Isla Carmen
We woke up sailing against a 20 knot wind. A few white caps made us dream about whales, but suddenly we realized it wasn’t white caps only, there were in fact whales in the area. First we spotted a few pilot whales, and then, pretty close to the Sea Voyager, a couple of Fin whales, the second largest marine mammal in the world. This is the way we started our Friday in the Gulf of California. People had breakfast outside, in the company of cetaceans, which sometimes popped up to the starboard side, sometimes on the port side, or behind the ship.
As soon as we dropped anchor we sent scuba divers and snorkelers. We explored a ship wreck; no way to avoid the illusion of finding a treasure hidden in this old boat that’s now the home of many reef fish. And treasures were indeed found: rainbow wrasses, yellow-tailed grunts, scissor tail chromis.
Kids and kids at heart (which means everybody on board) went for water activities in the first part of the afternoon. We had the kayaks, swimming from the beach, and the favorite of many, the Banana boat! Some had fun boogie-boarding the waves of Salinas Bay.
Late in the afternoon, when temperature had dropped a few degrees, Carlos Navarro took our guests for a walk through a town now inhabited by two people and two dogs, but which has a history that goes back to the late 1600’s.
Jesuit missionaries tried to make a living on the island more than 300 years ago. They discovered the huge deposit of salt, in the fossil estuary a few yards away from the coast. They sailed to Port of San Blas on the mainland to exchange salt for lumber to build their mission. Jesuits (Company of Jesus) were the driving force behind the permanent colonization of the Baja peninsula. From 1697, with the founding of the first mission in Loreto, Jesuits established twenty more and many visiting stations until 1767.
On June 24, 1767, the Viceroy of New Spain was to receive a double-sealed package from Charles III. Here the king ordered all Jesuits to be arrested and sent to the port of Veracruz for deportation to Spain, bringing to an end the Jesuit’s days in Baja California.
However the salt of Carmen was exploited until recently, so the buildings that make up the little town date from different periods, and are made of different materials as well, from coral to volcanic rocks and cement. Past and present once more fused in this tiny “ghost” town.
After several days of finding whales in the Gulf of California, we have become marine mammal addicts, so before the sun set we weighed anchor and took off to look for them. Right after dinner, at the same time the sharpest eyes enjoyed a brief and breathtaking green flash, a pod of pilot whales showed up and surrounded the ship. They brought the stars with them, wishing us a pleasant evening and fair winds.
We woke up sailing against a 20 knot wind. A few white caps made us dream about whales, but suddenly we realized it wasn’t white caps only, there were in fact whales in the area. First we spotted a few pilot whales, and then, pretty close to the Sea Voyager, a couple of Fin whales, the second largest marine mammal in the world. This is the way we started our Friday in the Gulf of California. People had breakfast outside, in the company of cetaceans, which sometimes popped up to the starboard side, sometimes on the port side, or behind the ship.
As soon as we dropped anchor we sent scuba divers and snorkelers. We explored a ship wreck; no way to avoid the illusion of finding a treasure hidden in this old boat that’s now the home of many reef fish. And treasures were indeed found: rainbow wrasses, yellow-tailed grunts, scissor tail chromis.
Kids and kids at heart (which means everybody on board) went for water activities in the first part of the afternoon. We had the kayaks, swimming from the beach, and the favorite of many, the Banana boat! Some had fun boogie-boarding the waves of Salinas Bay.
Late in the afternoon, when temperature had dropped a few degrees, Carlos Navarro took our guests for a walk through a town now inhabited by two people and two dogs, but which has a history that goes back to the late 1600’s.
Jesuit missionaries tried to make a living on the island more than 300 years ago. They discovered the huge deposit of salt, in the fossil estuary a few yards away from the coast. They sailed to Port of San Blas on the mainland to exchange salt for lumber to build their mission. Jesuits (Company of Jesus) were the driving force behind the permanent colonization of the Baja peninsula. From 1697, with the founding of the first mission in Loreto, Jesuits established twenty more and many visiting stations until 1767.
On June 24, 1767, the Viceroy of New Spain was to receive a double-sealed package from Charles III. Here the king ordered all Jesuits to be arrested and sent to the port of Veracruz for deportation to Spain, bringing to an end the Jesuit’s days in Baja California.
However the salt of Carmen was exploited until recently, so the buildings that make up the little town date from different periods, and are made of different materials as well, from coral to volcanic rocks and cement. Past and present once more fused in this tiny “ghost” town.
After several days of finding whales in the Gulf of California, we have become marine mammal addicts, so before the sun set we weighed anchor and took off to look for them. Right after dinner, at the same time the sharpest eyes enjoyed a brief and breathtaking green flash, a pod of pilot whales showed up and surrounded the ship. They brought the stars with them, wishing us a pleasant evening and fair winds.
