Isla San Pedro Martír & Vicinity
Despite having experienced phenomenal sightings of seven different species of marine mammals, we began our last day of this expedition without having seen one particular species of whale that everyone on board had high hopes of viewing: sperm whales. The primary reason that we held these hopes was because one of the members of this expedition, Bruce Mate, is one of the world’s leading whale researchers and has recently been studying the populations of sperm whales in the Sea of Cortés. Fortunately, this morning our collective optimism proved effective. Shortly after waking up to the sounds of sea lions and thousands of sea birds on the island of San Pedro Mártir, we began our journey south toward Loreto. Within just a few minutes we saw a distant blow, close to the water’s surface and consisting of a fine mist. We were soon surrounded by a large group of sperm whales and we spent the next hour and a half watching them float at the surface breathing several times before diving deep beneath us. Each dive was preceded with a magnificent display of their flukes.
As the sperm whales dispersed, the fun continued when hundreds of bottlenose dolphins veered toward the ship to enjoy some bow-riding. These were the most acrobatic dolphins that we have encountered and triggered cheers from all decks every few of minutes as they leapt out of the water directly next to the ship. Our Undersea Specialist, Alberto Montaudon, was especially quick with his camera and caught this dolphin in mid-jump.
Just before the expedition’s farewell dinner, we watched another perfect Baja sunset and reflected upon the attributes of this particular adventure. To quantify our experience we have documented that during the past seven days we have seen 52 species of birds, 37 species of fish, 9 species of mammals and 41 species of plants. As much as these offer evidence of the biodiversity of the region, part of the magic of this place was revealed thought the contact of our feet upon its sand and the stark beauty of its landscape.
Despite having experienced phenomenal sightings of seven different species of marine mammals, we began our last day of this expedition without having seen one particular species of whale that everyone on board had high hopes of viewing: sperm whales. The primary reason that we held these hopes was because one of the members of this expedition, Bruce Mate, is one of the world’s leading whale researchers and has recently been studying the populations of sperm whales in the Sea of Cortés. Fortunately, this morning our collective optimism proved effective. Shortly after waking up to the sounds of sea lions and thousands of sea birds on the island of San Pedro Mártir, we began our journey south toward Loreto. Within just a few minutes we saw a distant blow, close to the water’s surface and consisting of a fine mist. We were soon surrounded by a large group of sperm whales and we spent the next hour and a half watching them float at the surface breathing several times before diving deep beneath us. Each dive was preceded with a magnificent display of their flukes.
As the sperm whales dispersed, the fun continued when hundreds of bottlenose dolphins veered toward the ship to enjoy some bow-riding. These were the most acrobatic dolphins that we have encountered and triggered cheers from all decks every few of minutes as they leapt out of the water directly next to the ship. Our Undersea Specialist, Alberto Montaudon, was especially quick with his camera and caught this dolphin in mid-jump.
Just before the expedition’s farewell dinner, we watched another perfect Baja sunset and reflected upon the attributes of this particular adventure. To quantify our experience we have documented that during the past seven days we have seen 52 species of birds, 37 species of fish, 9 species of mammals and 41 species of plants. As much as these offer evidence of the biodiversity of the region, part of the magic of this place was revealed thought the contact of our feet upon its sand and the stark beauty of its landscape.
