San Jose del Cabo and the Cape region
The National Geographic Sea Bird sailed south during the night and crossed the Tropic of Cancer, entering the tropics. Shortly after sunrise we rounded the southernmost point of the Baja California Peninsula, known as Cabo Falso, and pretty quickly arrived at the granite rocks at Land’s End, where the world-famous arch is located.
California sea lions rested on the rocks and cormorants, ospreys and a single peregrine falcon looked down at us from their perches. Behind the picturesque formations, Cabo San Lucas came into plain view as numerous sport-fishing boats of all sizes and flavors made their way into the open ocean from the marina. In the very same spot where a few British privateers waited in ambush for the Manila galleons during the late 1700s, a couple of huge cruise ships towered over the shoreline. We continued our way towards the much quieter town of San Jose del Cabo, where we disembarked and engaged in nice walks around town and birding along the San Jose estuary. Many bird species were seen, including the rare Belding’s yellow throat, endemic to the southern portion of the peninsula.
Back on board we continued our voyage and sailed northwest; we soon encountered numerous humpback whales and spent the rest of the afternoon traveling from one group to the other. The waters off the southern end of Baja California Sur are a well-known wintering area for those humpback whales that spend the summer feeding off British Columbia, Washington and Oregon; here in Baja they give birth to their young and mate.
Today we saw female whales with their babies and groups of males following a female and actively competing with each other, vying to be her escort. Their competition involved a lot of interesting behaviors and aerial displays like tail-slapping, tail-lobbing and breaching. Multiple times the loud exhalations of the whales filled the air, whereas every acrobatic display from their part was followed by gasping and camera-clicking sounds from us.
Eventually the day came to an end and we continued our expedition deeper into the marvelous Sea of Cortez.
