Isla San Francisco
Our last day of exploration in Baja California has taken on a reflective tone. The landscape and its inhabitants are now familiar friends. We find ourselves casually caressing with a fingertip the newly bared skin of a Bursera as we walk by. We mindlessly rub a glossy smooth shell we carry between our thumb and forefinger as we stroll down the beach. We listen and unconsciously identify the song of a bird, interrupting our quiet as we sit under a fig tree and contemplate place, space and landscape.
Isla San Francisco embraced us within the long white arms of her sandy beach. We adorned the fringes of her shoreline with colorful kayaks that were soon splashing and paddling in her protected bay. Walkers explored along the edges of grasses, salt flats, dunes and along ridgelines. Ambitious hikers took a short ride to a second beach and climbed, clambered and grunted to the topmost ridge of the island. They were rewarded with a picture perfect postcard view of the surrounding seas and Isla San Jose to the north. Along the route a magnificent fig tree offered a generous splash of green to the landscape as well as a much appreciated respite of shade.
Navigating south in the afternoon, the colorful ash layers of Cabeza Mechudo called to us as a geologic siren. As we drew nearer to the peninsula, a pod of common dolphins were sighted moseying about in a mellow and contemplative fashion. The dolphin contemplations were punctuated with an occasional skyward leap and subsequent belly flop splash of an animal, perhaps a technique for stunning a prey item.
The distraction of two blows took us away from the dolphins; these came from a cow and calf blue whale. Blue whales were one of the first species of whale we saw almost two weeks ago when we started our navigation north from Magdalena Bay towards San Ignacio lagoon in the open seas of the Pacific. Today that seemed to be very long ago.
Later in the afternoon we shared the photographic treasures we had gathered and gleaned during almost two weeks of exploration. A multitude of laptops adorned the lounge, each with a rolling slide show showing unique photographic perspectives. These reflections were viewed by an appreciative audience.
While the day may have started in a more reflective mood, it certainly ended with a sizzling finale. Right when you thought it might be safe to shower, or consider packing, a massive pod of common dolphins were sighted. Between the Ferris wheel motions of hundreds of dolphins, the spinning donuts navigations of the ship, and the racing from port to starboard sides for viewing and photographing, we ended our day dizzy, giddy and still spinning when the sun finally set leaving us and the dolphins basking in the afterglow of a remarkable voyage in Baja California.
Our last day of exploration in Baja California has taken on a reflective tone. The landscape and its inhabitants are now familiar friends. We find ourselves casually caressing with a fingertip the newly bared skin of a Bursera as we walk by. We mindlessly rub a glossy smooth shell we carry between our thumb and forefinger as we stroll down the beach. We listen and unconsciously identify the song of a bird, interrupting our quiet as we sit under a fig tree and contemplate place, space and landscape.
Isla San Francisco embraced us within the long white arms of her sandy beach. We adorned the fringes of her shoreline with colorful kayaks that were soon splashing and paddling in her protected bay. Walkers explored along the edges of grasses, salt flats, dunes and along ridgelines. Ambitious hikers took a short ride to a second beach and climbed, clambered and grunted to the topmost ridge of the island. They were rewarded with a picture perfect postcard view of the surrounding seas and Isla San Jose to the north. Along the route a magnificent fig tree offered a generous splash of green to the landscape as well as a much appreciated respite of shade.
Navigating south in the afternoon, the colorful ash layers of Cabeza Mechudo called to us as a geologic siren. As we drew nearer to the peninsula, a pod of common dolphins were sighted moseying about in a mellow and contemplative fashion. The dolphin contemplations were punctuated with an occasional skyward leap and subsequent belly flop splash of an animal, perhaps a technique for stunning a prey item.
The distraction of two blows took us away from the dolphins; these came from a cow and calf blue whale. Blue whales were one of the first species of whale we saw almost two weeks ago when we started our navigation north from Magdalena Bay towards San Ignacio lagoon in the open seas of the Pacific. Today that seemed to be very long ago.
Later in the afternoon we shared the photographic treasures we had gathered and gleaned during almost two weeks of exploration. A multitude of laptops adorned the lounge, each with a rolling slide show showing unique photographic perspectives. These reflections were viewed by an appreciative audience.
While the day may have started in a more reflective mood, it certainly ended with a sizzling finale. Right when you thought it might be safe to shower, or consider packing, a massive pod of common dolphins were sighted. Between the Ferris wheel motions of hundreds of dolphins, the spinning donuts navigations of the ship, and the racing from port to starboard sides for viewing and photographing, we ended our day dizzy, giddy and still spinning when the sun finally set leaving us and the dolphins basking in the afterglow of a remarkable voyage in Baja California.
