Arroyo Rojo & Salinas Bay (Ghost Town), Carmen Island
The middle of the spring time in the Gulf of California is very pleasant and is my favorite. Not cold, but also not very hot yet. Sometimes it is cloudy, like today. The island animals, like native mice and wood rats, bats, ground squirrels, jackrabbits, and a variety of nesting sea birds, landbirds and reptiles, have started to show up more frequently. Reptiles, especially, love high temperatures, and are becoming more active than any other insular animal during the hottest days. The only thing we have to do is be out there and open our eyes to discover the jewels of the area. This day we choose Carmen Island for the last activities of our fantastic voyage inside the gulf.
In the morning we hiked on a magnificent arroyo that is called Rojo (Red) because of the color of the surrounding volcanic tuff that forms most of the island. The structures we observed included marine and ash sediments, and a gigantic dike. Among the animals, we found the endemic fish-eating bats in a crevice just a few feet away from the shore. As we progressed into the narrow, meadow-like arroyo a desert iguana made its magnificent appearance in front of us. The impresive scenery of rugged and sharp cliffs with abundant vegetation, like cardon and organ pipe cactae, was the frame for the hikes. A party of enthusiastic kayakers departed from Arroyo Rojo to Bahia Salinas. Among the things they observed were 10 bighorn sheep individuals on the cliffs, and a couple of fin whales in the water, just few yards away from the team. Those that returned to the ship after hikes encountered a tiny stowaway: the minute Least-storm petrel, the smallest of all marine birds of the world (who nests on few islands of the gulf) right on the deck of the Sea Voyager.
Our exploration concluded in the afternoon with more kayaking and special scuba diving and snorkeling around a shipwreck in Bahia Salinas, as well as with a history-oriented hike aound the ghost town that was the base of the salt-mining operations in the island till the mid 1980’s.
All this, though, was just a glimpse of the whole personality of the wonderful Gulf of California.
The middle of the spring time in the Gulf of California is very pleasant and is my favorite. Not cold, but also not very hot yet. Sometimes it is cloudy, like today. The island animals, like native mice and wood rats, bats, ground squirrels, jackrabbits, and a variety of nesting sea birds, landbirds and reptiles, have started to show up more frequently. Reptiles, especially, love high temperatures, and are becoming more active than any other insular animal during the hottest days. The only thing we have to do is be out there and open our eyes to discover the jewels of the area. This day we choose Carmen Island for the last activities of our fantastic voyage inside the gulf.
In the morning we hiked on a magnificent arroyo that is called Rojo (Red) because of the color of the surrounding volcanic tuff that forms most of the island. The structures we observed included marine and ash sediments, and a gigantic dike. Among the animals, we found the endemic fish-eating bats in a crevice just a few feet away from the shore. As we progressed into the narrow, meadow-like arroyo a desert iguana made its magnificent appearance in front of us. The impresive scenery of rugged and sharp cliffs with abundant vegetation, like cardon and organ pipe cactae, was the frame for the hikes. A party of enthusiastic kayakers departed from Arroyo Rojo to Bahia Salinas. Among the things they observed were 10 bighorn sheep individuals on the cliffs, and a couple of fin whales in the water, just few yards away from the team. Those that returned to the ship after hikes encountered a tiny stowaway: the minute Least-storm petrel, the smallest of all marine birds of the world (who nests on few islands of the gulf) right on the deck of the Sea Voyager.
Our exploration concluded in the afternoon with more kayaking and special scuba diving and snorkeling around a shipwreck in Bahia Salinas, as well as with a history-oriented hike aound the ghost town that was the base of the salt-mining operations in the island till the mid 1980’s.
All this, though, was just a glimpse of the whole personality of the wonderful Gulf of California.
