The Sea of Cortez and Isla Santa Catalina
Our first day in Baja started in a magnificent way. With the Sierra de la Giganta (Mountains of the Giantess) to our west, we came upon a real life giant in the Sea of Cortez. Just south of Isla Carmen we spotted blue whales! Measuring in at 100 feet long, they are not only the largest baleen whale, but also the largest creature to have ever lived. The morning lighting allowed us to see their incredibly long blue-gray backs, their tiny dorsal fins, and some interesting circular scars near their dorsal fin from the cookie cutter shark. As the name implies, the shark takes a cookie cutter size bite out of the whale's back. The blue whales, by contrast, eat tiny krill to maintain their 200-ton physique.
We left the blue whales and continued on our way to our afternoon destination, but not before getting distracted by our second cetacean of the morning. This time a group of hundreds of long-beaked common dolphins joined us. We were treated to a variety of behaviors including leaping and tail slapping, but the most captivating to watch was their habit of bow riding. As many as 10 dolphins at once were vying for position and being pushed effortlessly along by the pressure wave in front of the boat.
After lunch we arrived at Isla Santa Catalina where the snorkelers took to the underwater world and the hikers found their way to land. Although the islands look barren and lifeless from a distance, we soon found that this was hardly the case. If it had not been for the arroyo to walk in, we would have had a hard time picking a clear path across this desert without getting snagged by a cactus or other equally well-armed shrub. Having never been part of the peninsula, Santa Catalina is host to a variety of Baja endemic species, some found only on Santa Catalina. The rattleless rattlesnake (an endemic to this island) was found in the shade of a rock near the giant barrel cactus (an endemic to Baja). Although the giant barrel cactus grows to over 12 feet tall, the many-branched cardon is the tallest of the cacti in the Sonoran Desert reaching up to 60 feet. With so many unique sightings, it is hard to believe we have been here only one day.
Our first day in Baja started in a magnificent way. With the Sierra de la Giganta (Mountains of the Giantess) to our west, we came upon a real life giant in the Sea of Cortez. Just south of Isla Carmen we spotted blue whales! Measuring in at 100 feet long, they are not only the largest baleen whale, but also the largest creature to have ever lived. The morning lighting allowed us to see their incredibly long blue-gray backs, their tiny dorsal fins, and some interesting circular scars near their dorsal fin from the cookie cutter shark. As the name implies, the shark takes a cookie cutter size bite out of the whale's back. The blue whales, by contrast, eat tiny krill to maintain their 200-ton physique.
We left the blue whales and continued on our way to our afternoon destination, but not before getting distracted by our second cetacean of the morning. This time a group of hundreds of long-beaked common dolphins joined us. We were treated to a variety of behaviors including leaping and tail slapping, but the most captivating to watch was their habit of bow riding. As many as 10 dolphins at once were vying for position and being pushed effortlessly along by the pressure wave in front of the boat.
After lunch we arrived at Isla Santa Catalina where the snorkelers took to the underwater world and the hikers found their way to land. Although the islands look barren and lifeless from a distance, we soon found that this was hardly the case. If it had not been for the arroyo to walk in, we would have had a hard time picking a clear path across this desert without getting snagged by a cactus or other equally well-armed shrub. Having never been part of the peninsula, Santa Catalina is host to a variety of Baja endemic species, some found only on Santa Catalina. The rattleless rattlesnake (an endemic to this island) was found in the shade of a rock near the giant barrel cactus (an endemic to Baja). Although the giant barrel cactus grows to over 12 feet tall, the many-branched cardon is the tallest of the cacti in the Sonoran Desert reaching up to 60 feet. With so many unique sightings, it is hard to believe we have been here only one day.
