Isla Carmen and Santa Catalina
Today is a day to remember; today we got to play in the realm of the giants. This morning we awoke to a colorful sunrise after sailing north all night. Many were out on deck watching water while looking for whale blows. Our patience was rewarded when large blows were seen in the distance. Captain Kalbach expertly maneuvered the Sea Bird into the general area and to great excitement we discovered a mother and calf blue whale pair! As we were trying to move a little closer to the blue whales, a humpback whale surfaced just off the bow. Several times the humpback whale was just off the bow and you could see its throat grooves extended after it had taken in a large gulp of water and krill. It is thought that humpbacks opportunistically feed while in the winter breeding grounds and we saw evidence of that today.
Eventually we made our way over to the blue whale pair. Blue whales are the largest animals to ever inhabit Earth and were nearly driven to extinction from whaling. It was an amazing sight to see the mom who could be close to 90 feet in length with her “little” 20 plus foot calf! We spent most of the morning observing this pair, watching with fascination as the mom rolled during short feeding bouts while the calf friskily lunged above the water’s surface in the distance. Again and again we watched as the mom’s enormous head rose to the surface, then she exhaled a massive blow that can be close to 30 feet and then we just saw the back, the back, the back and more back before the tiny dorsal fin eventually appeared. On a couple of surfacings she raised her enormous tail as camera shutters furiously clicked away. It was a truly magical start to our journey amongst the great whales.
In the afternoon we anchored just off Isla Santa Catalina, an exceptional island that has many endemic species found only in the Gulf of California. Some of us decided to catch a glimpse of the undersea world with our first snorkeling experience. We also had the option to go for walks up an arroyo on the island. The first impression was how amazingly green the overall landscape appears and how many delicate, beautiful flowers could be seen. This has been a particularly rainy winter and we are fortunate to see the desert in bloom. We just marveled at the giant cardon cactus, which can be close to 40 feet tall and potentially over 300 years old. We joined the naturalists as the named many of the plant species and described how they are so well adapted to this desert habitat. We also saw the giant barrel cactus, the largest of this species is only found on Santa Catalina. As this wasn’t enough, we also saw the rattleless rattlesnake hiding near a bush.
Today was a day of seeing giants both on land and in the sea, a day of seeing the rare and the beautiful and yes, definitely a day to remember.
Today is a day to remember; today we got to play in the realm of the giants. This morning we awoke to a colorful sunrise after sailing north all night. Many were out on deck watching water while looking for whale blows. Our patience was rewarded when large blows were seen in the distance. Captain Kalbach expertly maneuvered the Sea Bird into the general area and to great excitement we discovered a mother and calf blue whale pair! As we were trying to move a little closer to the blue whales, a humpback whale surfaced just off the bow. Several times the humpback whale was just off the bow and you could see its throat grooves extended after it had taken in a large gulp of water and krill. It is thought that humpbacks opportunistically feed while in the winter breeding grounds and we saw evidence of that today.
Eventually we made our way over to the blue whale pair. Blue whales are the largest animals to ever inhabit Earth and were nearly driven to extinction from whaling. It was an amazing sight to see the mom who could be close to 90 feet in length with her “little” 20 plus foot calf! We spent most of the morning observing this pair, watching with fascination as the mom rolled during short feeding bouts while the calf friskily lunged above the water’s surface in the distance. Again and again we watched as the mom’s enormous head rose to the surface, then she exhaled a massive blow that can be close to 30 feet and then we just saw the back, the back, the back and more back before the tiny dorsal fin eventually appeared. On a couple of surfacings she raised her enormous tail as camera shutters furiously clicked away. It was a truly magical start to our journey amongst the great whales.
In the afternoon we anchored just off Isla Santa Catalina, an exceptional island that has many endemic species found only in the Gulf of California. Some of us decided to catch a glimpse of the undersea world with our first snorkeling experience. We also had the option to go for walks up an arroyo on the island. The first impression was how amazingly green the overall landscape appears and how many delicate, beautiful flowers could be seen. This has been a particularly rainy winter and we are fortunate to see the desert in bloom. We just marveled at the giant cardon cactus, which can be close to 40 feet tall and potentially over 300 years old. We joined the naturalists as the named many of the plant species and described how they are so well adapted to this desert habitat. We also saw the giant barrel cactus, the largest of this species is only found on Santa Catalina. As this wasn’t enough, we also saw the rattleless rattlesnake hiding near a bush.
Today was a day of seeing giants both on land and in the sea, a day of seeing the rare and the beautiful and yes, definitely a day to remember.
