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Feb 19, 2019 - National Geographic Venture
After a night of calm wind buffered by San Francisco Island, we headed out to sea first thing in search of marine mammals. Just east of San Jose Island, not too far from Las Animas, there is a drop-off on the ocean floor. Geographical features such as this tend to make for promising spotting territory, for toothed whales in particular.
It wasn’t long before we encountered a massive pod of long-beaked common dolphins. We spent a good part of the morning enjoying these magnificent creatures as they engulfed National Geographic Venture from all sides. (Talk about being in it.)
Had we been on a larger vessel, it is not clear the dolphins could have come so close, and the privilege of an experience as intimate and surreal as this one would have been lost entirely.
Alberto fell in love with nature as a young child. Born and raised in Tampico, Tamaulipas, Mexico, he spent most of his childhood exploring the Chairlel Lagoon and the Tamesi River. Each morning he would patiently wait in his rowboat for sunrise to witness the great groups of migrating birds that would land on the water. His father taught him from a very early age to understand, love, and respect nature. As a result of his upbringing, Alberto became biologist and decided to follow his passion and became a naturalist. At age 21, Alberto began working with Lindblad Expeditions-National Geographic in Baja California. Since then he has been sharing interests that range from bird biology to undersea exploration to wildlife photography with thousands of guests.