Checking in from Baja California Sur!

National Geographic Sea Lion is presently anchored just outside of Porto Lopez Mateos. We woke this morning to another beautiful sunrise and refreshing stretch class from legendary Wellness Specialist Lola. Today is set to be a busy day filled with a morning of kayaking and Zodiac cruising through another stunning mangrove flooded forest. Spoiler: We saw a single bottlenose dolphin within the mangroves. Very cool.

Next, we slowly made our way through the infamous Hull Canal. Once our anchor was set, we boarded pangas and off to gray whale search we went. We hoped to see the first calf of the season but rather we found approximately 20 adults at Boca de Soledad. It was so amazing, we cheered and cheered. With this species of baleen whale in this bay, the mating pairs typically stay on the south end of this massive and long bay while the moms and calves typically stay to the north side, where we are presently.

Expedition Leader John offered two rounds of whale searching opportunities to our guests, one round this afternoon and one tomorrow morning, each two hours long.

The sun set and painted the sky oranges, pinks, and purples. We raised a glass to an absolutely magical day here in Baja California. The day wasn’t over just yet, however, we had very special guests, Los Coyotes onboard. They are well known locally, and they serenaded us while beautiful dancers performed traditional folk dances. Our guests couldn’t help but to join in the dancing. This special fiesta was a perfect way to end the evening.