Gorda Banks and Cabo San Lucas
This morning as the sun rose over the Baja Peninsula, the guests of Sea Lion were greeted with spouts and splashes from all directions. We had arrived at Gorda Banks, a place where Humpback whales come to calf and breed. These Humpbacks, quite possibly the same that surrounded this very vessel during the summer in Alaska, have transited the entire North American coast, arriving in Baja to breed and calve for the winter. We saw single, double, and triple whales moving in a leisurely fashion across the surface, taking 5 minute dive sojourns before reappearing on the surface for us to admire.
Humpback Whales are rorqual whales, the word Rorqual coming from the Norwegian word rorhval, which means furrow. This “furrow” refers to the groves in the skin that extend from the lower jaw to just behind the flippers. It allows an incredible expansion of skin in the lower jaw and the ability to take tons of water in a mouthful, which, combined with the whale’s baleen, creates a perfect filter to capture even the smallest crustacean. However, during the Baja breeding and calving season, which can last up to four months, these whales rarely feed, patiently waiting for the richer temperate waters found to the North.
The Sea Lion has been traveling through the Sea of Cortez for the last three days, exploring our way towards to the most Southern end of the Baja Peninsula, and the town of Cabo San Lucas. The Underwater world of the Sea of Cortez houses some of the richest reef-fish fauna found in the eastern Pacific, although this is not what we would traditionally think of as reef (most of us associate this word with coral), as this is a rocky reef, each niche created within the large boulders and white sand that line the bottom.
Pictured here is a Balloonfish, Diodon holocanthus, one of the two species of porcupine fish in the Sea of Cortez with moveable spines. It is a slow moving, relatively docile fish, who is often collected by skin divers. When distressed, this fish will inflate itself with water or air, erecting its long spines, and becoming as circular as a balloon.
This evening as we pass the southern most tip of the Baja Peninsula, “Land’s End,” our journey in the Sea of Cortez ends. We will enter the Pacific Ocean where new species of flora and fauna both above and below the ocean’s surface will greet us as our expedition amongst the great whales continues.
This morning as the sun rose over the Baja Peninsula, the guests of Sea Lion were greeted with spouts and splashes from all directions. We had arrived at Gorda Banks, a place where Humpback whales come to calf and breed. These Humpbacks, quite possibly the same that surrounded this very vessel during the summer in Alaska, have transited the entire North American coast, arriving in Baja to breed and calve for the winter. We saw single, double, and triple whales moving in a leisurely fashion across the surface, taking 5 minute dive sojourns before reappearing on the surface for us to admire.
Humpback Whales are rorqual whales, the word Rorqual coming from the Norwegian word rorhval, which means furrow. This “furrow” refers to the groves in the skin that extend from the lower jaw to just behind the flippers. It allows an incredible expansion of skin in the lower jaw and the ability to take tons of water in a mouthful, which, combined with the whale’s baleen, creates a perfect filter to capture even the smallest crustacean. However, during the Baja breeding and calving season, which can last up to four months, these whales rarely feed, patiently waiting for the richer temperate waters found to the North.
The Sea Lion has been traveling through the Sea of Cortez for the last three days, exploring our way towards to the most Southern end of the Baja Peninsula, and the town of Cabo San Lucas. The Underwater world of the Sea of Cortez houses some of the richest reef-fish fauna found in the eastern Pacific, although this is not what we would traditionally think of as reef (most of us associate this word with coral), as this is a rocky reef, each niche created within the large boulders and white sand that line the bottom.
Pictured here is a Balloonfish, Diodon holocanthus, one of the two species of porcupine fish in the Sea of Cortez with moveable spines. It is a slow moving, relatively docile fish, who is often collected by skin divers. When distressed, this fish will inflate itself with water or air, erecting its long spines, and becoming as circular as a balloon.
This evening as we pass the southern most tip of the Baja Peninsula, “Land’s End,” our journey in the Sea of Cortez ends. We will enter the Pacific Ocean where new species of flora and fauna both above and below the ocean’s surface will greet us as our expedition amongst the great whales continues.
