Gulf of California & Isla Del Carmen
We enjoyed an all-night run south in this magnificent body of water, riding comfortably over shallow waves. By morning we were still some miles from our destination, Isla Del Carmen, a huge island close to Loreto. Privately owned, Carmen has not been developed for habitation and probably never will be. It lies within a reserve. Remnants of early settlement do remain, however. The Jesuits found a large deposit of pure salt here in the late 1600s. A village formed and over the next 250 years or so a major salt extraction business grew. Even the Russians came here for salt, continuing south from San Francisco after off-loading cargos of block ice. The ice, taken from a small lake in Sitka, Alaska, the Russian-America capitol, had been packed in sawdust so it would not melt. A return cargo of salt was welcomed by the Sitka citizens, and especially by those involved in the relentless hunt for sea otters, fur seals and bears. The hides had to be preserved. Long since abandoned, the tiny community of Salinas, on Isla Del Carmen, lies baking in the sun, with its mineral of origin – salt – rusting and corroding the narrow rail line and machinery used in its extraction.
A spirited LEX Forum on the subject of declining world fisheries and our drive to take even the last of the top predators from the oceans occupied our morning at sea. Dr. Enric Sala led the discussion, which included a short video on the persistent over-fishing that plagues the waters of central Gulf of California. Ending on an encouraging note, we hustled outside for another close encounter with sperm whales, and then with a massive school of long-beaked common dolphins. Zipping here, leaping there, racing our ship, and suddenly rushing en masse after panicked schooling fish, the dolphins challenged us to come up with an estimate of their numbers. Five hundred? A thousand? Who knows? But they provided yet another thrill for those of us visiting this marine paradise for the first time.
Off to a secluded beach we went late in the afternoon, when the air was cooling and the water inviting. Everyone had a choice…swim, snorkel, kayak, walk the sand dunes or simply relax on the beach. One can find and have fun with everything here in Baja California.
We enjoyed an all-night run south in this magnificent body of water, riding comfortably over shallow waves. By morning we were still some miles from our destination, Isla Del Carmen, a huge island close to Loreto. Privately owned, Carmen has not been developed for habitation and probably never will be. It lies within a reserve. Remnants of early settlement do remain, however. The Jesuits found a large deposit of pure salt here in the late 1600s. A village formed and over the next 250 years or so a major salt extraction business grew. Even the Russians came here for salt, continuing south from San Francisco after off-loading cargos of block ice. The ice, taken from a small lake in Sitka, Alaska, the Russian-America capitol, had been packed in sawdust so it would not melt. A return cargo of salt was welcomed by the Sitka citizens, and especially by those involved in the relentless hunt for sea otters, fur seals and bears. The hides had to be preserved. Long since abandoned, the tiny community of Salinas, on Isla Del Carmen, lies baking in the sun, with its mineral of origin – salt – rusting and corroding the narrow rail line and machinery used in its extraction.
A spirited LEX Forum on the subject of declining world fisheries and our drive to take even the last of the top predators from the oceans occupied our morning at sea. Dr. Enric Sala led the discussion, which included a short video on the persistent over-fishing that plagues the waters of central Gulf of California. Ending on an encouraging note, we hustled outside for another close encounter with sperm whales, and then with a massive school of long-beaked common dolphins. Zipping here, leaping there, racing our ship, and suddenly rushing en masse after panicked schooling fish, the dolphins challenged us to come up with an estimate of their numbers. Five hundred? A thousand? Who knows? But they provided yet another thrill for those of us visiting this marine paradise for the first time.
Off to a secluded beach we went late in the afternoon, when the air was cooling and the water inviting. Everyone had a choice…swim, snorkel, kayak, walk the sand dunes or simply relax on the beach. One can find and have fun with everything here in Baja California.
