Isla San Marcos & Santa Rosalia, Baja California Sur, Mexico
The sun came up enormous across the Sea of Cortez this morning and there was a tiny bit of green flash around its golden edges. Shortly after sunrise, and before breakfast, we spotted two whale blows in the distance and as we closed on them we were able to see a tall dorsal fin and long, dark body.
There are three species of whale in the Gulf of California that have large dorsal fins and dark bodies and it took a closer look to identify them without question as fin whales, a look at the white, right lower lip. Conditions were that good this morning and we were that close! What a thrill to see a member of the second largest whale species on earth and our 8th cetacean (whales, dolphins and porpoises) species in the first two days of this trip…but who’s counting?!
After breakfast, the National Geographic Sea Lion anchored on the northwest corner of Isla San Marcos, a very beautiful island just off the Baja peninsula coast. Here we spent the morning hiking in a rugged arroyo, kayaking, swimming and snorkeling. The weather was perfect and many of us enjoyed all 4 activities.
Before starting on the hikes the hikers were alerted that this island is a very good place to see rattlesnakes and it certainly turned out to be true this morning. A short time into the hike, we came upon a large, red diamond backed rattlesnake warming in the dappled shade of a bush. It rattled to give us warning of its presence so we were able to safely see the stunning scale pattern of this beautiful reptile. A short distance up the arroyo, we came upon another red diamond backed rattlesnake under a jojoba plant, also in the dappled shade. There is something very primitive for most of us in our response to the rattle of a rattlesnake--fear and avoidance--but once we become accustomed to the rattling and are able to just look at the snakes, we can appreciate their beauty of color and form and their wonderful adaptations to this harsh desert environment. There were also many flowers in bloom in the arroyo; the most showy and spectacular was the passionflower with its lush green foliage and extraordinary flower—somehow looking a little out of place in this very dry desert wash.
In the afternoon, we tied up to a dock in the interesting old mining town of Santa Rosalia. In addition to visiting the now defunct smelting plant, we stopped in at the church that is reported to have been designed by Eifel of the Eifel Tower, built in France and shipped here where it was assembled and has stood for over 100 years. We also visited the old administration building that has been turned into a museum with wonderful original photographs of the town, the people and the mining operation and lots of artifacts from the mining era.
We finished off our visit on the veranda of the Hotel on the hill with margaritas, chips and delicious homemade guacamole and a good time was definitely had by all.
