from the deep

It’s the largest species on our planet - a Blue Whale of course - rising from the deep, taken by Ian aboard ‘Searcher’ in Baja California earlier this year, and is the perfect accompaniment to this piece by Captain Art Taylor. His summary of some last days of their 2008 Baja whale-watching season oozes excitement, but also captures the thrill he and Celia still have nearly 30 years on from their first visit. Enjoy . . .

“Saturday - after lunch near San Jose we went a short distance and started to see Blue Whales. We saw surface-feeding up close, flukes and all-in-all, we saw about 30 in a 4-hour period - most of them were in a 4-mile area. We went further north and west and came across a mega herd of Long-beaked Common Dolphin - I would guess about 4000 to 5000 animals - a great way to end the day, so we stayed with them until dark.

Tuesday - three different species of dolphin today: Short-beaked Common; Pacific White-sided; and Risso's. The birding was great with the highlight being a very close look at a Red-billed Tropicbird that almost landed onboard - what a beautiful bird! There was a lot to look at in the morning and right after lunch, the afternoon was a little slower but we did see Black-footed Albatross.

Wednesday - today we awoke to a large herd (20-30 animals) of Sperm Whales, just north-west of Isla San Benito. We were able to stay with them for over an hour and a half, with whales at the surface the entire time, and one part of the group had at least two calves in attendance. It was good to see classic Sperm Whale behaviour with a surface group all in a line - 15 whales at the surface at once - blowing over and over again! Everyone got great photos of them. After leaving them we encountered a large Fin Whale who acted very curious and stayed within 50 feet of the boat, surfacing often and making for a great photo op.

Friday - our final day in Laguna San Ignacio of the 2008 season was a great one. We started with a beach walk and a trip to the mangroves, since we had some wind and it wasn't possible to watch whales. We returned to the boat and found a Gray Whale cow and calf pair had found Searcher and seemed to like the anchor line! It is always fascinating to me what attracts these whales to the Searcher and have them hang around for hours at times - it’s a great opportunity to photograph them from the deck with the elevation above the water. After a quick break we went out whale watching. There were plenty of friendly encounters had by all three pangas, and both Celia and I had a chance to pet a calf and a cow. We returned to the boat for lunch and another quick break and then back out to visit the whales.”

A date for your diary - Ian will be talking about Baja Blue Whales at the British Birdwatching Fair in Lecture Marquee One on Saturday 16th August at 4.30pm http://www.birdfair.org.uk/ and of course we’ll be cruising these waters ourselves again in late March 2009.