Near Isla Ildefonso, Sea of Cortez
Late last night the northerly winds died down and we made our break for points further north in the Sea of Cortez. Sunrise found us south of Isla Ildefonso in the company of bottlenose and common dolphins before and after breakfast, respectively. Our plan was to reach Ildefonso soon thereafter and embark on Zodiac tours around the island – home to nesting blue-footed and brown boobies, red-billed tropic birds, brown pelicans and other feathered friends. Oh, but how plans can change for a ship full of sharp-eyed and eager guests.
As we cruised north the viewing conditions were perfect with flat seas and a bright but slightly cloudy sky. Our earlier dolphin encounters had taught us the rewards of diligent scanning with binoculars and we had many pairs of eyes on deck doing just that. Then the cry of whale blows near the horizon was heard and all eyes focused on that distant spot. “Low and bushy” was the initial description of the blows, ruling out the blue and finback whales we know can be found here – their blows are tall and columnar. So, probably humpback whales, right? But as we approached two clues as to the whale’s true identity began to emerge: 1) they seemed to be taking many breaths and staying at the surface for quite some time and 2) that “low, bushy” blow seemed to be coming out of their heads at a 45 degree angle. We edged closer and soon there was no doubt, we had found sperm whales! These are the largest of the toothed whales and the species represented in Herman Melville’s famous novel, Moby Dick. Adult males reach up to sixty feet and females over forty feet long. Sperm whales favor the deep ocean waters that are home to species of giant squid, their favorite food, and routinely dive down several thousand feet when foraging (we were in 3,000 foot waters). These deep dives may last an hour or more and are necessarily followed by long periods of re-oxygenation at the surface, hence our first clue. Of all the great whales only the sperm whale has a blow hole positioned so that the spout emerges angled steeply forward and a little to the left. Once we were close enough to see the backs of the whales relative to their blows our second clue locked into place. But then, as if to confuse us, a whale leapt clear of the surface (breached) and the silhouette of its body didn’t match our square-nosed image of a sperm whale. Larry Hobbs, our resident cetologist, assured us that it was the angle of our view and after the second breach we could see he was right, this was not a mixed-species gathering of whales. Our final sighting was of at least ten individual sperm whales grouped close together at the surface. One whale raised its flukes in a mighty slap and then, one by one, they see-sawed slightly from stem to stern and slipped beneath the waves, leaving us awestruck and bound for Isla Ildefonso at last.
Late last night the northerly winds died down and we made our break for points further north in the Sea of Cortez. Sunrise found us south of Isla Ildefonso in the company of bottlenose and common dolphins before and after breakfast, respectively. Our plan was to reach Ildefonso soon thereafter and embark on Zodiac tours around the island – home to nesting blue-footed and brown boobies, red-billed tropic birds, brown pelicans and other feathered friends. Oh, but how plans can change for a ship full of sharp-eyed and eager guests.
As we cruised north the viewing conditions were perfect with flat seas and a bright but slightly cloudy sky. Our earlier dolphin encounters had taught us the rewards of diligent scanning with binoculars and we had many pairs of eyes on deck doing just that. Then the cry of whale blows near the horizon was heard and all eyes focused on that distant spot. “Low and bushy” was the initial description of the blows, ruling out the blue and finback whales we know can be found here – their blows are tall and columnar. So, probably humpback whales, right? But as we approached two clues as to the whale’s true identity began to emerge: 1) they seemed to be taking many breaths and staying at the surface for quite some time and 2) that “low, bushy” blow seemed to be coming out of their heads at a 45 degree angle. We edged closer and soon there was no doubt, we had found sperm whales! These are the largest of the toothed whales and the species represented in Herman Melville’s famous novel, Moby Dick. Adult males reach up to sixty feet and females over forty feet long. Sperm whales favor the deep ocean waters that are home to species of giant squid, their favorite food, and routinely dive down several thousand feet when foraging (we were in 3,000 foot waters). These deep dives may last an hour or more and are necessarily followed by long periods of re-oxygenation at the surface, hence our first clue. Of all the great whales only the sperm whale has a blow hole positioned so that the spout emerges angled steeply forward and a little to the left. Once we were close enough to see the backs of the whales relative to their blows our second clue locked into place. But then, as if to confuse us, a whale leapt clear of the surface (breached) and the silhouette of its body didn’t match our square-nosed image of a sperm whale. Larry Hobbs, our resident cetologist, assured us that it was the angle of our view and after the second breach we could see he was right, this was not a mixed-species gathering of whales. Our final sighting was of at least ten individual sperm whales grouped close together at the surface. One whale raised its flukes in a mighty slap and then, one by one, they see-sawed slightly from stem to stern and slipped beneath the waves, leaving us awestruck and bound for Isla Ildefonso at last.
