Isla San Francisco and San Jose Channel, Baja California, México
We awoke to choppy seas at our previous night’s anchorage and had to change our morning plans slightly. The blustery south wind that had followed us for the last three days is typical at this time of the year and soon dies out by mid morning. Our new location allowed us to continue with the morning’s activities, however, and a highlight were the tide pools which provided us with ample opportunities to get a closer look at the slimy and crawly creatures inhabiting this environment. Below the surface of our protected bay, the snorkelers and divers were treated to an assortment of invertebrates and fish. Numerous and odd-shaped sea stars, urchins and nudibranchs were feeding along the algal covered bottom. Schools of brown chromis darted this way and that making it difficult to follow their movements. Monstrous-sized green morays remained hidden except for just the large heads and gaping jaws full of sharp teeth.
This afternoon, we decided to explore the deep waters of the San Jose Channel, which separates Isla San Jose from the peninsula. We weren’t disappointed because as soon as we set up the lounge for our afternoon’s presentation by one of our staff, we were visited by a large school of Delphinus delphis, the short-beaked common dolphin. Even though they are found throughout the waters of the Gulf of California, it is not a common sight to see them. Moreover, they are often seen along with the long-beaked common dolphin and it can be very confusing to tell them apart. The “thoracic patch,” which is the anterior segment of the body, can be light gray to medium golden-yellow and is not as dark as the long-beaked dolphin. Another diagnostic characteristic of this mammal is the ventral whiteness that extends forward above the flipper stripe to at least under the eye.
As we continued our cruising, we saw the blows of larger cetaceans in the distance. Moving in for a closer look, we caught fleeting looks at a blue whale, with its distinct tall columnar blow. This one raised its immense fluke, unusual for this species, in preparation for a deep dive. We also had glimpses of a fin whale and members of the genus Kogia, the smallest of the sperm whales.
Tomorrow we hope to see more of these marvelous marine mammals as we continued north in the Gulf of California.
We awoke to choppy seas at our previous night’s anchorage and had to change our morning plans slightly. The blustery south wind that had followed us for the last three days is typical at this time of the year and soon dies out by mid morning. Our new location allowed us to continue with the morning’s activities, however, and a highlight were the tide pools which provided us with ample opportunities to get a closer look at the slimy and crawly creatures inhabiting this environment. Below the surface of our protected bay, the snorkelers and divers were treated to an assortment of invertebrates and fish. Numerous and odd-shaped sea stars, urchins and nudibranchs were feeding along the algal covered bottom. Schools of brown chromis darted this way and that making it difficult to follow their movements. Monstrous-sized green morays remained hidden except for just the large heads and gaping jaws full of sharp teeth.
This afternoon, we decided to explore the deep waters of the San Jose Channel, which separates Isla San Jose from the peninsula. We weren’t disappointed because as soon as we set up the lounge for our afternoon’s presentation by one of our staff, we were visited by a large school of Delphinus delphis, the short-beaked common dolphin. Even though they are found throughout the waters of the Gulf of California, it is not a common sight to see them. Moreover, they are often seen along with the long-beaked common dolphin and it can be very confusing to tell them apart. The “thoracic patch,” which is the anterior segment of the body, can be light gray to medium golden-yellow and is not as dark as the long-beaked dolphin. Another diagnostic characteristic of this mammal is the ventral whiteness that extends forward above the flipper stripe to at least under the eye.
As we continued our cruising, we saw the blows of larger cetaceans in the distance. Moving in for a closer look, we caught fleeting looks at a blue whale, with its distinct tall columnar blow. This one raised its immense fluke, unusual for this species, in preparation for a deep dive. We also had glimpses of a fin whale and members of the genus Kogia, the smallest of the sperm whales.
Tomorrow we hope to see more of these marvelous marine mammals as we continued north in the Gulf of California.
