Isla San Marcos
Plan A. Plan B. Plan C. When you’re on an expedition ship, itineraries can change with the direction of the wind. Fortunately, our Expedition Leader Michelle Graves took the volatility of nature in stride.
Sunrise found us on deck scanning the waters east of Santa Rosalia for marine mammals. But nothing appeared as the wind freshened the seas. So a beach was found in the lee of Isla San Marcos, where kayaking and snorkeling could be done. Guests alternated between the two activities during the morning but by noon the wind had shifted direction and another sheltered spot as needed.
The anchored was heaved and we ran around the north end of the island looking for the perfect site. All the options looked too rocky for a barbeque onshore, so another plan was conceived: the barbeque dinner would be on the aft bridge deck and hikes and more water sports would be held in the late afternoon.
The landing site was new to most of the naturalists, and the rocky shore line didn’t look all that inviting. But once on the beach, we quickly saw the hidden beauty of this particular wash. Igneous rocks in a rainbow of colors had been faulted and swirled into fantastic shapes. Palo verdes blazed yellow with flowers, bright grey-green brittlebush contrasted with dark brown tuff, and desert wildflowers bloomed along the way.
Guests meandered up the wash as far as they wanted taking in the weird and wonderful rock formations and enjoying the silence of this wild place…a silence that was occasionally broken by the hum of hundreds of bees happily gathering pollen from the palo blanco trees.
As the sun began its descent behind the jagged, mountainous skyline of the Baja peninsula and the warm evening light set the cliff of San Marcos aglow, we were all back on board and relishing another wonderful meal. The perfect end to a perfect day. Plan A? Plan B? Plan C? It didn’t matter.
Plan A. Plan B. Plan C. When you’re on an expedition ship, itineraries can change with the direction of the wind. Fortunately, our Expedition Leader Michelle Graves took the volatility of nature in stride.
Sunrise found us on deck scanning the waters east of Santa Rosalia for marine mammals. But nothing appeared as the wind freshened the seas. So a beach was found in the lee of Isla San Marcos, where kayaking and snorkeling could be done. Guests alternated between the two activities during the morning but by noon the wind had shifted direction and another sheltered spot as needed.
The anchored was heaved and we ran around the north end of the island looking for the perfect site. All the options looked too rocky for a barbeque onshore, so another plan was conceived: the barbeque dinner would be on the aft bridge deck and hikes and more water sports would be held in the late afternoon.
The landing site was new to most of the naturalists, and the rocky shore line didn’t look all that inviting. But once on the beach, we quickly saw the hidden beauty of this particular wash. Igneous rocks in a rainbow of colors had been faulted and swirled into fantastic shapes. Palo verdes blazed yellow with flowers, bright grey-green brittlebush contrasted with dark brown tuff, and desert wildflowers bloomed along the way.
Guests meandered up the wash as far as they wanted taking in the weird and wonderful rock formations and enjoying the silence of this wild place…a silence that was occasionally broken by the hum of hundreds of bees happily gathering pollen from the palo blanco trees.
As the sun began its descent behind the jagged, mountainous skyline of the Baja peninsula and the warm evening light set the cliff of San Marcos aglow, we were all back on board and relishing another wonderful meal. The perfect end to a perfect day. Plan A? Plan B? Plan C? It didn’t matter.
