Today we began our Photo Expedition exploring Baja and the Sea of Cortez. We started the day with a pre-breakfast landing on Isla San Esteban to photograph the sunrise and the desert cactus in beautiful dawn light. We returned to the ship for a hearty breakfast, and then returned to shore for more exploring and photography. As the day warmed up, the island's lizards became more active and visible. We found several specimens of the large, endemic chuckwalla lizards that inhabit San Esteban, and also many spiny-tailed iguanas, which made very cooperative photo subjects, allowing some patient photographers to approach extremely close for some memorable photographs.
In the afternoon we sailed south to the remote island of San Pedro Martir. Here we watched thousands of seabirds - brown pelicans, brown boobies and blue-footed boobies -- flocking back to their island home throughout the afternoon. During Zodiac tours along the island's shores we were joined by dozens of frolicking sea lions swimming and leaping around our boats. The day was capped by a visit from an errant blue-footed booby that landed on the ship's decks. After a brief show-and-tell with this bird in the dining room during dessert, it was released back into the wild to join its many friends.
