San José Channel & Isla San Francisco
Dazzling the senses and invigorating us, a cool morning breeze enhanced the colors of the landscape. The oranges and pinks in the volcanic stripes of the Sierra de la Giganta was a wonderful backdrop to the dark blue waters. We sailed up and down the San Jose Channel between the Baja California peninsula and the Islands of San Francisco and San Jose in search of marine mammals.
Early on, the grey-blue back of the largest mammal on earth, a blue whale, grazed the surface. Slow and easy movement through the rough waters enhanced the enormity of this animal. Midmorning like soldiers of the seas, rows of long beaked common dolphins rode the surf one wave after another. Some of these mammals on a mission sprang upward out of the water and landed with a great splash. Impressively, tiny dolphins, young ones only two or so feet long, kept pace with the larger adults. And followed by moments of intense activity in which multiple groups of three or four dolphins dove in unison and then quickly switched directions, they all disappeared. And so we too, continued our course.
By lunch, we found calmer waters and a gentler breeze in Half Moon Bay on the west side of San Francisco Island. A tiny island of only about 240 acres, San Francisco offered us our first opportunity to explore an island in the Gulf of California. Many of us ventured out across a salt flat dotted with a variety of halophytes such as pickle weed and iodine bush. Higher up it appeared as though we had entered a well-manicured garden of torote colorado, palo Adan and limber bush among many others. The undersea world called others as they decided to snorkel to explore along a rocky coastline. Here the water was clear and so king angels, blue and gold snappers, sea hares, and giant damsels were seen, among others.
Toward the end of the day, both groups explored the tide pools on the other side of the island. Brightly colored sea stars, yellow flat worms, striped ribbon worms, brittle stars and urchins delighted us in their stories of survival along the rock intertidal zone. And to top off this lovely day, a delicious dinner was prepared and served on the white sandy beach of Half Moon Bay.
Dazzling the senses and invigorating us, a cool morning breeze enhanced the colors of the landscape. The oranges and pinks in the volcanic stripes of the Sierra de la Giganta was a wonderful backdrop to the dark blue waters. We sailed up and down the San Jose Channel between the Baja California peninsula and the Islands of San Francisco and San Jose in search of marine mammals.
Early on, the grey-blue back of the largest mammal on earth, a blue whale, grazed the surface. Slow and easy movement through the rough waters enhanced the enormity of this animal. Midmorning like soldiers of the seas, rows of long beaked common dolphins rode the surf one wave after another. Some of these mammals on a mission sprang upward out of the water and landed with a great splash. Impressively, tiny dolphins, young ones only two or so feet long, kept pace with the larger adults. And followed by moments of intense activity in which multiple groups of three or four dolphins dove in unison and then quickly switched directions, they all disappeared. And so we too, continued our course.
By lunch, we found calmer waters and a gentler breeze in Half Moon Bay on the west side of San Francisco Island. A tiny island of only about 240 acres, San Francisco offered us our first opportunity to explore an island in the Gulf of California. Many of us ventured out across a salt flat dotted with a variety of halophytes such as pickle weed and iodine bush. Higher up it appeared as though we had entered a well-manicured garden of torote colorado, palo Adan and limber bush among many others. The undersea world called others as they decided to snorkel to explore along a rocky coastline. Here the water was clear and so king angels, blue and gold snappers, sea hares, and giant damsels were seen, among others.
Toward the end of the day, both groups explored the tide pools on the other side of the island. Brightly colored sea stars, yellow flat worms, striped ribbon worms, brittle stars and urchins delighted us in their stories of survival along the rock intertidal zone. And to top off this lovely day, a delicious dinner was prepared and served on the white sandy beach of Half Moon Bay.
