San Francisco Island and Los Islotes
Many places in Baja California are perfect for aquatic sports and for spending some relaxing time. After all our activities focused on Natural History in the past days, we decided this morning to enjoy the warm temperature of the turquoise-colored water of a magnificent small spot known as the Half-Moon Bay, at San Francisco Island. We set our “toys” and boats, and we snorkeled, scuba dove and kayaked. Some of us also took a hike to the steep cliffs of the southernmost portion of the island and some others preferred just to relax on the beach. The highlight was the “banana” boat, especially for the young explorers, who spent hours riding it. Later, we decided to move to Los Islotes, a little rockery close to La Paz Bay, to observe a colony of California Sea Lions that lives there permanently.
As we sailed south, therefore, we were delighted by the apparition of a large pod of Pilot whales. It didn’t take too long to send our Undersea Specialist, Carlos Navarro, to get underwater footage, as well as some young explorers to eyewitness the event. But a new encounter took place: several dozen pelagic bottle-nosed dolphins came to join us. We put the rest of our Zodiacs down to send everybody close to these interesting animals. Our reward was enormous: at one point, almost under coordination, all the dolphins started to jump out the water at a high speed (photo). Everywhere around and underneath the boats, the dolphins were in a frenzy-like game involving both adults and dozens of calves; obviously we were sprayed by those who where closer. Under those conditions, little margin was left to take artistic photos, but we were able to partially document the unbelievable event. In the meanwhile, the pilot whales silently moved away. The dolphins spent more than 30 minutes with us with the same dynamic, until they suddenly decided to leave us as fast as they appeared.
Our great day, and also our fantastic journey to the Sea of Cortes, was finished snorkeling among the sea lions as well as with Zodiac cruises around the islets. The sun sank behind the mountains with the promise of many memories of our adventure.
Many places in Baja California are perfect for aquatic sports and for spending some relaxing time. After all our activities focused on Natural History in the past days, we decided this morning to enjoy the warm temperature of the turquoise-colored water of a magnificent small spot known as the Half-Moon Bay, at San Francisco Island. We set our “toys” and boats, and we snorkeled, scuba dove and kayaked. Some of us also took a hike to the steep cliffs of the southernmost portion of the island and some others preferred just to relax on the beach. The highlight was the “banana” boat, especially for the young explorers, who spent hours riding it. Later, we decided to move to Los Islotes, a little rockery close to La Paz Bay, to observe a colony of California Sea Lions that lives there permanently.
As we sailed south, therefore, we were delighted by the apparition of a large pod of Pilot whales. It didn’t take too long to send our Undersea Specialist, Carlos Navarro, to get underwater footage, as well as some young explorers to eyewitness the event. But a new encounter took place: several dozen pelagic bottle-nosed dolphins came to join us. We put the rest of our Zodiacs down to send everybody close to these interesting animals. Our reward was enormous: at one point, almost under coordination, all the dolphins started to jump out the water at a high speed (photo). Everywhere around and underneath the boats, the dolphins were in a frenzy-like game involving both adults and dozens of calves; obviously we were sprayed by those who where closer. Under those conditions, little margin was left to take artistic photos, but we were able to partially document the unbelievable event. In the meanwhile, the pilot whales silently moved away. The dolphins spent more than 30 minutes with us with the same dynamic, until they suddenly decided to leave us as fast as they appeared.
Our great day, and also our fantastic journey to the Sea of Cortes, was finished snorkeling among the sea lions as well as with Zodiac cruises around the islets. The sun sank behind the mountains with the promise of many memories of our adventure.
