Isla del Carmen and Santa Catalina
“Dolphins on the bow! Dolphins on the bow! Lean over the bow and watch them riding the bow wave!” These were some of the first words over the public address system this morning after the 0700 wake-up call from our Expedition Leader, Jim Kelley. The first group of common dolphins, Delphinus capensis, was small and not very interested in playing with our little ship. The second group, however, was huge and we spent almost an hour watching them slipping gracefully through the water, leaping and riding our bow wave. These dolphins are about human size, make sounds well over 10 times above human hearing level and can swim over twice as fast as our ship. An element about these animals calls to something deep inside us humans and no one missed a minute of the dolphin show.
We broke away from the dolphins to cruise along the southern edge of Isla Carmen in search of whales and soon came upon a blue whale…a really big blue whale! The first thing we saw was the huge spout as this mammoth broke the surface of the water and explosively exhaled. Within seconds it had inhaled and sunk again beneath the surface of the sea. The steely blue-gray whale would repeat this surface respiration cycle 5 or 6 times and then lift its back high and dive down into the masses of 1 inch long “krill” and engulf them by the hundreds of pounds, consuming as much as 4 tons in a day. That’s a lot of 1 inch little animals! After 6 to 8 minutes, the whale would surface again with a massive exhalation that we could hear from hundreds of yards away. How lucky we all felt to have spent part of our morning with a member of the species that holds the record as the largest mammal to have ever lived on this planet.
After a whale of a morning (ugh!), we set our sights on Isla Catalina for our afternoon’s activities. There we had a choice of a long hike to the far side of the island, a shorter hike in the arroyo or snorkeling in the refreshingly cool waters of the Gulf. This island has special interest as it has never been part of the mainland, a truly oceanic island, and thus is inhabited by many endemic species, that is, species found no place else on earth. For example, 8 of the 10 reptile species found here are endemic, including the mythic rattleless rattlesnake. There are also a number of endemic plants, the best known being the famous giant barrel cactus. Along with a number of bird species, one of the densest forests of cardon cactus in the world can be seen here.
And so ends day one of our expedition among the great whales and what an introduction it has been!
“Dolphins on the bow! Dolphins on the bow! Lean over the bow and watch them riding the bow wave!” These were some of the first words over the public address system this morning after the 0700 wake-up call from our Expedition Leader, Jim Kelley. The first group of common dolphins, Delphinus capensis, was small and not very interested in playing with our little ship. The second group, however, was huge and we spent almost an hour watching them slipping gracefully through the water, leaping and riding our bow wave. These dolphins are about human size, make sounds well over 10 times above human hearing level and can swim over twice as fast as our ship. An element about these animals calls to something deep inside us humans and no one missed a minute of the dolphin show.
We broke away from the dolphins to cruise along the southern edge of Isla Carmen in search of whales and soon came upon a blue whale…a really big blue whale! The first thing we saw was the huge spout as this mammoth broke the surface of the water and explosively exhaled. Within seconds it had inhaled and sunk again beneath the surface of the sea. The steely blue-gray whale would repeat this surface respiration cycle 5 or 6 times and then lift its back high and dive down into the masses of 1 inch long “krill” and engulf them by the hundreds of pounds, consuming as much as 4 tons in a day. That’s a lot of 1 inch little animals! After 6 to 8 minutes, the whale would surface again with a massive exhalation that we could hear from hundreds of yards away. How lucky we all felt to have spent part of our morning with a member of the species that holds the record as the largest mammal to have ever lived on this planet.
After a whale of a morning (ugh!), we set our sights on Isla Catalina for our afternoon’s activities. There we had a choice of a long hike to the far side of the island, a shorter hike in the arroyo or snorkeling in the refreshingly cool waters of the Gulf. This island has special interest as it has never been part of the mainland, a truly oceanic island, and thus is inhabited by many endemic species, that is, species found no place else on earth. For example, 8 of the 10 reptile species found here are endemic, including the mythic rattleless rattlesnake. There are also a number of endemic plants, the best known being the famous giant barrel cactus. Along with a number of bird species, one of the densest forests of cardon cactus in the world can be seen here.
And so ends day one of our expedition among the great whales and what an introduction it has been!
