Gorda Banks and Cabo San Lucas
The Sea Bird continued moving south throughout the night heading for our morning destination of Gorda Banks. We were negotiating slightly rough seas following a north wind, rolling up and down swells being pushed by the El Norte wind pattern, typical for the winter months here in Baja. At 7:00AM an announcement was made concerning a sighting from the bow. Short-finned pilot whales were spotted at 23 degrees 16 minutes north, 109 degrees 23 minutes west. Our Expedition Leader Jim Kelley called us all to the bow for this rare sighting while our Natural History Staff continued tracking these marine mammals. The pilot whales were moving north, another announcement was made as Captain Kalbach carefully turned the Sea Bird 180 degrees and began heading into the wind keeping wonderful pace with a group of bulbous melon headed pilot whales, pounding through the four to six foot waves abreast of each other in a long horizontal line! What a sight! The sun was just peeking over the horizon, leaving a golden tinge of light on the dorsal fin of each whale, as it rose to the surface, took a breath and continued its northern journey.
The short-finned pilot whale is a toothed whale, and member of the dolphin family. These small whales are usually seen in schools with a ratio of approximately one adult male to eight adult females. The schools contain somewhere between 15 to 20 animals. Male short-finned pilot whales generally leave their natal school while females will remain within their natal group for their entire life. These whales are known as deep divers, their primary food being squid found at great depths. They have been reported to dive in excess of 1,000 feet in search of prey.
As we continued north following this “chorus line” of pilot whales, they would occasionally dive for several minutes and then return to the surface, continuing their long line formation.
The Sea Bird maintained her pace as well, and as the whales dove and returned to the surface, we had an opportunity to watch and listen as the whales moved just ahead of the ship. At the back of several of the lines of pilot whales two large males were spotted. They seemed to be escorting the rest of the group of females and younger animals. The Sea Bird slowed, and as we watched these short-finned pilot whales became very curious, and decided to see what this large noisy white object was, seemingly following a short distance in their path. Two males changed course turning directly towards the Sea Bird, moved over, took a look, decided we really were not that interesting and returned to their escort duties keeping close pace behind their group of females and young.
All of this activity was before breakfast! As soon as we finished our morning meal, we returned to the bow as the Sea Bird continued to make her way towards Gorda Banks. Humpback whales had been sighted in the distance and the crew on the bridge continued on course, heading towards our first humpback sightings. For the next several hours we moved in, out and around several groups of whales, congregated around the Gorda Banks area. This is a well-known winter mating area for these baleen whales. As the Sea Bird made her way south towards our afternoon destination, we enjoyed numerous sightings…breaches, some pectoral flipper slaps and many, many flukes as these Humpback whales continued the business of courting and mating in the waters of the Gulf of California.
Just before lunch the Sea Bird slowed on approach to Lands End, the most southern tip of the Baja peninsula. We were headed for a dock located just off of Plaza de las Glorias, one of the largest hotels in Cabo San Lucas. This once sleepy fishing village of less than 500 people has turned into the largest resort community on the Baja peninsula. In the 1970s sports fishing started the tourism, but the most important change was the paving of a once extremely rugged dirt road that became part of the Trans Peninsular Highway. This opened up a remote, and exotic area to tourism for both land and the productive waters of the Gulf of California and the Pacific Ocean.
Our afternoon in Cabo included a snorkeling trip for those of us still wanting one last look under water at spectacular tropical fish!
Other intrepid shoppers braved the many t-shirt shops and tequila bars in search of local markets; a quiet corner cafe to enjoy a good Mexican beer with limon, or a small gallery or shop that could still express the old flavor and spirit of Mexico through its well-known and colorful folk art…
The Sea Bird continued moving south throughout the night heading for our morning destination of Gorda Banks. We were negotiating slightly rough seas following a north wind, rolling up and down swells being pushed by the El Norte wind pattern, typical for the winter months here in Baja. At 7:00AM an announcement was made concerning a sighting from the bow. Short-finned pilot whales were spotted at 23 degrees 16 minutes north, 109 degrees 23 minutes west. Our Expedition Leader Jim Kelley called us all to the bow for this rare sighting while our Natural History Staff continued tracking these marine mammals. The pilot whales were moving north, another announcement was made as Captain Kalbach carefully turned the Sea Bird 180 degrees and began heading into the wind keeping wonderful pace with a group of bulbous melon headed pilot whales, pounding through the four to six foot waves abreast of each other in a long horizontal line! What a sight! The sun was just peeking over the horizon, leaving a golden tinge of light on the dorsal fin of each whale, as it rose to the surface, took a breath and continued its northern journey.
The short-finned pilot whale is a toothed whale, and member of the dolphin family. These small whales are usually seen in schools with a ratio of approximately one adult male to eight adult females. The schools contain somewhere between 15 to 20 animals. Male short-finned pilot whales generally leave their natal school while females will remain within their natal group for their entire life. These whales are known as deep divers, their primary food being squid found at great depths. They have been reported to dive in excess of 1,000 feet in search of prey.
As we continued north following this “chorus line” of pilot whales, they would occasionally dive for several minutes and then return to the surface, continuing their long line formation.
The Sea Bird maintained her pace as well, and as the whales dove and returned to the surface, we had an opportunity to watch and listen as the whales moved just ahead of the ship. At the back of several of the lines of pilot whales two large males were spotted. They seemed to be escorting the rest of the group of females and younger animals. The Sea Bird slowed, and as we watched these short-finned pilot whales became very curious, and decided to see what this large noisy white object was, seemingly following a short distance in their path. Two males changed course turning directly towards the Sea Bird, moved over, took a look, decided we really were not that interesting and returned to their escort duties keeping close pace behind their group of females and young.
All of this activity was before breakfast! As soon as we finished our morning meal, we returned to the bow as the Sea Bird continued to make her way towards Gorda Banks. Humpback whales had been sighted in the distance and the crew on the bridge continued on course, heading towards our first humpback sightings. For the next several hours we moved in, out and around several groups of whales, congregated around the Gorda Banks area. This is a well-known winter mating area for these baleen whales. As the Sea Bird made her way south towards our afternoon destination, we enjoyed numerous sightings…breaches, some pectoral flipper slaps and many, many flukes as these Humpback whales continued the business of courting and mating in the waters of the Gulf of California.
Just before lunch the Sea Bird slowed on approach to Lands End, the most southern tip of the Baja peninsula. We were headed for a dock located just off of Plaza de las Glorias, one of the largest hotels in Cabo San Lucas. This once sleepy fishing village of less than 500 people has turned into the largest resort community on the Baja peninsula. In the 1970s sports fishing started the tourism, but the most important change was the paving of a once extremely rugged dirt road that became part of the Trans Peninsular Highway. This opened up a remote, and exotic area to tourism for both land and the productive waters of the Gulf of California and the Pacific Ocean.
Our afternoon in Cabo included a snorkeling trip for those of us still wanting one last look under water at spectacular tropical fish!
Other intrepid shoppers braved the many t-shirt shops and tequila bars in search of local markets; a quiet corner cafe to enjoy a good Mexican beer with limon, or a small gallery or shop that could still express the old flavor and spirit of Mexico through its well-known and colorful folk art…
