This morning the National Geographic Sea Bird dropped her anchor off the southern end of San Ildefonso Island and we started boarding the first round of Zodiacs shortly before sunrise. The soft light of the early morning made for great views of the cliffs, rocky shores and vegetated slopes of the island, as well as of the myriad of sea birds that nest on it. Brown pelicans, brown and blue-footed boobies were all busy tending to their young chicks; peregrine falcons, Brandt’s cormorants, great blue herons and yellow-footed gulls added to the list. However, a recently formed nesting colony of magnificent frigate birds delighted everyone with the spectacular views of the all-black mature males flying above our heads or perching with their bright red gular pouches completely inflated and trying to impress the feathered ladies around.
After a couple of rounds exploring the island, the ship sailed south towards the town of Loreto. We soon entered the waters of the Loreto Bay National Park, a natural protected area established in 1995 by the Mexican government that includes Carmen, Santa Catalina, Coronado, Danzante and Montserrat Islands and the waters around them. Numerous long lines of flying birds commuting to their feeding areas accompanied us in the open ocean.
We eventually arrived to Loreto, site of the first of the permanent missions built by Padre Juan María de Salvatierra and founded in 1697. Loreto became the epicenter of the Jesuit missional activity in the lower portion of Baja California peninsula and for a while acted as the capital city of the Californias, back in the days when Alta and Baja California were part of a single territory that expanded from San Francisco, in what is now the USA, to Cabo San Lucas. Today Loreto is a small, quiet town that is proud of its past and struggling to prosper without being absorbed by more aggressive development models. We had a great chance to get to know this charming place and walked around the lovely malecón, shopped for crafts and jewelry and visited the beautifully preserved mission. Then later we all enjoyed a delicious dinner at a local restaurant before going back to our floating home for more adventures to come.
