The first sunrise of our expedition greeted us north of the San Jose Channel with a green flash. Sailing the calm waters of the gulf under calm conditions and during the early morning hours is an invaluable experience. We spent the morning sailing and looking for marine creatures. We had a few sightings of bottlenose dolphins and some distant humpback whales, which were traveling too fast for us to follow them. The views of the majestic “Sierra de la Giganta” mountain range, framed all we saw this morning from the ship’s bow.
We spent the afternoon at Isla San Francisco. This small island is one of the most scenic of the region and has a wonderful white sandy beach. Its turquoise waters make this place unforgettable. First we snorkeled along the rocky shoreline and discovered a wonderful hidden world under the surface. Large schools of grunts lined the bottom. A good diversity of fish was seen. Some of the most attractive species were the king angels, the balloon fish, reef cornet fish, giant damsels, sergeant majors, and goatfishes. The clarity of the water was very good and the temperature was quite pleasant as well. This snorkeling outing was certainly a good way to start our journey
Later in the day we had the opportunity to try out the kayaks and the standup paddleboards. The conditions were ideal. From our paddle-powered crafts, some took off to navigate along the shore to enjoy the scenery. Some others showed a more adventurous way of spending their time—by doing headstands on their paddleboards!
As the sun went down we ventured into the island for different walks. One of the walks went to the top of a magnificent cliff, from which the entire bay can be seen. Others crossed along the salt flats and ended up on the opposite side of the island, where we spent a short time inspecting the tide pools for invertebrates.
