Isla San Marcos, Gulf of California
Blue whales invite superlatives. The largest of all mammals. The largest creatures in the seas. To the best of our knowledge, the largest animals that have ever existed, greater even than the biggest of the dinosaurs. Our pre-breakfast marine mammal encounter, which has become a regular feature of the trip, was with a female and calf blue whale. The female clearly showed the physiological demand of raising her calf. To supply rich milk in the immense quantity required by her calf growing at a rate of two hundred pounds per day, a ton of body mass added every ten days, she has to feed almost continuously in the productive waters of the Gulf of California. Even that has not been enough; she has had to draw upon her own body reserves and now the “knuckles” of her spine show clearly with each surfacing. At six to eight months of age the calf will be weaned to go off on its own. The female will feed to restore her body condition and, hopefully, survive to mate again and add yet another calf to the slowly recovering Pacific population of these magnificent animals.
We proceeded to Isla San Marcos, where kayak and Zodiac tours were the attraction of the morning. Two of the many pleasures of kayaking: you can go where you wish, and birds seem relatively unconcerned about the approach of our multi-colored flotilla. In the photo above a kayak approaches brown pelicans on the rocks for a close encounter.
As sunset approached we gathered on the bow of the Sea Lion to participate in a scientific experiment: the effect of margaritas on the viewing of the “Green Flash”. As the last of the solar disk disappeared behind the mountains of the Baja California Peninsula binoculars were turned to the spot to look for the elusive (some would say mythical) blip of green light. The result was strongly suggestive: all those in the experimental (Margarita +) group recorded a positive result and several skeptics were converted to believers. However, as in all good scientific studies, replication is required.
Our day closed with a most exciting experience: a view of bioluminescent dolphins riding on the bow of the Sea Lion leaving ghostly streaks of pale green light in their wakes.
