San Benitos Islands
Sometimes in life you meet someone who seems like a long-time friend, or you go to a new place that feels like home. That is how I felt about the San Benitos, a group of three small islands off the west coast of Baja California. Surrounded by the cold rich waters of the California current, the islands didn’t seem like much as the M/V Sea Bird dropped her anchor in the channel between East San Benito and Middle San Benito islands. Low, barren-looking hills with ravens flying under overcast skies were not very encouraging, to say the least. However, many wonderful experiences awaited us as we landed at the small village where nine people greeted us with smiles. The rough strong hands of abalone divers shook ours and soon enough, pointed to the trail to the beach behind. Yes, the elefantes are just beginning to arrive for the breeding season, they said, and soon we were delighted to see many individuals of the northern elephant seal, prince of divers! Many pregnant females, sub adult males and a single day-old pup lay on the beach under the watchful eye of a big, two-ton bull. As the first elephant seals of the season, they still enjoyed a lot of room on the beach, a luxury that won’t be available in a couple more weeks when the bulk of the population returns from the feeding grounds in the Gulf of Alaska. Then, dominant males will fight each other viciously in order to keep their dominance over their harems, pups will be busy gaining as much weight as they can from drinking overcharged milk with 54% fat, and females will pile over each other on the crowded beaches. But not now; today we were given the gift of lots of quality time at close quarters with those marvelous seals with their big beady eyes. Some of us were also blessed by a unique event, as we witnessed the birth of a young elephant seal! Somehow, the elefantes seems prettier now. All around us an exuberance of life, manifested by the numerous Califonia sea lions swimming among our Zodiacs or the variety of snails and hermit crabs pointed to us by a little girl playing in a tide pool, showed us how wonderful this place is. I can’t wait to come back…
Sometimes in life you meet someone who seems like a long-time friend, or you go to a new place that feels like home. That is how I felt about the San Benitos, a group of three small islands off the west coast of Baja California. Surrounded by the cold rich waters of the California current, the islands didn’t seem like much as the M/V Sea Bird dropped her anchor in the channel between East San Benito and Middle San Benito islands. Low, barren-looking hills with ravens flying under overcast skies were not very encouraging, to say the least. However, many wonderful experiences awaited us as we landed at the small village where nine people greeted us with smiles. The rough strong hands of abalone divers shook ours and soon enough, pointed to the trail to the beach behind. Yes, the elefantes are just beginning to arrive for the breeding season, they said, and soon we were delighted to see many individuals of the northern elephant seal, prince of divers! Many pregnant females, sub adult males and a single day-old pup lay on the beach under the watchful eye of a big, two-ton bull. As the first elephant seals of the season, they still enjoyed a lot of room on the beach, a luxury that won’t be available in a couple more weeks when the bulk of the population returns from the feeding grounds in the Gulf of Alaska. Then, dominant males will fight each other viciously in order to keep their dominance over their harems, pups will be busy gaining as much weight as they can from drinking overcharged milk with 54% fat, and females will pile over each other on the crowded beaches. But not now; today we were given the gift of lots of quality time at close quarters with those marvelous seals with their big beady eyes. Some of us were also blessed by a unique event, as we witnessed the birth of a young elephant seal! Somehow, the elefantes seems prettier now. All around us an exuberance of life, manifested by the numerous Califonia sea lions swimming among our Zodiacs or the variety of snails and hermit crabs pointed to us by a little girl playing in a tide pool, showed us how wonderful this place is. I can’t wait to come back…
