Isla Santa Catalina
With a brilliant spring moon setting to the west, and a cloud-diffused sunrise to the east, a set of independently moving chameleon eyes would have been quite handy this morning. Which way to look? We were surrounded by and basking in the light of a glorious Baja California morning. It was barely the start.
In the glassy gray waters the stillness was broken by a long, long back – the back of a blue whale! How fortunate to start at the very top, the biggest of big. With dives timed between four and seven minutes, we had great opportunities to view this amazing animal. After a few dives, the whale came close enough to Isla del Carmen for some to capture a lovely image of a blue whale in the foreground, and the stunning layered geology of Isla del Carmen in the background.
Isla Santa Catalina was our destination for the afternoon. To get there you have to get around a pod of pilot whales, and then there are the three pods of bottlenose dolphins and a small pod of common dolphins, a thoroughly delightful distracting detour. Dolphins leaped from the water as though they were propelled by some unseen catapult; we whooped and hollered our approval from the decks.
Donning fins, snorkels, wetsuits and masks, under the sea was our next playground. Colorful fish stared back at us. Carlos, our undersea specialist dove with a scuba tank and underwater camera. He shared his footage with us later in our evening re-cap, a nice dry snorkel experience for those who didn’t immerse themselves earlier.
Meanderings up the dry sandy arroyo of Isla Santa Catalina topped off our day. The forest of cardon cactus stood in stately attention. Clusters of balloon-shaped seed pods laid gathered in heaps at the bases of jojoba shrubs. We admired the light of the afternoon as it saturated the colors of giant barrel cactus and palo verde trees, mirroring the warm tones of our morning.
The day proved to be truly inspirational, as attested by one of our fellow travelers and her shared poem.
Turquoise Waters by Cydney Sacks, age 15
The color of an emerald
Under a scintillating light
Real and directly below you, even through night
Quietly and gently rocking our boat
Under our feet, animals play
Others are whale blue, while some are dolphin gray
Inches away from your finger tips
So watch them with an observant view
Enough will be enough for them, there’s nothing you can do
Watch them slip away under without a sound
Amazing things happen as we cruise around
The water holds brilliance only found here,
Every day it refreshes us, so hold it dear.
Relaxation follows close behind
Such water is rare; it’s one of a kind.
