Gorda Banks to Cabo San Lucas, and around the Cape into the Pacific
Our wake-up call came at 0630, along with the sun's morning appearance over the horizon. "Humpback whales off the bow!" were the first words most of us heard awakening from unconsciousness. Every morning on the journey we rise to another species of whale and these were blowing all around the ship, through the scrambled surface of a wind-blown sea. We made a rare sighting of a black legged kittiwake from the bow as a small gull flew aerobatic loops around air turbulence of the ship.
After breakfast a group of six to eight humpback whales were chasing each other in close proximity to the ship, showing their turquoise green flippers underwater, then lunging, blowing and raising their flukes. The ooo-ing and ahhhs of the observers was almost as nice to hear as the live whale singing underwater, picked up on our hydrophone and broadcast over the ship. Pulling away finally from the whales in late morning, we gathered for a fascinating presentation on the biology and deep divingadaptations of marine mammals given by our Pomona College guest lecturer, Jonathan Wright.
After arriving in Cabo San Lucas during lunch we headed out to explore the town and do a little shopping and people-watching. While this was intriguing, most of us opted to go on a brief excursion out of town to spend a couple of hours away from the tourist scene. While one group entered the water for an afternoon of snorkeling, the rest of us made a walk through the Cape region desert vegetation. A hurricane that moistened the peninsula months ago has left a world dense with leaves and unusually lovely blooms. The showiest of our finds was the San Diego Sunflower (of the genus Viguiera) pictured in the photo above.
Our wake-up call came at 0630, along with the sun's morning appearance over the horizon. "Humpback whales off the bow!" were the first words most of us heard awakening from unconsciousness. Every morning on the journey we rise to another species of whale and these were blowing all around the ship, through the scrambled surface of a wind-blown sea. We made a rare sighting of a black legged kittiwake from the bow as a small gull flew aerobatic loops around air turbulence of the ship.
After breakfast a group of six to eight humpback whales were chasing each other in close proximity to the ship, showing their turquoise green flippers underwater, then lunging, blowing and raising their flukes. The ooo-ing and ahhhs of the observers was almost as nice to hear as the live whale singing underwater, picked up on our hydrophone and broadcast over the ship. Pulling away finally from the whales in late morning, we gathered for a fascinating presentation on the biology and deep divingadaptations of marine mammals given by our Pomona College guest lecturer, Jonathan Wright.
After arriving in Cabo San Lucas during lunch we headed out to explore the town and do a little shopping and people-watching. While this was intriguing, most of us opted to go on a brief excursion out of town to spend a couple of hours away from the tourist scene. While one group entered the water for an afternoon of snorkeling, the rest of us made a walk through the Cape region desert vegetation. A hurricane that moistened the peninsula months ago has left a world dense with leaves and unusually lovely blooms. The showiest of our finds was the San Diego Sunflower (of the genus Viguiera) pictured in the photo above.
