Isla San Esteban & Isla Rasa
Early this morning, the Sea Bird set her anchor at Isla San Esteban. The morning was devoid of wind, but a strong current drew a parade of jellies past the ship.
First up, an optional pre-sunrise landing to photograph the sunrise and explore the desert in the early morning light. We had a few great sightings including glimpses of a vermillion flycatcher and a photo op with a pinto chuckwalla lizard, but we also appreciated hearing the early sounds of the desert birds and seeing the beautiful forms and textures of the desert flora in the early light.
After breakfast, we all went ashore to further explore the island. Long walkers may have made greater distance, but even those wandering on their own looking for birds, and photographers who covered little territory, were excited by the many things that were seen. Spiny-tailed iguana’s lounged on rocks warming themselves in the morning sun. Later, they were found atop the cardon cactus, eating the blooms. More pinto chuckwallas were found among the rocky terrain, while mockingbirds called to each other, and we enjoyed the lovely fragrance of desert lavender in the air.
In the late morning we set sail south, across mirror seas, for San Pedro Martir, an oceanic island and the most isolated bird nesting island in the Gulf. It didn’t take long for our phenomenal luck (and excellent spotters on the bow) to kick in and find an extraordinary new experience for us to enjoy, a large feeding frenzy from both above and below the surface of the water. Brown and blue-footed boobies were plunge-diving into the sea while an estimated 800 long-beaked common dolphins at times turned the water white with their high-speed splashes and spray as they pursued their prey. The ship followed as we stayed with this scene for well over an hour. On a voyage where we were all taking record numbers of photographs, here was yet another stellar opportunity to fill our memory cards. We finally tore ourselves away from this incredible scene and returned to our heading for San Pedro Martir.
San Pedro Martir is the biggest nesting area in the world for brown boobies, and the largest nesting area in Mexico for blue-footed boobies. We watched as boobies soared overhead and bathed in the offshore waters. The shrill cries of red-billed tropicbirds filled the air over our heads as they flew to and from the island.
The eagerly anticipated Photo Expedition “Laptop Gallery” was initially delayed for this island stop, and then put on hold as once again as an alert from Pete on the bow (and the change in the sounds of the ship's engine) signaled us that something had been sighted ahead. We spent the remainder of the afternoon surrounded by groups of sperm whales and bottlenose dolphins. The finale was watching whales, their blows lit up orange in the sunset, gracefully fluking in the last bits of daylight.
It was a memorable end to a most remarkable voyage.
Early this morning, the Sea Bird set her anchor at Isla San Esteban. The morning was devoid of wind, but a strong current drew a parade of jellies past the ship.
First up, an optional pre-sunrise landing to photograph the sunrise and explore the desert in the early morning light. We had a few great sightings including glimpses of a vermillion flycatcher and a photo op with a pinto chuckwalla lizard, but we also appreciated hearing the early sounds of the desert birds and seeing the beautiful forms and textures of the desert flora in the early light.
After breakfast, we all went ashore to further explore the island. Long walkers may have made greater distance, but even those wandering on their own looking for birds, and photographers who covered little territory, were excited by the many things that were seen. Spiny-tailed iguana’s lounged on rocks warming themselves in the morning sun. Later, they were found atop the cardon cactus, eating the blooms. More pinto chuckwallas were found among the rocky terrain, while mockingbirds called to each other, and we enjoyed the lovely fragrance of desert lavender in the air.
In the late morning we set sail south, across mirror seas, for San Pedro Martir, an oceanic island and the most isolated bird nesting island in the Gulf. It didn’t take long for our phenomenal luck (and excellent spotters on the bow) to kick in and find an extraordinary new experience for us to enjoy, a large feeding frenzy from both above and below the surface of the water. Brown and blue-footed boobies were plunge-diving into the sea while an estimated 800 long-beaked common dolphins at times turned the water white with their high-speed splashes and spray as they pursued their prey. The ship followed as we stayed with this scene for well over an hour. On a voyage where we were all taking record numbers of photographs, here was yet another stellar opportunity to fill our memory cards. We finally tore ourselves away from this incredible scene and returned to our heading for San Pedro Martir.
San Pedro Martir is the biggest nesting area in the world for brown boobies, and the largest nesting area in Mexico for blue-footed boobies. We watched as boobies soared overhead and bathed in the offshore waters. The shrill cries of red-billed tropicbirds filled the air over our heads as they flew to and from the island.
The eagerly anticipated Photo Expedition “Laptop Gallery” was initially delayed for this island stop, and then put on hold as once again as an alert from Pete on the bow (and the change in the sounds of the ship's engine) signaled us that something had been sighted ahead. We spent the remainder of the afternoon surrounded by groups of sperm whales and bottlenose dolphins. The finale was watching whales, their blows lit up orange in the sunset, gracefully fluking in the last bits of daylight.
It was a memorable end to a most remarkable voyage.
