Carmen Island
The first day of our expedition began in a most amazing way: even before sunrise, the Sea Bird was surrounded by several large groups of long-beaked common dolphins! As the sun slowly rose beyond neighboring Montserrate Island and turned the leaping dolphins into amber-colored poems, we admired their grace, speed and perfect adaptation to the marine realm. A solitary humpback whale slowly cruised nearby attracted perhaps by the same small schooling fish that the dolphins were feeding on. Immediately after breakfast, a most exciting encounter awaited us just off the East side of Carmen Island, blue whales! Although their mere presence was more than enough motif for celebration, we couldn’t imagine what was about to happen. As we were following a couple of them, they suddenly started breaching! Yes, breaching blue whales!!! They did several breaches within a short time, and we couldn’t believe what our eyes where looking at! We all saw their massive upper bodies out of the surface, pouring water while showing their distinctive wide heads, shaped like a gothic arch when seen ventrally. Wow! You can tell that it was something special when our staff were among the most excited people on board, shouting and laughing in a mix of awe and joy. And how could it be different, as we naturalists had seen breaching blue whales very few times in more than 70 years of collective experience living in or sailing the Sea of Cortez!
Later on, we saw one more blue whale and admired the terrestrial and submarine beauties of Carmen Island during hiking and snorkeling; many more wonderful creatures were seen and delightful activities experienced. However, as the sun set behind the magnificent Sierra de la Giganta, I could only think in one thing: breaching blue whales!!!
The first day of our expedition began in a most amazing way: even before sunrise, the Sea Bird was surrounded by several large groups of long-beaked common dolphins! As the sun slowly rose beyond neighboring Montserrate Island and turned the leaping dolphins into amber-colored poems, we admired their grace, speed and perfect adaptation to the marine realm. A solitary humpback whale slowly cruised nearby attracted perhaps by the same small schooling fish that the dolphins were feeding on. Immediately after breakfast, a most exciting encounter awaited us just off the East side of Carmen Island, blue whales! Although their mere presence was more than enough motif for celebration, we couldn’t imagine what was about to happen. As we were following a couple of them, they suddenly started breaching! Yes, breaching blue whales!!! They did several breaches within a short time, and we couldn’t believe what our eyes where looking at! We all saw their massive upper bodies out of the surface, pouring water while showing their distinctive wide heads, shaped like a gothic arch when seen ventrally. Wow! You can tell that it was something special when our staff were among the most excited people on board, shouting and laughing in a mix of awe and joy. And how could it be different, as we naturalists had seen breaching blue whales very few times in more than 70 years of collective experience living in or sailing the Sea of Cortez!
Later on, we saw one more blue whale and admired the terrestrial and submarine beauties of Carmen Island during hiking and snorkeling; many more wonderful creatures were seen and delightful activities experienced. However, as the sun set behind the magnificent Sierra de la Giganta, I could only think in one thing: breaching blue whales!!!
