West of Isla Santa Cruz, Sea of Cortez
A pelican on your head sure can make it challenging to whale watch. Or is that a new hat from the Sea Lion gift shop? A longtime Lindblad traveler went with the flow in the true spirit of exploration, enduring the immature bird’s attempt to gain solid footing in the middle of the Sea of Cortez. Meanwhile, we were in the middle of a true parade of cetacean sightings – four whale and two dolphin species in one morning.
A beautiful clear day and flat seas expose the Sea of Cortez for the incredible diversity its low latitude productivity harbors. This morning we enjoyed encounters with thousands of common dolphins, hundreds of bottlenose dolphins, a group of humpback whales that may have been feeding, a scattering of finback whales, a Bryde’s whale or two, and an elusive but wonderful blue whale. Throw in some blue-footed boobies, breaching mobula rays and a pelican on your head for fun.
The size, scale of movement and pace of the universe’s largest known animal can be somewhat alien to the human observer. Our blue whale’s long downtimes of over twenty minutes while not quite approaching the timescale of the explosive erosive geology nearby, taught many of us the fine quality of patience. Appearing great distances away between breathing sequences, we also learned ashamedly how easy it could be to lose a 100-ton animal! With perseverance we waited and we searched and waited some more and were duly rewarded with a close look at the wonderfully wide flukes of a blue whale as it sounded.
After an incredible morning among whales and dolphins, we filled our afternoon with kayaking, swimming, and hiking the scenic peninsular desert – almost as fun as a pelican on your head.
