Los Islotes and Isla San Francisco
As the sun rose we were approaching the small isolated island of Los Islotes where a large number of California sea lions make their home. Their noisy greetings echoed off the rock walls as we boarded the Zodiacs for a closer inspection of the colony. Huge males patrolled the water barking loudly and inspecting the females hauled out on the nearby rocks. Many smaller pups cavorted in the waves and entertained us with their antics and graceful underwater ballet. Brown and blue footed boobies roosted on the cliffs while frigates and pelicans circled overhead.
After our visit with the sea lions, we hoisted the anchor and headed back north toward Isla San Francisco. En route we stopped to inspect a Bryde’s whale swimming near the ship and just after lunch we dropped the anchor in the quiet protected bay of Isla San Francisco.
Our afternoon activities included snorkeling and lounging on the beach. A few of us enjoyed a longer hike along the rim of the island where we had fine views of the nearby islands. What at first we thought were dolphins turned out to be a pod of false killer whales. As we watched them, they approached large schools of fish which boiled to the surface as they tried to escape the hungry whales. It was an awesome display of predator-prey interactions. Many birds were attracted to the fish at the surface, adding to the intense interactions of all these marine animals.
Our day came to an end as the sun set over the Baja California Peninsula and we headed south toward our next destination at Cabo San Lucas.
As the sun rose we were approaching the small isolated island of Los Islotes where a large number of California sea lions make their home. Their noisy greetings echoed off the rock walls as we boarded the Zodiacs for a closer inspection of the colony. Huge males patrolled the water barking loudly and inspecting the females hauled out on the nearby rocks. Many smaller pups cavorted in the waves and entertained us with their antics and graceful underwater ballet. Brown and blue footed boobies roosted on the cliffs while frigates and pelicans circled overhead.
After our visit with the sea lions, we hoisted the anchor and headed back north toward Isla San Francisco. En route we stopped to inspect a Bryde’s whale swimming near the ship and just after lunch we dropped the anchor in the quiet protected bay of Isla San Francisco.
Our afternoon activities included snorkeling and lounging on the beach. A few of us enjoyed a longer hike along the rim of the island where we had fine views of the nearby islands. What at first we thought were dolphins turned out to be a pod of false killer whales. As we watched them, they approached large schools of fish which boiled to the surface as they tried to escape the hungry whales. It was an awesome display of predator-prey interactions. Many birds were attracted to the fish at the surface, adding to the intense interactions of all these marine animals.
Our day came to an end as the sun set over the Baja California Peninsula and we headed south toward our next destination at Cabo San Lucas.
