Carmen and Montserrat Islands
The first rays of the sun made Carmen Island glow as the Sea Bird approached her; the green, lush appearance of the vegetation on the normally dry hills gave a surprising look. The effects of the hurricane rains from last September were seen elsewhere and we happily engaged into exploring the desert canyons and kayaking its shoreline. Turgent cardón and organ pipe cacti were surrounded by elephant trees and limber bush sporting their new leaves; even a small spade-foot toad was a mute witness of the last rains. The exuberance of the plant life around made us amaze about their hardiness and multiple adaptations for coping with a challenging and ever changing environment.
After a very nice morning, we sailed the waters of the Loreto Bay National Park towards Montserrat Island for a pleasant afternoon. Hikers were able to admire once more the beauty of the desert plants, while snorkelers had a great time watching numerous king angelfishes, Mexican goatfishes, reef cornet fishes and stone scorpion fishes. Even a rare rock-mover wrasse was spotted not far from where the galley crew prepared dinner ashore. And after all the trouble that means cooking a delicious meal on the beach, it would have been rude from us not to do it justice, right? And as the sun slowly moved down behind the magnificent Sierra de la Giganta, I am sure that we all knew that we just had a wonderful day.
The first rays of the sun made Carmen Island glow as the Sea Bird approached her; the green, lush appearance of the vegetation on the normally dry hills gave a surprising look. The effects of the hurricane rains from last September were seen elsewhere and we happily engaged into exploring the desert canyons and kayaking its shoreline. Turgent cardón and organ pipe cacti were surrounded by elephant trees and limber bush sporting their new leaves; even a small spade-foot toad was a mute witness of the last rains. The exuberance of the plant life around made us amaze about their hardiness and multiple adaptations for coping with a challenging and ever changing environment.
After a very nice morning, we sailed the waters of the Loreto Bay National Park towards Montserrat Island for a pleasant afternoon. Hikers were able to admire once more the beauty of the desert plants, while snorkelers had a great time watching numerous king angelfishes, Mexican goatfishes, reef cornet fishes and stone scorpion fishes. Even a rare rock-mover wrasse was spotted not far from where the galley crew prepared dinner ashore. And after all the trouble that means cooking a delicious meal on the beach, it would have been rude from us not to do it justice, right? And as the sun slowly moved down behind the magnificent Sierra de la Giganta, I am sure that we all knew that we just had a wonderful day.
