Central Gulf of California & Isla San Ildefonso
Early risers awoke this morning to an almost-full pale-orange moon setting port-side, as the sun cast its first orange-pink rays starboard. The crystal clear sky seemed promising for a spectacular day aboard the National Geographic Sea Bird.
Our intention for the morning: cruise as far north as we can in search of marine mammals. We were treated immediately after breakfast: Cuantos delfines! Breaking the water surface all around us were bottlenose dolphins… our naturalists estimated over a hundred. How fun to watch them perform their most basic biological functions… breathing, swimming, eating, talking (!!). What is it that stirs our hearts and souls when we see these graceful creatures dancing on the waves? When we hear their chatter and clicking over the amazing new hydrophone system? How our spirits whoop and soar with them as they glide, leap, breach sideways into the air… momentarily transported into their mysterious and fluid world.
That would have been enough to satisfy our hunger for marine mammals this morning, but little did we know we were in for a banquet. While we watched the bottlenose dolphins, a tropical whale and fin whale were seen in the distance. We narrowed our eyes, raised binoculars, and clicked cameras at these magnificent creatures. And though a mandatory safety drill pulled us inside briefly, we were soon summoned to the decks again for hundreds of long-beaked common dolphins. And then a huge pod of pilot whales off the bow jockeyed for our attention. Que rica! What richness in these waters.
During lunch we made our way back south to snorkel and Zodiac cruise in the waters around Isla Ildefonso. More treats for our senses… the sounds of wind and waves, laughing yellow-footed gulls, and our own breathing as we undulated with the water; the profusion of colors—yellow vegetation and white rocks on the island, water so blue!, reds/oranges along the shoreline; fishes of all shapes and colors; and the fecund smell of the wild birds, fishes and mammals emanating from all around us.
Though we are full and tired from such a magnificent day, many of us will stay up tonight to view the partial lunar eclipse which leads us into Winter Solstice.
