San Esteban and San Pedro Mártir Islands
As the sun rose over the jagged silhouette of Tiburon Island, long before breakfast, the Sea Voyager was surrounded by a group of bottlenose dolphins. I couldn’t think of a better way to start a day with such a reception committee! After watching their antics and enjoyed breakfast, we landed on San Esteban Island, home to several interesting species. And it was not long before we encountered some of the most charismatic inhabitants of the island, the spiny-tailed iguana and the pinto or piebald chuckwalla, the last one endemic to San Esteban. As we looked for more of the large lizards, we also admired the tough plant species that thrive in the desert, like the cardón, the ironwood tree and the galloping cactus.
We raised the anchor and headed south towards San Pedro Mártir Island; as the Sea Voyager sailed the deep waters around the island, we spotted numerous sperm whales, including several young calves that seemed to be having a great time breaching! After spending some quality time watching the whales, we finally arrived to San Pedro Mártir. We explored its entire coastline by circumnavigating with the Zodiacs and were able to experience the richness of life on the most isolated island of the Gulf of California. Being home to the third-largest nesting colony of blue-footed boobies in the world, its white cliffs seemed peppered by the perching birds, while numerous California sea lions rested on the rocks below. We raised the anchor again and sailed north during dinner. The sun disappeared behind the mountains of Baja California, painting the waters with wonderful red tones. And as the day slowly seemed to come to an end, another group of bottlenose dolphins surrounded the ship and exhibited some incredibly high jumps just off the bow. And once again, I couldn’t think of a better way to finish a day!
As the sun rose over the jagged silhouette of Tiburon Island, long before breakfast, the Sea Voyager was surrounded by a group of bottlenose dolphins. I couldn’t think of a better way to start a day with such a reception committee! After watching their antics and enjoyed breakfast, we landed on San Esteban Island, home to several interesting species. And it was not long before we encountered some of the most charismatic inhabitants of the island, the spiny-tailed iguana and the pinto or piebald chuckwalla, the last one endemic to San Esteban. As we looked for more of the large lizards, we also admired the tough plant species that thrive in the desert, like the cardón, the ironwood tree and the galloping cactus.
We raised the anchor and headed south towards San Pedro Mártir Island; as the Sea Voyager sailed the deep waters around the island, we spotted numerous sperm whales, including several young calves that seemed to be having a great time breaching! After spending some quality time watching the whales, we finally arrived to San Pedro Mártir. We explored its entire coastline by circumnavigating with the Zodiacs and were able to experience the richness of life on the most isolated island of the Gulf of California. Being home to the third-largest nesting colony of blue-footed boobies in the world, its white cliffs seemed peppered by the perching birds, while numerous California sea lions rested on the rocks below. We raised the anchor again and sailed north during dinner. The sun disappeared behind the mountains of Baja California, painting the waters with wonderful red tones. And as the day slowly seemed to come to an end, another group of bottlenose dolphins surrounded the ship and exhibited some incredibly high jumps just off the bow. And once again, I couldn’t think of a better way to finish a day!
