Punta San Marcial & Waters of Bahia Loreto Marine Park
I am overwhelmed and speechless. How can I convey what we experienced today?
Our first day has been brimming with wonderful surprises and beauty.
Our first glimpse of the sun this morning was a tiny green flash on the horizon. Within minutes we were among hundreds of common dolphins. They were feeding, and we watched groups of them surface, breathe, and dive steeply downwards into the dark, green water.
As we approached our planned morning destination, we encountered unexpectedly strong winds, so the morning’s plan was altered, and we found a sheltered anchorage next to the Baja peninsula. At Punta San Marcial we hiked up a beautiful arroyo bordered by elegant palo blanco trees, and cacti. We snorkeled too, and found numerous sea stars, urchins and porcupinefish hiding in rock crevices.
Seas and winds were calmed in the afternoon, and we had ideal conditions for finding cetaceans. Mobula rays swam at the surface, and occasionally jumped out of the water. Then we saw the distinctive, slanted blow that could be only one species: the sperm whale. At least 20 of them rested at the surface, swimming slowly and occasionally diving. Most of them appeared to be females, but at least one larger sperm whale was among them. Was a male visiting from polar waters? Small sperm whale calves swam at the surface, sometimes alone, and sometimes alongside mom. We eavesdropped on them with the hydrophone; the tapping sounds of several sperm whales vocalizing sounded like applause! Sperm whales in the gulf feed on Humboldt squid, and we deployed a CTD, (Conductivity, Temperature, Depth recorder), to collect oceanographic data for Dr. William Gilly, a squid researcher based at Stanford University. As we watched a dozen bottlenose dolphins swim near the sperm whales, the dolphins suddenly leapt ten feet out of the water!
Off in the distance, there was a tall, straight blow from an enormous baleen whale. We left the sperm whales to investigate, and found a fin and three blue whales – the world’s two largest whale species! The blues had long, blue-gray backs and tiny dorsal fins, in contrast to the fin whale’s darker color and larger dorsal fin.
Our expedition leader, Michelle, informed us that yet another species of whale was in the area: off in the distance, near the peninsula, there were splashes from breaching humpback whales! Humpbacks are not often found so far north in the Gulf of California, so we were all delightfully surprised. Our first day, and we have seen six species of cetaceans! We watched the two humpback whales surface and occasionally roll and slap their pectoral flippers on the water. One of them breached less than 100 yards from the ship! Captain Graves turned the vessel so our sunset view of the whales would include the beautiful mountains of the Baja peninsula. As if on cue, a humpback whale breached.
Words can not express the grandeur and wonder that we have experienced today.
To view video footage from today's Baja expedition, click here.
