Cabo San Lucas & Gorda Bank
After surfing the Pacific swell south last night, we awoke early this morning to watch first light at Land’s End. By sunrise, at 6:15 a.m., the bow was full of photographers, cameras poised to catch the first pink rays of dawn as they lit up the famous granite Arch at the very tip of the Baja California peninsula. Cabo San Lucas, once a sleepy fishing village, is now the tourist capital of Baja California Sur, and home to a huge fleet of sportfishing boats. These boats speed past the Arch shortly after dawn, bound for the fertile fishing grounds to the south and west, but this morning we were there first. The Captain nosed the Sea Lion in close to the rocks, while shutters clicked and motor drives whirred, sounds of photographers capturing their perfect image. Whether of California sea lions hauled out, brown boobies perched on the cliff side, Brandt’s cormorants swimming in the clear blue water or gleaming white fishing boats speeding in front of the Arch, these photographs capture just a portion of the experience. On deck we hear the sea lions barking, the gulls crying and the sound of waves crashing on the beach.
After snorkeling, birdwatching and shopping for handicrafts and gifts, we returned to our floating home, and cast lines to spend our afternoon in search of humpback whales. We were not disappointed! We spent the entire latter part of the afternoon with several groups of humpbacks. We saw several mothers with very young calves, all escorted by single males, as well as a number of solitary whales. We waited patiently to photograph some of the humpbacks’ famous surface behavior, and it paid off. Shortly before sunset, we watched a calf breach 57 times, just off our bow! Not to be outdone, one of the adults breached a couple of times as well, launching its massive 40-ton body completely out of the water with just a few flicks of its tail. A beautiful finale to another beautiful day.
After surfing the Pacific swell south last night, we awoke early this morning to watch first light at Land’s End. By sunrise, at 6:15 a.m., the bow was full of photographers, cameras poised to catch the first pink rays of dawn as they lit up the famous granite Arch at the very tip of the Baja California peninsula. Cabo San Lucas, once a sleepy fishing village, is now the tourist capital of Baja California Sur, and home to a huge fleet of sportfishing boats. These boats speed past the Arch shortly after dawn, bound for the fertile fishing grounds to the south and west, but this morning we were there first. The Captain nosed the Sea Lion in close to the rocks, while shutters clicked and motor drives whirred, sounds of photographers capturing their perfect image. Whether of California sea lions hauled out, brown boobies perched on the cliff side, Brandt’s cormorants swimming in the clear blue water or gleaming white fishing boats speeding in front of the Arch, these photographs capture just a portion of the experience. On deck we hear the sea lions barking, the gulls crying and the sound of waves crashing on the beach.
After snorkeling, birdwatching and shopping for handicrafts and gifts, we returned to our floating home, and cast lines to spend our afternoon in search of humpback whales. We were not disappointed! We spent the entire latter part of the afternoon with several groups of humpbacks. We saw several mothers with very young calves, all escorted by single males, as well as a number of solitary whales. We waited patiently to photograph some of the humpbacks’ famous surface behavior, and it paid off. Shortly before sunset, we watched a calf breach 57 times, just off our bow! Not to be outdone, one of the adults breached a couple of times as well, launching its massive 40-ton body completely out of the water with just a few flicks of its tail. A beautiful finale to another beautiful day.
