Sea of Cortes
Overnight we steamed north 110 miles to Raza Island. Our hopes to land were dashed by the huge seas that had materialized. It was such a change from the previous evening when we were watching squid fishers in Santa Rosalia landing dachshund-sized denizens of the deep in jade-green bathtub-calm waters.
Today, Elegant Terns wheeled like bolts from a crossbow and Craveri’s Murrelets bobbed like happy tennis balls on a two-metre swell rollercoaster. We had to bypass Raza, home to up to 64,000 pairs of Heermann’s Gulls. This colony’s population can fluctuate dramatically depending on the nearby ocean temperatures. This year, the cold upwelling that makes these waters so rich in life was in full force but landing on the island is tomorrow’s dream.
We sought shelter at Isla Angel de la Guardia, the ‘guardian angel’ island, and it surely lived up to its name. We kayaked, snorkeled in the refreshingly chilly water, hiked, undertook Zodiac tours, and did I mention, take pictures? Gulls, dolphins, sheer precipitous cliffs, panoramas, desert habitats to fill a book, rattlesnakes, nothing went unrecorded. It was a day to just plain absorb the richness, the wonder of it all, and the sheer beauty of one of the planet’s hidden and protected spaces. Yes, this space was clean and true and beautiful.
Overnight we steamed north 110 miles to Raza Island. Our hopes to land were dashed by the huge seas that had materialized. It was such a change from the previous evening when we were watching squid fishers in Santa Rosalia landing dachshund-sized denizens of the deep in jade-green bathtub-calm waters.
Today, Elegant Terns wheeled like bolts from a crossbow and Craveri’s Murrelets bobbed like happy tennis balls on a two-metre swell rollercoaster. We had to bypass Raza, home to up to 64,000 pairs of Heermann’s Gulls. This colony’s population can fluctuate dramatically depending on the nearby ocean temperatures. This year, the cold upwelling that makes these waters so rich in life was in full force but landing on the island is tomorrow’s dream.
We sought shelter at Isla Angel de la Guardia, the ‘guardian angel’ island, and it surely lived up to its name. We kayaked, snorkeled in the refreshingly chilly water, hiked, undertook Zodiac tours, and did I mention, take pictures? Gulls, dolphins, sheer precipitous cliffs, panoramas, desert habitats to fill a book, rattlesnakes, nothing went unrecorded. It was a day to just plain absorb the richness, the wonder of it all, and the sheer beauty of one of the planet’s hidden and protected spaces. Yes, this space was clean and true and beautiful.
