Sea of Cortez
Our first day in the Sea of Cortez.
We wake after a gentle night’s sleep amidst a cacophony of sounds from sea lions and sea birds. We are destined for a sunrise Zodiac tour at Los Islotes, a barren rock island covered in guano--inhabited by boobies, frigatebirds, and a colony of sea lions--on this first morning of our Photo and Natural History Expedition. Our “more civilized” guests choose a later tour after breakfast, on this flawlessly calm and warm morning.
Our introductory snorkel briefing is followed by an extraordinary outing to snorkel among the local pinniped population. Between our views of brilliant fishes and sea stars, the sea lions join us for sometimes-high -speed and sometimes more leisurely visit. A few drift between us, lolling about on their backs, seeming to intentionally run up against us with nose or body. We are incredulous and endeavor to maintain our distance… Underwater cameras whirl. As we emerge from the sea into the snorkel boat, we watch as mobula rays, smaller relatives of manta rays, careen into the air not far away. What an exceptional view we thought. All return to the ship excited by our experience, never imagining that this was only the preamble to a most remarkable day.
After lunch we set sail, heading east for a sea mount, cruising, as our Expedition Leader Ralph Hopkins has suggested, for “Comfort, Critters and Composition.” Almost immediately we spy blows ahead, a rapidly moving group of pilot whales in the foreground, a sperm whale in the background. We flip back and forth between sperm whale dives and pilot whales on the surface. Back and forth, we enjoy wonderful views of these two species of toothed whales. Not a single naturalist can ever remember seeing these two species at the same time. A distinctly different profile is seen upon the water as a sea turtle graces us with a lovely view before it dives under our bow. Can this day get any better?
We break off from these whales to go explore the island of San Francisco a mere twenty miles north of Los Islotes, but we spot more whales ahead. Fin whales. Probably a cow and calf pair. The calf gives us several good views ahead of the ship, and then, the very large, female, baleen whale, the second largest mammal on earth, surfaces just off the starboard side of the ship, impressing us with her grace and immense size.
After several surfacings, we break off yet again to head for our afternoon landing but again to no avail. As we’ve been traveling, albeit in circles tracking marine mammals, we come to discover that in any direction we look, we are seeing mobula rays all the way to the horizon 360 degrees around us, dual wingtips on the surface flashing white or black, or leaping into the air looking not too unlike a card table tossed up in the air and flipping over. They glide just below the surface, and we pack the rails alongside the ship as we enjoy fabulous views. There must be thousands in the area as we see them spread out across the water’s surface to the horizons edge. Another first in our naturalist’s many years of combined experience. Perhaps this behavior is social, possibly reproductive. We speculate and marvel at these marvelous mobulas. Beyond them we see dolphins cruising out at the horizon, and beyond them we see more mobulas flashing and flipping as the day’s light becomes lower in the sky. Cruising for mobula’s, yet another first for this incredible day.
We finally push beyond the mobula’s towards the bottlenose dolphins which we can now see are leaping high into the air. We are delighted by their aerobatic displays in the ship’s wake. For almost an hour the captain drives us in a circle, backlit dolphins, sunset lit dolphins. It’s all amazing as these 9 to 11 foot dolphins leap to twice their own height. We are becoming exhausted by our good fortune.
As the day dwindled into evening, we also added the forth “C” to our cruising credo. “Cocktails” accompanied our views of mobulas in the golden wash of sunset.
This morning at breakfast, Ralph told us that “sometime this week, something amazing is going to happen.” Little did he know how quickly he would be proven correct.
An incredible day. There is nothing like April in Baja California.
Our first day in the Sea of Cortez.
We wake after a gentle night’s sleep amidst a cacophony of sounds from sea lions and sea birds. We are destined for a sunrise Zodiac tour at Los Islotes, a barren rock island covered in guano--inhabited by boobies, frigatebirds, and a colony of sea lions--on this first morning of our Photo and Natural History Expedition. Our “more civilized” guests choose a later tour after breakfast, on this flawlessly calm and warm morning.
Our introductory snorkel briefing is followed by an extraordinary outing to snorkel among the local pinniped population. Between our views of brilliant fishes and sea stars, the sea lions join us for sometimes-high -speed and sometimes more leisurely visit. A few drift between us, lolling about on their backs, seeming to intentionally run up against us with nose or body. We are incredulous and endeavor to maintain our distance… Underwater cameras whirl. As we emerge from the sea into the snorkel boat, we watch as mobula rays, smaller relatives of manta rays, careen into the air not far away. What an exceptional view we thought. All return to the ship excited by our experience, never imagining that this was only the preamble to a most remarkable day.
After lunch we set sail, heading east for a sea mount, cruising, as our Expedition Leader Ralph Hopkins has suggested, for “Comfort, Critters and Composition.” Almost immediately we spy blows ahead, a rapidly moving group of pilot whales in the foreground, a sperm whale in the background. We flip back and forth between sperm whale dives and pilot whales on the surface. Back and forth, we enjoy wonderful views of these two species of toothed whales. Not a single naturalist can ever remember seeing these two species at the same time. A distinctly different profile is seen upon the water as a sea turtle graces us with a lovely view before it dives under our bow. Can this day get any better?
We break off from these whales to go explore the island of San Francisco a mere twenty miles north of Los Islotes, but we spot more whales ahead. Fin whales. Probably a cow and calf pair. The calf gives us several good views ahead of the ship, and then, the very large, female, baleen whale, the second largest mammal on earth, surfaces just off the starboard side of the ship, impressing us with her grace and immense size.
After several surfacings, we break off yet again to head for our afternoon landing but again to no avail. As we’ve been traveling, albeit in circles tracking marine mammals, we come to discover that in any direction we look, we are seeing mobula rays all the way to the horizon 360 degrees around us, dual wingtips on the surface flashing white or black, or leaping into the air looking not too unlike a card table tossed up in the air and flipping over. They glide just below the surface, and we pack the rails alongside the ship as we enjoy fabulous views. There must be thousands in the area as we see them spread out across the water’s surface to the horizons edge. Another first in our naturalist’s many years of combined experience. Perhaps this behavior is social, possibly reproductive. We speculate and marvel at these marvelous mobulas. Beyond them we see dolphins cruising out at the horizon, and beyond them we see more mobulas flashing and flipping as the day’s light becomes lower in the sky. Cruising for mobula’s, yet another first for this incredible day.
We finally push beyond the mobula’s towards the bottlenose dolphins which we can now see are leaping high into the air. We are delighted by their aerobatic displays in the ship’s wake. For almost an hour the captain drives us in a circle, backlit dolphins, sunset lit dolphins. It’s all amazing as these 9 to 11 foot dolphins leap to twice their own height. We are becoming exhausted by our good fortune.
As the day dwindled into evening, we also added the forth “C” to our cruising credo. “Cocktails” accompanied our views of mobulas in the golden wash of sunset.
This morning at breakfast, Ralph told us that “sometime this week, something amazing is going to happen.” Little did he know how quickly he would be proven correct.
An incredible day. There is nothing like April in Baja California.
