Ensenada Grande & Bonanza Bay
The impressive rocky walls of the canyon at Ensenda Grande echoed the morning calls of the cactus wren as we landed on the white sandy beach. We divided into several different groups in order to fully explore both the coastline and the desert of this wonderful place; hikers went up the canyon and learned about the marvelous adaptation of the animals and plants to live in such a challenging environment. They watched the antics of the endemic Espiritu Santo ground squirrels as they jumped among the rocks with great agility and speed, looking for seeds and other plant matter to eat; Costa’s hummingbirds "hummed" their way around as they patrolled their territories, fighting away the occasional neighbor that dared to cross the invisible boundaries of their respective properties. Even a speckled rattlesnake showed its bad temper with a noisy rattling! Kayakers too got their share of beauty to admire and creatures to observe: yellow-footed gulls and magnificent frigate birds flew around, whereas a group of eared grebes spent the whole morning diving and fishing just off the shore, sometimes within a couple feet of us.
The National Geographic Sea Lion repositioned south during lunchtime and in the early afternoon we made a second landing, this time on Bonanza Bay. Snorkelers were able to watch a variety of reef fishes and invertebrates, including king angelfishes, Cortez rainbow wrasses, flower sea urchins and even a big Gulf sun sea star. The afternoon slowly came to an end, and as a beautiful sunset painted the skies red, I realized how lucky we are for having the chance to explore such wonderful wilderness.
The impressive rocky walls of the canyon at Ensenda Grande echoed the morning calls of the cactus wren as we landed on the white sandy beach. We divided into several different groups in order to fully explore both the coastline and the desert of this wonderful place; hikers went up the canyon and learned about the marvelous adaptation of the animals and plants to live in such a challenging environment. They watched the antics of the endemic Espiritu Santo ground squirrels as they jumped among the rocks with great agility and speed, looking for seeds and other plant matter to eat; Costa’s hummingbirds "hummed" their way around as they patrolled their territories, fighting away the occasional neighbor that dared to cross the invisible boundaries of their respective properties. Even a speckled rattlesnake showed its bad temper with a noisy rattling! Kayakers too got their share of beauty to admire and creatures to observe: yellow-footed gulls and magnificent frigate birds flew around, whereas a group of eared grebes spent the whole morning diving and fishing just off the shore, sometimes within a couple feet of us.
The National Geographic Sea Lion repositioned south during lunchtime and in the early afternoon we made a second landing, this time on Bonanza Bay. Snorkelers were able to watch a variety of reef fishes and invertebrates, including king angelfishes, Cortez rainbow wrasses, flower sea urchins and even a big Gulf sun sea star. The afternoon slowly came to an end, and as a beautiful sunset painted the skies red, I realized how lucky we are for having the chance to explore such wonderful wilderness.
