We awoke to another spectacular sunrise as the National Geographic Sea Lion sailed toward Isla San Esteban, the destination for our morning explorations. Sightings of dolphins and whale blows in the distance gave us all hope for another great day on this photo expedition in Baja California.
We spent the morning ashore exploring the Sonoran Desert by the sea on Isla San Esteban, one of the crown jewels of the Midriff Islands. Our focus here was searching for the endemic lizards, the spiny-tailed iguanas and the pinto chuckwallas. It didn’t take long to catch glimpses of both species. But as the day warmed up, the reptiles became more active, with the spiny-tailed iguanas climbing the towering Cardón cacti in search blossoms to eat. The photographers among us had a field day shooting these photogenic creatures.
The afternoon was a complete surprise to everyone on board with a rare sighting of killer whales plying the waters as we headed north toward Isla Rasa, our afternoon destination. We spent a good hour watching three killer whales surface repeatedly not far from the ship.
Next we encountered a feeding frenzy of pelicans, boobies, and Heermann’s gulls diving on schooling fish. And there were also dolphins. Hundreds of them! Our expedition leader, Larry Prussin, made the call to lower expedition landing crafts and view the activity from water level. And what a great and spontaneous decision. We sent two hours driving in circles from frenzy to frenzy. When we arrived back at the ship we were all giddy, and exhausted… It was an epic moment and amazing experience!
We finally did arrive at Isla Rasa, after dark, and anchored for a quiet night with sweet dreams of dolphins dancing in our heads.
