Christmas Eve day, or celebrated as Noche Buena in Mexico, began for us on the Sea Lion with another beautiful sunrise. After which we spent the better part of the morning watching many marine mammal visitors that graced our presence. First, a mother and calf fin whale pair led us around the southeast portion of Isla Carmen as we watched them circle, separate and reunite. Then, following a lecture by historian Jim Rawls and a "scratch and sniff" presentation of some local flora by botanist Linda Burback, we rushed out to the bow to watch bottlenose dolphins riding our pressure wave and a blue whale surfacing in the distance. There were even dolphins showing off their acrobatic skills leaping and dancing around the whale. As our aquatic friends faded in the distance we headed for Puerto Escondido where a bus was waiting to take our guests to the little town of Loreto. Jose, our guide, showed us the small town which was the first Spanish settlement in Baja, established in 1697. Our guests were given a guided tour of the mission where Jose talked about its history and architecture.

During an afternoon dive off Isla Danzante, a small island to the southwest of Isla Carmen, I was able to photograph this beautiful creature guarding its little territory. This is an adult giant damselfish (Microspathodon dorsalis), which is fairly common in the Gulf of California. Damselfish are in the family Pomacentridae and quite a few species are present in the Gulf of California. The most abundant of these being the circumtropical sergeant major (Abudefduf troschelli), and the Cortez damselfish (Stegastes rectifraenum). Damselfish are typically territorial and manage the upkeep of a small algal garden which they fiercely protect. Males will attempt to attract a female to lay her eggs in his garden and then will protect them until they hatch into planktonic larvae. This particular species is one of the largest in the area growing to as large as 30 cm. in length. Besides its large size another striking characteristic of the adults is the dark blue body with the white trim on the trailing edges of its caudal (tail), dorsal, and anal fins and on the lower lip. As I slowly approached, this fish would swim swiftly back in forth in front of the entrance, dart to the left and out of sight outside the entrance and then emerge from within to repeat this behavior until I slowly retreated the area.

At the end of this special day, many guests returned to the town of Loreto to take part in a traditional Spanish language mass in the mission in celebration of Noche Buena.