Not bad at all for the first day of the trip, three species of whales in the first half of the day! After waking up near Isla Carmen we started sailing south to encounter a fin whale, (Balaenoptera physalus) cow calf pair at first, distinguished by the chevron on the back behind the head, followed by a Bryde’s whale, (Balaenoptera edeni), which is much faster than the fin whale, and at last a humpback whale raised its flukes after a few minutes of swimming through the surface, and disappeared into the depths. These three species belong to the rorqual whales; the word “rorqual” comes from the Norwegian word “rorhval”, which means “furrow”. The name refers to the many folds of skin on the throat of the members of this family.
When the whale activity stopped, we dropped the anchor, and were welcomed to Isla Santa Catalina by a big group of eared grebes. We split in groups of snorkelers, Zodiac cruisers, and hikers. The snorkelers had the opportunity to be submerged in the highly productive and biodiverse waters of the Gulf of California, enjoying the beauty of the king angel fish, the giant damsel fish, scissor tailed damsel fish, flower urchins and many amazing underwater organisms. The Zodiac cruisers got a closer look at the two rock formations called “elephant rocks”. The hikers enjoyed the botanical diversity of the island getting to know the endemic species, the species that only occur in this specific place, like the barrel cactus (Ferocactus diguetii). The bird watchers marked off several interesting species on their bird lists. American kestrels, loggerhead shrikes, California gnatcatchers, turkey vultures, verdins and brown boobies, just some of the species to mention, without forgetting the common ravens shown in the picture, which were photographed flying from the highest branch of a magnificent cardon.
