Last night National Geographic Sea Lion came to anchor off the southeast side of Isla Angel de la Guarda, one of the largest islands in the Sea of Cortes. It is a striking landscape geographically, with many layered, multi-colored bands of deposits throughout. The hope was to catch the sunrise illuminating these features into an explosion of color, but sadly the clouds on the horizon did not cooperate this particular morning. However, it was still a great way to start our last day in the Midriff area of the Sea of Cortes!
An early-morning decision was made to change plans from a morning landing on the island to spending most of the day cruising on the ship, looking for whales. It took several hours of intense searching, but our plan paid big dividends when we spotted several fin whales feeding off the northeast corner of Isla Angel de la Guarda. The conditions were perfect, and we had wonderful looks at these second-largest of the whale species; several very close. Photographically, the scene could not be much better, with calm water, good sun and this beautiful landscape as a back-drop!
After staying with the whales for over an hour, Sea Lion continued on its way around the top of the island. There was another treat in store however; the captain took the ship through a beautiful area called Puerto Refugio, with a number of small islets and channels. This was a great morning finale, just before lunch!
We continued on toward our late afternoon destination, Bahia de Los Angeles, and an evening excursion to the boojum tree forest. After landing everyone loaded into a variety of different vehicles for the short ride to the boojum forest where the photographers had a ball composing a variety of various views of this unique habitat!
Sadly, it was time to head back to the Sea Lion, but it was “Mexican Fiesta” night for dinner, as we were treated to a lovely sunset. Another special day in the Sea of Cortes!
