A cloudy sunrise this morning was not enough to discourage an excited crowd on the National Geographic Sea Bird from embarking local pangas in a choppy sea. The targets: the magnificent and gentle largest fishes of the world—whale sharks! In fact, dozens of whale sharks visit the quiet and shallow waters of La Paz Bay, just north of El Mogote (a sandy extension of the peninsula in the southwestern corner of the bay) to feed and winter, and, as a consequence, we took advantage of what Mother Nature put at our easy reach.
In the water our guests and naturalists snorkeled amongst these giants, as big as gray whales (read 15 meters or more!), so close that we would have been able to touch them, but we didn’t to avoid disturbing them. The sharks were escorted the entire morning by the newly acquired human remoras, who observed the way they feed: they open a huge mouth inhaling great amounts of water to filter and retaining mobile food particles—plankton. We also escorted them and enjoyed their size and the spasmodic but normal movements of their skin and muscles, as well as their color pattern on their backs. Adult and sub-adult individuals were seen and photographed incessantly.
For the afternoon, Captain Kay repositioned National Geographic Sea Bird to the southeastern end of Espiritu Santo island, a point known as Punta Dispensa. On the way we enjoyed a talk about conservation and restoration of the islands of the Gulf of California, which was interrupted by the presence of a dozen or so common bottlenose dolphins that were bow riding. The streamlined animals skimmed the water so easily it was as if they were flying in the air. We stayed with them for 15 minutes before returning to the interesting talk.
Upon arrival to Punta Dispensa we found that this location was a wonderful long (3-4 miles) white-sand beach that is the interphase between the land platform at the base of impressive cliffs and the ocean. The land, dotted with many cardon cacti of great beauty, bushes, and agaves, was silent and warm. The wind broke the silence once in a while. Diverse bird species broke the quietness as they flew from branch to branch. The time seemed unreal as we walked on this primitive-looking piece of Espiritu Santo Island, and we finished our unforgettable voyage into the wonderful Gulf of California.
