Isla Santa Catalina & Isla Carmen
Serendipity. From afar Isla Santa Catalina, one of the more remote islands in the Gulf of California, appears barren and gray. Upon landing, we discover an enchanting landscape… massive flowering cardons march up the steep granite hillsides, giant barrel cacti punctuate the lower slopes, and butter-yellow flowers of the palo verde are ablaze in the arroyo. The air is filled with the hum of busy bees and the calls of gila woodpeckers, ravens, white-throated swifts, doves, verdins and other desert birds.
We stroll only a short distance up the wash and find the island’s infamous reptilian resident, the rattleless rattlesnake, coiled under a desert shrub. There are ten species of lizards and snakes on Isla Santa Catalina, eight of them, including the rattlesnake, endemics, that is, found nowhere else in the world. How did these denizens of dry, gravelly soils get to such a place surrounded by miles of sea? Serendipity?
Could their ancestors have been already living here before it became an island? Perhaps. However, it’s not clear exactly when Santa Catalina became isolated by the sea. It could have been several million years ago when the current Gulf of California formed or even older when an earlier incursion of the ocean occurred. Or maybe the lizards and snakes are relatively recent arrivals, having floated over from the peninsula on a raft of vegetation washed into the gulf during a flash flood. Explaining how plants and animals come to be on remote islands is one of the great challenges that biologists face.
In the afternoon, we sailed northwest to Isla Carmen to have an onshore barbeque at Arroyo Blanco. But as we neared the island, a camp of sea kayakers had already staked it out. While our guest lecturer Bruce Mate gave us a fascinating talk about his research tracking whales, our Expedition Leader Michelle Graves scouted for a different landing. Just when it looked like options were running out, serendipity intervened…a perfect little sandy beach was spotted. The crew rushed into action, quickly transporting chairs, serving tables, food, and the bar to shore. Soon guests were arriving on the beach to enjoy a wonderful barbeque and watch the western sky turn red and gold above the jagged silhouette of the Sierra de la Giganta. A lovely evening was had by all at our newly discovered Punta Serendipity.
Serendipity. From afar Isla Santa Catalina, one of the more remote islands in the Gulf of California, appears barren and gray. Upon landing, we discover an enchanting landscape… massive flowering cardons march up the steep granite hillsides, giant barrel cacti punctuate the lower slopes, and butter-yellow flowers of the palo verde are ablaze in the arroyo. The air is filled with the hum of busy bees and the calls of gila woodpeckers, ravens, white-throated swifts, doves, verdins and other desert birds.
We stroll only a short distance up the wash and find the island’s infamous reptilian resident, the rattleless rattlesnake, coiled under a desert shrub. There are ten species of lizards and snakes on Isla Santa Catalina, eight of them, including the rattlesnake, endemics, that is, found nowhere else in the world. How did these denizens of dry, gravelly soils get to such a place surrounded by miles of sea? Serendipity?
Could their ancestors have been already living here before it became an island? Perhaps. However, it’s not clear exactly when Santa Catalina became isolated by the sea. It could have been several million years ago when the current Gulf of California formed or even older when an earlier incursion of the ocean occurred. Or maybe the lizards and snakes are relatively recent arrivals, having floated over from the peninsula on a raft of vegetation washed into the gulf during a flash flood. Explaining how plants and animals come to be on remote islands is one of the great challenges that biologists face.
In the afternoon, we sailed northwest to Isla Carmen to have an onshore barbeque at Arroyo Blanco. But as we neared the island, a camp of sea kayakers had already staked it out. While our guest lecturer Bruce Mate gave us a fascinating talk about his research tracking whales, our Expedition Leader Michelle Graves scouted for a different landing. Just when it looked like options were running out, serendipity intervened…a perfect little sandy beach was spotted. The crew rushed into action, quickly transporting chairs, serving tables, food, and the bar to shore. Soon guests were arriving on the beach to enjoy a wonderful barbeque and watch the western sky turn red and gold above the jagged silhouette of the Sierra de la Giganta. A lovely evening was had by all at our newly discovered Punta Serendipity.
