We were anchored on the west side of Isla Danzante, where the wind danced frenetically all night long. So Ralph’s Plan A to land at Arroyo Rojo on Isla Carmen’s south side went right out the window. Instead, we waited until after breakfast before venturing out from our anchorage.
We had sailed only a short distance before spying a flock of Bonaparte’s gulls with a couple of Sabine gull interlopers. Nearby was a raft of eared grebes, each individual vying for the increased security of the inner circle. The birds were busy feeding on surface plankton when suddenly in the midst of them a whale spout shot high into the air. Birds scattered and a long, sleek, black back emerged from the depths, arched so very gently to reveal a relatively small but pointed dorsal fin. Definitely a fin whale, the second largest whale species. Then we began to notice clouds of reddish krill in the water. The whale turned on its side and with mouth agape lunged forward. It was making a breakfast of the tiny krill; one fin whale can eat several tons of the nearly microscopic crustacean per day. The richness of the Gulf of California is truly astonishing. And here we were privileged to witness these marine creatures – the great and the small.
A couple of other fin whales surfaced as Captain Kalbach carefully and slowly maneuvered the ship so as to not disturb their feeding but to also optimize our viewing of this rare spectacle.
In the early afternoon, the Sea Lion headed up the Gulf into the El Norte wind and lumpy sea to the northern end of Isla Carmen and the protection of Ballandra Bay. Following a talk by Stewart, entitled “ A Writer Who Makes Photos,” most people were happy to get on shore and savor solid ground.
A trail led across a salt flat to a very lush valley between rugged cliffs of colorful tuff, breccia, and other igneous rocks. Palo verde adorned with yellow flowers, beautiful white-barked palo blanco, mesquite, and vines, such as spiny cucumber, lined the wash running through the valley. Several new bird species were observed including the hooded oriole, ladder-back woodpecker, and a green heron.
As the sun dropped behind the peninsula’s mountains, a few high clouds turned from gold to rose. What had threatened to be a rough day at sea had turned into a delightful mix of marine mammal watching in the morning and a relaxing afternoon on shore. Before we headed for our beds, Rikki gave us more ideas on what to do with all the great photos we were making on our expedition to Baja.
