Isla Carmen & Isla Danzante
This second day of our expedition began with an exploration of the ghost town of Salinas. Located on the large island of Carmen, this town was once an active community supported by one of the most productive salt mines in the world. The town is now vacant but offers endless images to photographers of all abilities. Shortly after lunch we anchored off of the island of Danzante to spend the afternoon snorkeling and sea kayaking. The group of explorers on this trip seems determined to make the most of every minute in Baja and many of them chose to participate in both activities. The snorkelers explored the island’s reef with naturalist Michael Nolan, who pointed out the various fish and invertebrate species. One of the most interesting underwater species seen was a fine-spotted jawfish which is not only uncommon, but also has a fascinating natural history. As a mouth brooder, the male of this species protects its young by keeping them within its mouth when any potential predator is nearby. Baja is notorious for its picturesque sea kayaking and this afternoon was no exception. The brightly-colored kayaks were a brilliant complement to the perfect turquoise water.
A welcome addition to this voyage has been the presence of two cartographers from National Geographic, Jess Elder and David Wright. On the first day of the expedition, they introduced themselves to the staff and guests and stated that they were part of National Geographic’s geo-referencing initiative. This term was unfamiliar to all of us and elicited nothing but puzzled looks. However, today Jess and David gave a fascinating presentation of the application of geo-referencing to both National Geographic and the average person. They described how the premise of this technology is to link media such as digital photographs and video to specific locations using GPS technology. This enables travelers to use mapping software such as Google Earth to present a much more dynamic and interactive interpretation of a place. During their presentation they showed how their photographs of dolphins, desert plants and desert reptiles taken in the past two days had been integrated into a map of the Sea of Cortés. At the end of the talk, David offered to help any of us integrate our own photos into such a map and almost every hand in the room eagerly rose. The puzzled looks had vanished and had been replaced with excitement to embrace this cutting-edge technology.
This second day of our expedition began with an exploration of the ghost town of Salinas. Located on the large island of Carmen, this town was once an active community supported by one of the most productive salt mines in the world. The town is now vacant but offers endless images to photographers of all abilities. Shortly after lunch we anchored off of the island of Danzante to spend the afternoon snorkeling and sea kayaking. The group of explorers on this trip seems determined to make the most of every minute in Baja and many of them chose to participate in both activities. The snorkelers explored the island’s reef with naturalist Michael Nolan, who pointed out the various fish and invertebrate species. One of the most interesting underwater species seen was a fine-spotted jawfish which is not only uncommon, but also has a fascinating natural history. As a mouth brooder, the male of this species protects its young by keeping them within its mouth when any potential predator is nearby. Baja is notorious for its picturesque sea kayaking and this afternoon was no exception. The brightly-colored kayaks were a brilliant complement to the perfect turquoise water.
A welcome addition to this voyage has been the presence of two cartographers from National Geographic, Jess Elder and David Wright. On the first day of the expedition, they introduced themselves to the staff and guests and stated that they were part of National Geographic’s geo-referencing initiative. This term was unfamiliar to all of us and elicited nothing but puzzled looks. However, today Jess and David gave a fascinating presentation of the application of geo-referencing to both National Geographic and the average person. They described how the premise of this technology is to link media such as digital photographs and video to specific locations using GPS technology. This enables travelers to use mapping software such as Google Earth to present a much more dynamic and interactive interpretation of a place. During their presentation they showed how their photographs of dolphins, desert plants and desert reptiles taken in the past two days had been integrated into a map of the Sea of Cortés. At the end of the talk, David offered to help any of us integrate our own photos into such a map and almost every hand in the room eagerly rose. The puzzled looks had vanished and had been replaced with excitement to embrace this cutting-edge technology.
