Isla San Jose & Isla Espiritu Santo
As the Sea Lion made her way towards our first landing in the Gulf of California under a pink pre-dawn glow, our day got off to an exciting start. Before the sun had even broken the horizon, a whale was spotted. Rubbing the sleep from our eyes, we dashed up to the bow, coffee in hand to be greeted by the greatest of all whales – the mighty blue. In the golden light of a brilliant sunrise, we watched this huge animal – the largest to ever live – surfacing, taking a few breaths and diving again, just ahead of our vessel.
We left this behemoth to his breakfast of plankton, while we went below to enjoy French toast while continuing to our anchorage off Isla San Jose. Seeking shelter from strong northerly winds on the southern side of the island, we found a beautiful protected beach, which we rode Zodiacs across glassy-calm seas to land upon. Ashore, the intrepid long hikers blazed a new trail into the hills, while others meandered along the plain below a beautiful forest of cardon cactus. Below us was the turquoise saltwater lagoon that covers the south-western corner of San Jose Island, enclosed by sand-spits and fringed by mangroves, providing habitat for a variety of shorebirds. Beachcombers found pufferfish and a mummified sea lion along the shoreline and the receding tide revealed a wealth of life in rock-pools below the beach.
Cocktails hour this evening was held on deck, watching the sun set over the Giant Mountains, backbone of the Baja peninsula. After dinner, we landed in the dark on sandy shores of Isla Espiritu Santo to enjoy hot chocolate and a desert of smores around a beach bonfire. Illuminated by the glow of the fire, the Mexican story of creation was told before some of our group set out to explore the desert by torchlight in search of nocturnal creatures. Riding back to the ship in our Zodiacs, we had stars both above us and below, as tiny bioluminescent glow of tiny planktonic organisms sparkled in our wake.
As the Sea Lion made her way towards our first landing in the Gulf of California under a pink pre-dawn glow, our day got off to an exciting start. Before the sun had even broken the horizon, a whale was spotted. Rubbing the sleep from our eyes, we dashed up to the bow, coffee in hand to be greeted by the greatest of all whales – the mighty blue. In the golden light of a brilliant sunrise, we watched this huge animal – the largest to ever live – surfacing, taking a few breaths and diving again, just ahead of our vessel.
We left this behemoth to his breakfast of plankton, while we went below to enjoy French toast while continuing to our anchorage off Isla San Jose. Seeking shelter from strong northerly winds on the southern side of the island, we found a beautiful protected beach, which we rode Zodiacs across glassy-calm seas to land upon. Ashore, the intrepid long hikers blazed a new trail into the hills, while others meandered along the plain below a beautiful forest of cardon cactus. Below us was the turquoise saltwater lagoon that covers the south-western corner of San Jose Island, enclosed by sand-spits and fringed by mangroves, providing habitat for a variety of shorebirds. Beachcombers found pufferfish and a mummified sea lion along the shoreline and the receding tide revealed a wealth of life in rock-pools below the beach.
Cocktails hour this evening was held on deck, watching the sun set over the Giant Mountains, backbone of the Baja peninsula. After dinner, we landed in the dark on sandy shores of Isla Espiritu Santo to enjoy hot chocolate and a desert of smores around a beach bonfire. Illuminated by the glow of the fire, the Mexican story of creation was told before some of our group set out to explore the desert by torchlight in search of nocturnal creatures. Riding back to the ship in our Zodiacs, we had stars both above us and below, as tiny bioluminescent glow of tiny planktonic organisms sparkled in our wake.
