This morning we woke to a thick fog that brought moisture to the desert and hid the land and sea around us. We enjoyed talks by our ship’s naturalists and then began our journey north through Canal de Soledad, known as Hull Canal in English due to how close one’s hull is to the bottom. Whenever we transit through these waters, we bring along a local pilot who has been working with Lindblad Expeditions for decades in order to navigate here. At one point we only had seven and a half feet of water beneath us!

As soon as we started to make our way through the canal, the fog lifted and we saw the beautiful mountains of Isla Margarita to our west. Bow riding dolphins joined us throughout our transit and we saw many species of birds that live and fish in the mangroves. Anchoring south of the town of Puerto Adolfo Lopez Mateos, we all went to the sand dunes to explore in the beautiful afternoon light. Back on board, a Mexican fiesta awaited accompanied by local musicians, Los Coyotes, on the sundeck of National Geographic Sea Bird and we danced the evening away!