A stiff breeze pushed a swell out of the north and presented an obstacle to our morning plans of exploring Isla San Marcos. Bahía Concepción is nearby close, protected, and offers a great alternative for our activities.
The ship’s crew and officers anchored by mid-morning. Snorkelers walked into the water from a beautiful sand beach flanked by flat rocky reefs. Banded sergeant majors, giant damselfish and king angelfish swam past in the crystal-clear water. A highlight was a ray that swam along the bottom in fluid undulations. The wind kicked in with more vengeance, so the scheduled kayaking was impossible. Two staff members zoomed off in an inflatable boat to check out several bays for the unlikely chance of finding a whale shark. They found two, but it was doubtful that they would still be around in the afternoon for viewing.
As we devoured a Mexican style lunch, the wind continued to increase, but not enough to ruin our boat rides to the protected bays. Finding whale sharks requires that you cruise along looking for submerged dark areas that are not rocks. If your discovery slowly moves, then a rush of adrenalin takes over as the object begins to take a form. Their incredibly wide heads, beautiful cloaks of linear spots, and long sweeping tails moving slowly from side to side conjure up the thought of imaginary spirits of the sea. If there ever were any, they would be whale sharks.
Their lives are filled with fascinating details. They filter feed on plankton, krill, small fish and tiny squid. Eighty-two thousand gallons can be filtered per hour through a mouth that is close to 5 feet wide. They suck in large volumes of water and plankton that are forced through filter pads made of black sieve-like structures, probably evolved from modified gillrakers. Water passes over the filters that have trapped the newly acquired food. They have to take in massive amounts of water, because the average whale sharks are estimated to be over 31 feet and may weigh 20,000 lbs. The ones we saw were about 12 – 18 feet, and the largest over 25.
Guests with underwater cameras and GoPros had great results. Our undersea specialist slipped over the side of a boat and was soon in the midst of two sharks. Later that evening during our “recap” we watched his video of these magnificent creatures as they cruised along.
We had a comfortable ride out of Bahía Concepción and a pleasant following sea as we sailed south toward more adventures.
