Laguna de San Ignacio, Baja California Sur, México
At a ranch called El Boleo (where there are bolas or round balls), in the vicinity of Santa Rosalia, in the middle reaches of the Gulf of California, a small town with a copper smelter was founded in 1870. These bolas were almost pure copper, and mining soon followed.
We arrived at 0530 hrs, and docked in the harbor. After a very early breakfast, we boarded two buses and were taken on a one-hour trip to the lovely mission town of San Ignacio, where the Jesuits built a church, standing very proudly today. There we boarded a series of vans, which took us on a two-hour drive across a dusty desert to the Lagoon of San Ignacio. Shortly thereafter we were being taken out to see the gray whales, where all of us had the opportunity of seeing these magnificent gray whale mother/calf pairs from quite close (see photo). The calf approached some of the boats, and many of us had the opportunity of seeing them from very near! Here we enjoyed the animals for about two hours, and then returned to the point of land where we had started the water voyage. Lunch was taken, and we returned to San Ignacio. Some of us visited the old church, then returned to Santa Rosalia along the fantastic rough-curve highway (this part is called the Devil's Backbone!) with the enormous Tres Virgenes Volcano off to our left, some 25 miles west of Santa Rosalia. It is 6550 ft in altitude, and is still active.
As soon as we had returned to our ship, we had cocktails and a somewhat late dinner! Shortly thereafter we lifted the anchor, and sailed out of the harbor, to stop again some miles outside. Here we searched for Humboldt squid, up to two feet in length!
At a ranch called El Boleo (where there are bolas or round balls), in the vicinity of Santa Rosalia, in the middle reaches of the Gulf of California, a small town with a copper smelter was founded in 1870. These bolas were almost pure copper, and mining soon followed.
We arrived at 0530 hrs, and docked in the harbor. After a very early breakfast, we boarded two buses and were taken on a one-hour trip to the lovely mission town of San Ignacio, where the Jesuits built a church, standing very proudly today. There we boarded a series of vans, which took us on a two-hour drive across a dusty desert to the Lagoon of San Ignacio. Shortly thereafter we were being taken out to see the gray whales, where all of us had the opportunity of seeing these magnificent gray whale mother/calf pairs from quite close (see photo). The calf approached some of the boats, and many of us had the opportunity of seeing them from very near! Here we enjoyed the animals for about two hours, and then returned to the point of land where we had started the water voyage. Lunch was taken, and we returned to San Ignacio. Some of us visited the old church, then returned to Santa Rosalia along the fantastic rough-curve highway (this part is called the Devil's Backbone!) with the enormous Tres Virgenes Volcano off to our left, some 25 miles west of Santa Rosalia. It is 6550 ft in altitude, and is still active.
As soon as we had returned to our ship, we had cocktails and a somewhat late dinner! Shortly thereafter we lifted the anchor, and sailed out of the harbor, to stop again some miles outside. Here we searched for Humboldt squid, up to two feet in length!
