Island I see you in the distance
I feel that your existence
Is not unlike my own
Island they say no man is like you
They say you stand alone,
Sometimes I feel that way too
Is it the need for love?
- Jimmy Buffet
I first came to Isla San Pedro Martir in the year 1980. In the intervening decades I have visited this island literally dozens of times. I have seen these waters filled with dolphins and whales of many different species at many different times. I have watched white guano-saturated rainwater cascading off the many cliffs that abound here during summer storms. I have hidden from the sun and the bobitos in my small boat in one of the many deep caves in those very same cliffs. Great white sharks, dwarf sperm whales, Laysan albatross, and Guadalupe fur seals are amongst the unusual sightings I have had here.
This island has captured my imagination like no other island in the Gulf of California. Wild and wonderful things seem to always happen in the waters that surround this remote island on the edge of very deep water. Like no other island in the Gulf of California, San Pedro Martir just seems to draw life in all forms to it like a magnet.
All on board the National Geographic Sea Lion were able to share in that magic today, as we spent all of our waking hours in sight of this energy vortex. Starting with pre-dawn tours in our fleet of small inflatable boats, the diversity and abundance of life was an assault on our senses. Tropicbirds, brown and blue-footed boobies, and pelicans whirled and called overhead. The cacophony of California sea lion barking came echoing out of every cave. Sally lightfoot crabs patrolled the water’s edge, looking for a tasty breakfast.
The life here is just as interested in us as we are in it. This is especially true of the marine mammals, with both bottlenose dolphins and sea lions porpoising alongside our inflatable boats this morning. At one point young sea lions played a game of “king of the hill” on top of an algae-covered slippery rock, leaping onto the rock, only to slide back into the sea and then do the whole thing over again.
Upon lifting the anchor to go to deeper water to search for marine mammals our first whale of the day showed us its flukes…a humpback whale off the bow! As we cruised through the afternoon we encountered many more cetaceans, including fin, sei, and Bryde’s whales as well as bottlenose dolphins in abundance. We were even rewarded by a brief glimpse of rare beaked whales.
Mobula rays were sighted leaping into the air, sometimes completing two somersaults before landing back into the sea with a resounding crash. At one point a hammerhead shark swam right alongside us, its dorsal fin breaking the sea and its body perfectly visible under the flat-glass sea surface. As the sun set into the blazing golden waters of the Sea of Cortez, I smiled and thought to myself what a lucky man I am to once again visit Isla San Pedro Martir. Perhaps you would care to join us on this journey next year!
