. On the way to Las Animas we entered a large school of bottlenose dolphins. They were their usual active acrobatic selves and treated us to a variety of leaps and lunges. After rounding the island the boat turned west and headed towards the Canal de San Jose. Conditions were excellent with almost no wind and calm seas.

As we neared Isla Santa Cruz we saw a group of about 200 common dolphins. They When first sighted they were swimming echelon style and were moving very fast. As we drew near we could see that the dolphins were swimming in a very coordinated fashion. They appeared to be feeding cooperatively. As we met the group they continued to move as a group sometimes coming to the boat. During the entire encounter they would come to the boat and swim off. Twice they sprinted away from the boat en masse as if something occurred that drew their attention or startled them. One time it was the dropping of the hydrophone into the water. A second time it may have been in response to a California sea lion swimming past the group or the appearance of food.

At 1630 we had our first blue whale encounter in the Sea of Cortez. The blue whale made long, deep dives to 500 feet where a school of food was seen on the fathometer. I.D. photos were taken of this animal. We had another blue whale sighting at 1810 and stayed with that animal until dark. This second animal regularly fluked when it dove.

We spent the night anchored the Baja mainland. Bird count for the day was 18 species.

Evening program: Mark gave a talk on Blue Whales.

Friday, March 23

Today, once again the weather and sea conditions were good. It warmed up steadily all day, and the seas were flat calm as well, until a light wind chop came up late in the afternoon. The boat started up at 05:00 to motor the short distance to Isla Santa Catalina. We arrived by 06:30 and the first skiff for the island left at 06:45. The hike on Catalina lasted for 2 hours and included a rich variety and abundance of desert birds. We returned to the Spirit of Adventure and 20 minutes later the skiffs took snorkelers to the beach and non-snorkelers for short rides along the rocky cliffs of Catalina. There were lots of jellyfish and egg cases in the water and a number of people, including Izzy, got stung by them. We had lunch and then left to look for whales.

The rest of the day was spent in the waters between Islas Monserrat and Catalina. That area proved to be an ideal place to view blue whales. At one time we could see 18 blues whales spouting and fluking all over the place. Throughout the day we spent time following a number of these animals. We had terrific looks at one mother/calf pair that allowed us to stay with them for several hours. With all cameras clicking I imagine they may have been the most photographed blue whales in the world. They constantly were diving and when they dove the adult would show her flukes. The calf looked like it too was trying to fluke but just couldn't quite do it.

The whales in the area were feeding on a large swarm of food that was initially detected 500 feet below the surface. We could monitor the movement of the prey until just before sunset they had moved to 100 feet below the surface of the water.

One of the highlights of the day were the leaping mantas. Bird count for today was 21 species.

Evening program: We set out the squid light. There were a few species of euphausids that swam towards the light which attracted a few small fish, mostly mackerel.

Saturday, March 24

We spent the night tucked away in a cove on the Baja mainland near Aqua Verde. We weighed anchor at 0530 to go back to the area where we saw the blue whales yesterday in hopes of seeing blue whales lunge feeding on prey near the surface. We did find blue whales but they weren't lunge feeding. They were engaged in the deeper dives for food that we saw them make yesterday. We did find the same mom/calf pair we were with yesterday and spend more time with them. After about two hours with the blue whale we decided to go into deeper water to search for deeper-water species.

We motored around the north end of Isla Santa Cruz where we encountered the same group of common dolphin we found on the south side of the island the previous day. With no luck with whale sightings we saw the same group of bottlenose dolphins that we saw two days ago between Isla San Jose and Las Animas. Once again, they greeted us with a magnificent aerial display with bow and wake riding thrown in.

Unsuccessful in our attempt at finding whales we steered towards Los Islotes for an in-water encounter with California sea lions. When we anchored at Los Islotes we were the only ones there except for a small group of local divers collecting data of some sort. Those who chose to slipped into the water to experience the sea lions up close. Everyone in the water had a great time. One of the small sea lions started to tug on Stefan's flipper in a playful (hopefully) manner. Thos who chose not to swim stayed on the boat and were treated with an aerial display put on by morbulas. When the swimmers came back to the boats the skiff rides around the islets began. From the Spirit morbulas could be seen continuing their aerial acrobatics. After dinner we left heading south for more humpback whale experiences in the Cape area the following day.

Bird count for the day was 5 species.

Evening program: Photo-id activity.

Sunday, March 25

We woke over Gorda Bank and immediately had a humpback whale sighting. This initial sighting was of five animals. Throughout the day we had sighting of animals behaving the same way they did several days ago when we were at Gorda Bank.

We saw a few animals we met four days ago, including a supposed female with a few black splotches on an otherwise all-white fluke. However, new animals were the mainstay of the day. This was a perfect way to end the trip spending time with humpback whales all day long. We experienced most of the described behaviors that humpback whales are known for including breaching, lob-tailing, and flipper-slapping, a spy hop and singing. Every whale we were with, but one, fluked so that we could obtain useful fluke-id photos.

For some the highlight of the day was entering the water, with the boat engines and generator shut down, to listen to singing whales. A recording was made of the whale song and Izzy will make a copy for everyone.

Evening program: This evening we had a summary slide show of slides that various passengers took during the trip. Mark made a copy of the slide show for each passenger and each crewman as well. We also summarized the sequence of events of tomorrow.

Monday, March 26

As we awoke southeast of San Jose del Cabo we were greeted by a beautiful sunrise.
Seas were flat calm with no winds. Just as we passed the famous Cab arches we saw two humpback whales, one of which waved good-bye with a fine display of its flukes. Our last marine mammal sighting was of several California sea lion in Cabo San Lucas harbor. It was a nice ending to a wonderful trip.

After dropping anchor we took group photos of the passengers and of the crew. The Cabo pongas took us to the dock where we said our final good-byes.