Isla Santa Catalina & Cruising
This day of our expedition was very special. Early in the morning, as we cruised north, we awaited the green flash along the eastern skyline, which slowly became peach pink, redder, and then came the cry from the people on the upper deck of the ship: “Aiyee, wow!!,” and about three seconds later, those of us on the bow saw it: the elusive green flash!
From that moment on, the day unfolded beautifully: we were rapidly approaching Isla Santa Catalina, and Elephant Rock. During the last moments of the approach, we had a very generous breakfast, prepared for landing at the rocky beach and were taken by Zodiac to the island. Once there, we divided into groups of longer hikers and more leisurely hikers. Others enjoyed the rocky shore for snorkeling, encountering a good number of beautiful tropical fishes, as well as urchins and anemones. Sea stars were very abundant too.
Meanwhile, on land, we enjoyed the big number of plants growing in the dry arroyo. Among them were the palo verde, different cacti, and a small amount of flowering plants. This was interesting because the last rain was six months ago! Many land birds were seen, especially the small hummingbirds, defending their feeding territories: the big number of flowering mistletoes parasitizing the copal or incense trees. Rock doves, ravens and more…
We went back to the ship at midday, ate a scrumptious lunch, and spent the afternoon sailing in the waters around Santa Catalina Island. We had the fortunate luck of seeing a huge group of common dolphins eating, attacking smaller fish that were enclosed in a huge spread of red tide. The dolphins pushed fast at the surface, jumped and spun, all to catch the elusive fish. A good number of babies were sighted also, even jumping out of the water!
Eventually we had to leave them and go on our way, south into the darkening horizon of the waters between Isla San Jose and mainland Baja California. Then, almost at the end of the day, we saw two small baleen whales, very probably Bryde’s whales. We watched them for a while, but the ending day did not cooperate more for these observations! It was at this time, with some light still in the sky, that we saw a big shooting star over one of the islands! What a day!!
