As we awoke this morning our ship was leaving the pier at Puerto Escondido where we had paused to take on fresh water during the night. The massive mountains known as the Sierra de la Giganta rose above us to the west, and a short distance to the east was the jagged outline of Isla Danzante. Curiously, the morning had an overcast sky, and we were even treated to a few rare drops of rain over the desert. We made our way southward, and immediately after breakfast we encountered two humpback whales swimming and fluking their way leisurely northward past a group of dolphins. We soon anchored at Bahia Agua Verde, a peaceful cove set among reddish mountains along the Baja peninsula. We spent the remainder of the morning exploring this scenic area. Some of us took to kayaks, others went hiking in the desert, and a few even went snorkeling in the clear waters fringing the bay.
By midday the sky had cleared again to its usual Baja sun and blue as we headed eastward toward Isla Santa Catalina. Despite Ralph’s intentions to make a rapid transit, we couldn’t resist pausing for an hour to watch a mother and calf blue whale cavorting at the surface. They gave us some exciting views of what we speculated might have been nursing behavior between these two. The playful calf occasionally rolled across its mother’s back, and even treated us to a cheerful head slap on the surface. Eventually, we made our way to Isla Santa Catalina in time for hiking ashore in the beautiful late afternoon light. Catalina is one of the most beautiful islands, known for its plentiful towering cardon cactus and also the endemic giant barrel cactus (first photo). We found various cacti in flower, and also many desert birds typical of the region including the brilliant red northern cardinal. Sunset beckoned us back to the ship as Elephant Rock was silhouetted against whisps of colorful clouds (second photo).
