Cabo San Lucas & Gorda Banks, Baja California
As the sun slowly rose over the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula, the Sea Lion approached Land’s End; the majestic granite formations known as Friar’s Rocks, with their world famous arch, welcomed us into the Gulf of California. We entered the busy marina of Cabo San Lucas and quickly divided into two groups - birders and snorkelers. After a short ride into San José del Cabo, the birders enjoyed a delightful morning around the San José river estuary where they observed forty different bird species, including white-faced ibises, black-necked stilts, a crested caracara and both Xantus’s hummingbird and Belding’s yellowthroat, two species endemic to the southern portion of Baja California.
Meanwhile, the snorkelers had a great time at Chilenos Bay, where a small rocky reef supports a large number of tropical fish and invertebrates. The more tropical waters of the Cape area, with an abundance of coral heads, large boulders and numerous crevices, are home to a surprisingly diverse assemblage of fish. We admired schools of convict tangs, yellowtail surgeon fishes and Cortez chubs; multicolored parrot fishes and never-resting wrasses; as well as the occasional Guinea fowl puffer and a lonely spotted boxfish. Reef cornet fishes, sleek and translucent, slowly cruised around, while a number of Mexican goatfishes and bright golden jacks requested the parasite-eating services of a juvenile Mexican hogfish at a cleaning station.
In the afternoon we sailed away from Cabo and headed east into the Gulf. We quickly spotted a pair of humpback whales swimming offshore, as well as a very young humpback calf breaching just off one of the beautiful sandy beaches of the Cape. Throughout the afternoon we encountered bottlenose and long-beaked common dolphins, jumping Mobula rays and several more humpback whales, one of which breached twice very close to us. All-in-all, a most enjoyable and exciting day!
As the sun slowly rose over the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula, the Sea Lion approached Land’s End; the majestic granite formations known as Friar’s Rocks, with their world famous arch, welcomed us into the Gulf of California. We entered the busy marina of Cabo San Lucas and quickly divided into two groups - birders and snorkelers. After a short ride into San José del Cabo, the birders enjoyed a delightful morning around the San José river estuary where they observed forty different bird species, including white-faced ibises, black-necked stilts, a crested caracara and both Xantus’s hummingbird and Belding’s yellowthroat, two species endemic to the southern portion of Baja California.
Meanwhile, the snorkelers had a great time at Chilenos Bay, where a small rocky reef supports a large number of tropical fish and invertebrates. The more tropical waters of the Cape area, with an abundance of coral heads, large boulders and numerous crevices, are home to a surprisingly diverse assemblage of fish. We admired schools of convict tangs, yellowtail surgeon fishes and Cortez chubs; multicolored parrot fishes and never-resting wrasses; as well as the occasional Guinea fowl puffer and a lonely spotted boxfish. Reef cornet fishes, sleek and translucent, slowly cruised around, while a number of Mexican goatfishes and bright golden jacks requested the parasite-eating services of a juvenile Mexican hogfish at a cleaning station.
In the afternoon we sailed away from Cabo and headed east into the Gulf. We quickly spotted a pair of humpback whales swimming offshore, as well as a very young humpback calf breaching just off one of the beautiful sandy beaches of the Cape. Throughout the afternoon we encountered bottlenose and long-beaked common dolphins, jumping Mobula rays and several more humpback whales, one of which breached twice very close to us. All-in-all, a most enjoyable and exciting day!
