Isla San Jose and Puerto Gato, Baja California Sur, México
Our seven-day trip of adventure is called “Among the Great Whales”. And that is what we kept on doing today, after a series of days watching Gray Whales and Humpback Whales. Today it was the turn of the Blue Whale, the largest animal alive, and the largest animal (in weight) ever to live on our planet! The photograph depicted in this expedition report is of this blue whale as it threw its tail flukes into the air for a deeper dive. These magnificent beasts are endangered after so many years of being the target for all whalers of the different whaling countries of the world. We had the opportunity of seeing it quite near, as it was not bothered by our presence in the least! Around that time, we enjoyed good numbers of common dolphins, as well as a huge pod of Bottlenose dolphins, both of which bow rode us for a good while.
Later in the morning we landed at Punta Colorado on the island of San Jose, a large island in the Gulf of California. Here we swam and hiked into the lovely arroyo that has very high and lovely orange sandstone, as well as whitish phosphorite, carved into magnificent forms by the wind shooting through these canyons. We enjoyed the very original vegetation, and departed the island in time for lunch on the ship. We then moved on to the mainland Baja California Peninsula, at Puerto Los Gatos, where we had our own special beach. Here we had hikes also, as well as kayaking in the transparent water. But what made the day perfect up to its end were the bar-b-q dinner on shore, and the fire, around which we all sat to hear stories about the Aztec Gods, as well as the story about the origin of the word “California”. As we returned somewhat later to the ship, in the very dark night, there was an incredible phosphorescence of the waters through which we traveled in our Zodiacs. Escaping fish would leave a track of light in the dark waters, attesting to their speed in that liquid!
Our seven-day trip of adventure is called “Among the Great Whales”. And that is what we kept on doing today, after a series of days watching Gray Whales and Humpback Whales. Today it was the turn of the Blue Whale, the largest animal alive, and the largest animal (in weight) ever to live on our planet! The photograph depicted in this expedition report is of this blue whale as it threw its tail flukes into the air for a deeper dive. These magnificent beasts are endangered after so many years of being the target for all whalers of the different whaling countries of the world. We had the opportunity of seeing it quite near, as it was not bothered by our presence in the least! Around that time, we enjoyed good numbers of common dolphins, as well as a huge pod of Bottlenose dolphins, both of which bow rode us for a good while.
Later in the morning we landed at Punta Colorado on the island of San Jose, a large island in the Gulf of California. Here we swam and hiked into the lovely arroyo that has very high and lovely orange sandstone, as well as whitish phosphorite, carved into magnificent forms by the wind shooting through these canyons. We enjoyed the very original vegetation, and departed the island in time for lunch on the ship. We then moved on to the mainland Baja California Peninsula, at Puerto Los Gatos, where we had our own special beach. Here we had hikes also, as well as kayaking in the transparent water. But what made the day perfect up to its end were the bar-b-q dinner on shore, and the fire, around which we all sat to hear stories about the Aztec Gods, as well as the story about the origin of the word “California”. As we returned somewhat later to the ship, in the very dark night, there was an incredible phosphorescence of the waters through which we traveled in our Zodiacs. Escaping fish would leave a track of light in the dark waters, attesting to their speed in that liquid!
