Gorda Bank and Los Cabos
The wind was still blowing as we awoke this morning but blowing from behind us so the ride was smooth. About 0700 the rising sun shown dramatically red through the clouds to the east and formed a red-hued rainbow to the west. Red sky in the morning, sailor take warning—not today, not in the Cape Region of Baja. Well, yes and no. We had a little sun, a little rain and a little wind and a little calm. Thankfully, this evening as I write this we are experiencing the calm part—thankful, because we are now headed north along the outer coast of Baja in the open Pacific Ocean. As you probably know, Pacific was the name given to this ocean by Balboa when he came across the Panama Isthmus and saw how calm the sea was. Pacific means calm in Spanish, and tonight it is.
But back to this morning. Even with heavy seas, we began seeing humpback whales before breakfast and the sightings continued throughout the morning. Some were just swimming along by themselves, some were milling in pairs or small groups and some were showing us their acrobatic skills with full breaches, flipper slaps and tail slaps. All in all we saw about 20 and some of the sightings were quite close. In response to the question of why they do all these aerial behaviors, many possibilities were put forth, including: play, riding themselves of external parasites such as barnacles or whale lice, sexual displays of dominance or attraction, communication across long distances by the sound of their mighty splash, etc. But the winning explanation was put forth by our Expedition Leader, Tom Richie, who posited that the whales get tired of being wet all the time and leap out of the water to dry off…if only for a moment. Think about it. How would you like to be wet 24/7, year in and year out. Bet you, too, would like to dry off for just a bit. Be that as it may, we had a wonderful morning watching the whales as well as some hammerhead sharks, bottlenose dolphins, flocks of Bonaparte’s gulls and a forester’s tern that just seemed to be fixed on resting at sea on one of our heads.
By just after noon, we entered a whole other world—the world of Cabo San Lucas. Boats and boats and parasails and jet skis and hotels and condos and golf courses and shops and more shops….and luckily, 2 buses that whisked us away—one to a wonderful snorkel beach and the other to an estuary just on the edge of San Jose del Cabo. Both outings were great and there was still time for a little shopping in Cabo for those who had extra pesos or dollars or euros to be rid of. We were all back aboard in the late afternoon and the Sea Bird dropped lines in the inner harbor so that we could visit the famous granite rocks of Finesterra, the last land until you reach Antarctica heading south. There the sun set and we turned north for our run in this truly pacific ocean up to Magdalena Bay through the night. Thus ended the 3rd day of our expedition.
The wind was still blowing as we awoke this morning but blowing from behind us so the ride was smooth. About 0700 the rising sun shown dramatically red through the clouds to the east and formed a red-hued rainbow to the west. Red sky in the morning, sailor take warning—not today, not in the Cape Region of Baja. Well, yes and no. We had a little sun, a little rain and a little wind and a little calm. Thankfully, this evening as I write this we are experiencing the calm part—thankful, because we are now headed north along the outer coast of Baja in the open Pacific Ocean. As you probably know, Pacific was the name given to this ocean by Balboa when he came across the Panama Isthmus and saw how calm the sea was. Pacific means calm in Spanish, and tonight it is.
But back to this morning. Even with heavy seas, we began seeing humpback whales before breakfast and the sightings continued throughout the morning. Some were just swimming along by themselves, some were milling in pairs or small groups and some were showing us their acrobatic skills with full breaches, flipper slaps and tail slaps. All in all we saw about 20 and some of the sightings were quite close. In response to the question of why they do all these aerial behaviors, many possibilities were put forth, including: play, riding themselves of external parasites such as barnacles or whale lice, sexual displays of dominance or attraction, communication across long distances by the sound of their mighty splash, etc. But the winning explanation was put forth by our Expedition Leader, Tom Richie, who posited that the whales get tired of being wet all the time and leap out of the water to dry off…if only for a moment. Think about it. How would you like to be wet 24/7, year in and year out. Bet you, too, would like to dry off for just a bit. Be that as it may, we had a wonderful morning watching the whales as well as some hammerhead sharks, bottlenose dolphins, flocks of Bonaparte’s gulls and a forester’s tern that just seemed to be fixed on resting at sea on one of our heads.
By just after noon, we entered a whole other world—the world of Cabo San Lucas. Boats and boats and parasails and jet skis and hotels and condos and golf courses and shops and more shops….and luckily, 2 buses that whisked us away—one to a wonderful snorkel beach and the other to an estuary just on the edge of San Jose del Cabo. Both outings were great and there was still time for a little shopping in Cabo for those who had extra pesos or dollars or euros to be rid of. We were all back aboard in the late afternoon and the Sea Bird dropped lines in the inner harbor so that we could visit the famous granite rocks of Finesterra, the last land until you reach Antarctica heading south. There the sun set and we turned north for our run in this truly pacific ocean up to Magdalena Bay through the night. Thus ended the 3rd day of our expedition.
