Punta Pulpito and San Ildefonso Island
It seems that winter does not exist in the Sea of Cortes. In fact, the morning was still warm, clear and colored, and our eyes were able to scan the horizon miles away from our ship, the Sea Lion, while sailing northbound. In this way, we detected some distant commotion on the quiet ocean before breakfast. It resulted in a big school of fish traveling just below the surface of the water. As no resource in the Gulf of California is wasted, the school of fish was followed by a plethora of creatures trying to get their part: outside the water there were brown and blue-footed boobies, yellow-footed and Heermann's gulls, and frigate birds, plus some murrelets flying away. Inside the water several long-beaked common dolphins and at least five Bryde's whales -whose blows were clearly heard as we approached them- were present. During the feast, called feeding frenzy, the animals showed their acrobatic capabilities, like the Boobies in their plunge-diving, or the whales with their high speed and elusiveness, or dolphins jumping high out of the water. We couldn't have a better way to begin our exploration this day.
Later, we left the feeding frenzy to sail for the next destination, Punta Pulpito (Pulpit Point), on the peninsula of Baja California, just between Loreto and Mulege. We explored the wide arroyo and set up our kayaks for a better view of the shore line. Along the arroyo, or river bed, we saw more of the fascinating vegetation of the Sonoran Desert, like palo blanco, mesquite, pega-pega and the very symbolic organ pipe cactus. Different birds filled the deep-blue sky, among them flycatchers and hummingbirds, and we all were delighted by the impressive and rugged profile of the hills around us.
Finally, in the afternoon, the Sea Lion moved to San Ildefonso, a little but fascinating island made of a basement of granite and volcanic rocks above it, in order to observe the marine birds that very soon will be nesting there. Once more, our journey was interrupted by the presises around San Ildefonso until the sun hid beyond the primitive-looking mountains of the peninsulaence of a cow and calf pair of the fin whale, the second largest creature in the world, traveling quietly in search of food. After observing them for a time, we dropped our Zodiacs for ccruises around San Ildefonso until the sun hid beyond the primitive-looking mountains of the peninsula.
It seems that winter does not exist in the Sea of Cortes. In fact, the morning was still warm, clear and colored, and our eyes were able to scan the horizon miles away from our ship, the Sea Lion, while sailing northbound. In this way, we detected some distant commotion on the quiet ocean before breakfast. It resulted in a big school of fish traveling just below the surface of the water. As no resource in the Gulf of California is wasted, the school of fish was followed by a plethora of creatures trying to get their part: outside the water there were brown and blue-footed boobies, yellow-footed and Heermann's gulls, and frigate birds, plus some murrelets flying away. Inside the water several long-beaked common dolphins and at least five Bryde's whales -whose blows were clearly heard as we approached them- were present. During the feast, called feeding frenzy, the animals showed their acrobatic capabilities, like the Boobies in their plunge-diving, or the whales with their high speed and elusiveness, or dolphins jumping high out of the water. We couldn't have a better way to begin our exploration this day.
Later, we left the feeding frenzy to sail for the next destination, Punta Pulpito (Pulpit Point), on the peninsula of Baja California, just between Loreto and Mulege. We explored the wide arroyo and set up our kayaks for a better view of the shore line. Along the arroyo, or river bed, we saw more of the fascinating vegetation of the Sonoran Desert, like palo blanco, mesquite, pega-pega and the very symbolic organ pipe cactus. Different birds filled the deep-blue sky, among them flycatchers and hummingbirds, and we all were delighted by the impressive and rugged profile of the hills around us.
Finally, in the afternoon, the Sea Lion moved to San Ildefonso, a little but fascinating island made of a basement of granite and volcanic rocks above it, in order to observe the marine birds that very soon will be nesting there. Once more, our journey was interrupted by the presises around San Ildefonso until the sun hid beyond the primitive-looking mountains of the peninsulaence of a cow and calf pair of the fin whale, the second largest creature in the world, traveling quietly in search of food. After observing them for a time, we dropped our Zodiacs for ccruises around San Ildefonso until the sun hid beyond the primitive-looking mountains of the peninsula.
