Looking for marine mammals around Carmen Island
During our first night of sailing aboard the Sea Lion in a northerly direction, we experienced the very quiet phase of the Gulf of California since almost no motion was felt. Once we woke up in the area between Carmen, Danzante, and Santa Catalina Islands, we detected just before breakfast a big pod of long-beaked common dolphins traveling in search for food. As we approached them, calves and adults were seen together jumping out from the water, some doing very high breaching. Many individuals had remoras or barnacles attached to their skins, like the one in the picture, and many others were heard in their complicated sound communication. Hundreds or perhaps thousands of pictures were obtained from this welcome-to-the-Gulf-of-California unique event.
Later on after breakfast, Naturalists and guests contemplated the fascinating shape of Carmen Island with its marine sediments and volcanic tuff. Even the small abandoned town was seen at the distance, with its school and church built during the old mining times. When we decided to leave Carmen, a solitary individual of a Fin whale (the second largest of all living marine mammals) was seen at the distance. It was displaying an erratic behavior in its search for food, followed by an escort of some bottle-nose dolphins. To finish our active morning, on the way up to our afternoon destination, we found a Blue whale (the very largest of all the living animals). This whale was hard to follow as we were also distributing the snorkeling gear, but our ship’s officers managed to stay around it for a while.
In the afternoon, on Santa Catalina Island, a delightful snorkeling round was conducted, and was followed by different hikes. Some of the highlights of this granite island, like the giant barrel cactus and the big cardones (plural for cardon), were seen along the flat arroyo. A variety of land birds was also observed, including the American kestrel, fly catchers, cardinals and woodpeckers. A beautiful sunset, painted with different tones of pink, was the closing curtain for a magnificent first day of adventure into the Sea of Cortes.
During our first night of sailing aboard the Sea Lion in a northerly direction, we experienced the very quiet phase of the Gulf of California since almost no motion was felt. Once we woke up in the area between Carmen, Danzante, and Santa Catalina Islands, we detected just before breakfast a big pod of long-beaked common dolphins traveling in search for food. As we approached them, calves and adults were seen together jumping out from the water, some doing very high breaching. Many individuals had remoras or barnacles attached to their skins, like the one in the picture, and many others were heard in their complicated sound communication. Hundreds or perhaps thousands of pictures were obtained from this welcome-to-the-Gulf-of-California unique event.
Later on after breakfast, Naturalists and guests contemplated the fascinating shape of Carmen Island with its marine sediments and volcanic tuff. Even the small abandoned town was seen at the distance, with its school and church built during the old mining times. When we decided to leave Carmen, a solitary individual of a Fin whale (the second largest of all living marine mammals) was seen at the distance. It was displaying an erratic behavior in its search for food, followed by an escort of some bottle-nose dolphins. To finish our active morning, on the way up to our afternoon destination, we found a Blue whale (the very largest of all the living animals). This whale was hard to follow as we were also distributing the snorkeling gear, but our ship’s officers managed to stay around it for a while.
In the afternoon, on Santa Catalina Island, a delightful snorkeling round was conducted, and was followed by different hikes. Some of the highlights of this granite island, like the giant barrel cactus and the big cardones (plural for cardon), were seen along the flat arroyo. A variety of land birds was also observed, including the American kestrel, fly catchers, cardinals and woodpeckers. A beautiful sunset, painted with different tones of pink, was the closing curtain for a magnificent first day of adventure into the Sea of Cortes.
