Isla Santa Catalina
This morning we awoke at sunrise off the east side of the Sierra De La Giganta. As the sun rose the mountains glowed a beautiful red color in the early morning light. During breakfast as we cruised along the shore of Isla Carmen we found a small baleen whale which we followed for a time but were unable to identify. A short time later we found a large school of common dolphins. These beautiful animals, numbering in the hundreds, allowed us to approach quite closely and we followed them for a long time. Many of the dolphins approached the ship and rode the bow wave . We were able to see many mothers with their babies and several of the dolphins leaped out of the water giving us quite a show of their repertoire of behaviors.
Reluctantly we left the dolphins behind and headed toward our afternoon destination of Isla Santa Catalina. One of the oldest islands in the gulf, Santa Catalina has been dated at over 60 million years of age. As we approached our anchorage, we encountered another large school of a different species of dolphins called bottlenose dolphins. These were very playful animals and came over to ride under the bow of the ship providing an excellent show of their beautiful streamlined bodies and wonderful swimming abilities. On one occasion five of the dolphins jumped out of the water together in a marvelous display of their athletic prowess. Our web photo for the day shows a couple of these dolphins under the bow of the ship.
After lunch we set up a snorkel boat near the Elephant Rock and many of us jumped into the clear waters to enjoy this activity. Many colorful fish were observed among the nearby rocks. Others of us enjoyed a Zodiac cruise along the shore of the island where we found a number of interesting birds and beautiful caves.
In the late afternoon we enjoyed a nice walk in a flower filled arroyo where many varieties of cactus were growing. The giant cardon cactus and the endemic giant barrel cactus were the major features of the walk but a great profusion of annual flowering plants added splashes of color along our walk.
Just at sunset we all returned to the ship feeling quite satisfied with our day’s activities. After recap and dinner we marveled at a beautiful moonrise before retiring for the evening.
