The Gulf of California
Geology meets Cetology (with some Ichthyology and Botany thrown in.) Geology: the study of the earth and its history. Cetology: the study of whales and dolphins (Cetacea).
During our first night out of La Paz, we moved northward in the Gulf of California to awake in the waters south of Isla Carmen. The first light of the morning sun turned the eastern sky a subtle shade of vermillion, then brighter, then orange, as early risers gathered on the foredeck of the Sea Lion to see what the morning would bring. Bring it did! Before it was fully light, our ship approached a disturbance in the water, and we found ourselves in the midst of a large group of common dolphins. How large? Estimates were continually revised upward as we saw dolphins spread over the seas as far as the eye could see, their numbers well into the hundreds. They were busy feeding, leaping acrobatically from the water as they pursued schools of fish. Some came over to hitch a free ride on the bow wave of the Sea Lion. Our shouts of glee were mixed with the high-pitched squeals of the dolphins, heard through our hydrophone.
To the west, the morning light revealed the colorful volcanic layers of the Sierra de la Giganta (The Mountains of the Giantess), revealed for our eyes when the Baja California Peninsula was ripped away from Mainland Mexico by tectonic processes to form the Gulf of California. But Geology was soon competing (not too successfully) when we spotted the tall blows of whales. They turned out to be fin whales, the second largest of all whales (and of all animals, each whale half the length of our ship). But were we to satisfy ourselves with second largest? Oh, no! After a brief encounter with humpback whales diving to show their triangular flukes, we moved onward, only to spot the column of a very tall blow, followed by a silver-blue back … back … more back … and then a small dorsal fin. We were in the presence of blue whales, the very largest animal of them all. Two animals swimming together circled our ship for a close look as we looked back in awe. Just who was observing whom? Apparently satisfied, the whales moved on in their incessant search for the krill needed to fuel their massive appetites. It appears that, after severe depredation by the whaling industry, continuing into the 1970s, blue whales are making a comeback. At least, we see them more frequently here in the Gulf of California. We can only hope!
Our afternoon was spent at Isla Santa Catalina, with a chance to snorkel with the colorful fish of the Gulf, and to walk up a desert arroyo. Santa Catalina is the most remote (from the Peninsula) of the Gulf Islands. It has fewer species than closer islands, but it has a greater number of unique forms -endemic species or subspecies that are found only on this island. These include the giant barrel cactus, reaching three feet in diameter and fifteen feet in height. The multi-spired cardon cactus, the tallest of all cacti, stretched its giant columns high in to the desert sky. It was one of the few plant species that we saw in flower, its large creamy white flowers inviting the attention of bats to transport its pollen. The spires provided a fine perch for desert birds; loggerhead shrikes, gila woodpeckers, white-winged doves, and black-throated sparrows were seen and admired taking advantage of the prominent perches.
Geology meets Cetology (with some Ichthyology and Botany thrown in.) Geology: the study of the earth and its history. Cetology: the study of whales and dolphins (Cetacea).
During our first night out of La Paz, we moved northward in the Gulf of California to awake in the waters south of Isla Carmen. The first light of the morning sun turned the eastern sky a subtle shade of vermillion, then brighter, then orange, as early risers gathered on the foredeck of the Sea Lion to see what the morning would bring. Bring it did! Before it was fully light, our ship approached a disturbance in the water, and we found ourselves in the midst of a large group of common dolphins. How large? Estimates were continually revised upward as we saw dolphins spread over the seas as far as the eye could see, their numbers well into the hundreds. They were busy feeding, leaping acrobatically from the water as they pursued schools of fish. Some came over to hitch a free ride on the bow wave of the Sea Lion. Our shouts of glee were mixed with the high-pitched squeals of the dolphins, heard through our hydrophone.
To the west, the morning light revealed the colorful volcanic layers of the Sierra de la Giganta (The Mountains of the Giantess), revealed for our eyes when the Baja California Peninsula was ripped away from Mainland Mexico by tectonic processes to form the Gulf of California. But Geology was soon competing (not too successfully) when we spotted the tall blows of whales. They turned out to be fin whales, the second largest of all whales (and of all animals, each whale half the length of our ship). But were we to satisfy ourselves with second largest? Oh, no! After a brief encounter with humpback whales diving to show their triangular flukes, we moved onward, only to spot the column of a very tall blow, followed by a silver-blue back … back … more back … and then a small dorsal fin. We were in the presence of blue whales, the very largest animal of them all. Two animals swimming together circled our ship for a close look as we looked back in awe. Just who was observing whom? Apparently satisfied, the whales moved on in their incessant search for the krill needed to fuel their massive appetites. It appears that, after severe depredation by the whaling industry, continuing into the 1970s, blue whales are making a comeback. At least, we see them more frequently here in the Gulf of California. We can only hope!
Our afternoon was spent at Isla Santa Catalina, with a chance to snorkel with the colorful fish of the Gulf, and to walk up a desert arroyo. Santa Catalina is the most remote (from the Peninsula) of the Gulf Islands. It has fewer species than closer islands, but it has a greater number of unique forms -endemic species or subspecies that are found only on this island. These include the giant barrel cactus, reaching three feet in diameter and fifteen feet in height. The multi-spired cardon cactus, the tallest of all cacti, stretched its giant columns high in to the desert sky. It was one of the few plant species that we saw in flower, its large creamy white flowers inviting the attention of bats to transport its pollen. The spires provided a fine perch for desert birds; loggerhead shrikes, gila woodpeckers, white-winged doves, and black-throated sparrows were seen and admired taking advantage of the prominent perches.
