Navigating in the Gulf of California, and landing on San Marcos Island
This day was the day of the marine creatures’ sightings. In fact, we woke up this morning with the announcement of pilot whales wandering close to the Sea Voyager. As we became much more alert, we realized that our ship was practically surrounded by these magnificent toothed whales in a slow but continuous swimming and diving. Big males, females and calves were seen showing their big, wide, down-curved dorsal fins, rounded heads and powerful breaths. There were probably traveling in search for food.
Later, as we devoted the whole morning to this activity, we spotted blows at the distance, just between Tortuga and San Marcos Islands. They were two different species. One was a Bryde’s whale, a rather small but fast and erratic whale that showed up just briefly, and a fin whale, the second largest of all living marine mammals, only oversized by the blue whale. Both rorcuals, also called baleen whales, were feeding side by side on a big school of fish, whose individuals frequently jumped above the water’s surface every time the whales charged towards them.
S everal times during the day, we also experienced the presence of the acrobatic bottle-nosed dolphins and many small manta ray individuals of the species regarded as mobula. These shark-related, cartilaginous fishes were just jumping out of the water, leaving splashes all over the sea, making it look somehow like boiling water. Dorado, Mahi-mahi or dolphin fishes were also spotted as well as six marine turtles of the species known as Green, Pacific Ridley and Carey.
After all of these sightings, we finished our day with a lazy afternoon kayaking and snorkeling at a beautiful spot on San Marcos Island and a delicious dinner on the ship. Our guests even participated in featuring Mexican paisanos.
This day was the day of the marine creatures’ sightings. In fact, we woke up this morning with the announcement of pilot whales wandering close to the Sea Voyager. As we became much more alert, we realized that our ship was practically surrounded by these magnificent toothed whales in a slow but continuous swimming and diving. Big males, females and calves were seen showing their big, wide, down-curved dorsal fins, rounded heads and powerful breaths. There were probably traveling in search for food.
Later, as we devoted the whole morning to this activity, we spotted blows at the distance, just between Tortuga and San Marcos Islands. They were two different species. One was a Bryde’s whale, a rather small but fast and erratic whale that showed up just briefly, and a fin whale, the second largest of all living marine mammals, only oversized by the blue whale. Both rorcuals, also called baleen whales, were feeding side by side on a big school of fish, whose individuals frequently jumped above the water’s surface every time the whales charged towards them.
S everal times during the day, we also experienced the presence of the acrobatic bottle-nosed dolphins and many small manta ray individuals of the species regarded as mobula. These shark-related, cartilaginous fishes were just jumping out of the water, leaving splashes all over the sea, making it look somehow like boiling water. Dorado, Mahi-mahi or dolphin fishes were also spotted as well as six marine turtles of the species known as Green, Pacific Ridley and Carey.
After all of these sightings, we finished our day with a lazy afternoon kayaking and snorkeling at a beautiful spot on San Marcos Island and a delicious dinner on the ship. Our guests even participated in featuring Mexican paisanos.
