Cabo San Lucas & San Jose del Cabo
Our day started in an exciting way; long before sunrise the National Geographic Sea Bird approached the beautiful granitic rocks at Land’s End and inched her way toward them for a closer look. We all admired the world-famous arch that is both a landmark of Cabo San Lucas and emblematic of Baja California for many. Thanks to the expertise shown by Captain David Kay, we got a very nice and close-up view of the abundant bird life still perching on the rocks, including brown boobies, magnificent frigate birds and Brandt’s cormorants; we were so close that we were able to hear the calls and even smell the small colony of California sea lions! The soft light of the early morning painted the rocks in gorgeous pastel tones, to the delight of both the photographers and non-photographers alike.
We eventually made our way to the east and sailed to San Jose del Cabo, where we entered the new marina of Puerto Los Cabos for a morning of exploration on land. Some of us decided for the “shopping hike” and ventured into the streets of the old and quiet town, founded in the 1700’s by Jesuit missionaries; the rest chose to go bird-watching at the small estuary formed by the San Jose River, one of the few fresh water rivers with a permanent flow on the whole peninsula. Abundant birdlife teemed everywhere! Numerous species of herons and egrets tried to catch their morning meal, including great egrets, tricolored herons and snowy egrets. A single American wood stork was discovered among the egrets, a rare visitor from the mainland. Vermillion flycatchers, Belding’s yellowthroats and ospreys were some of the many species that we encountered.
After leaving the marina and continuing our journey deeper into the Sea of Cortez, we entered the realm of the humpback whale. We observed numerous blows and eventually discovered a surface-active group of several whales engaged in a possible competition to gain the favors of a receptive female. For a long time we watched their antics and maneuvers, punctuated with heavy breathing that created sizeable blows. Our first day inside the magnificent Sea of Cortez couldn’t be better!
