At Sea & Isla Santa Catalina
Sonoran desert magic encircled the National Geographic Sea Bird throughout this glorious day in the Sea of Cortez. First light found us in calm seas just off Isla Carmen watching the early blush of the day work its way across the rugged face of the Sierra de la Giganta Mountains. A sunrise green flash popped over Isla Monserrate as we scanned in every direction, hoping to see a tall column of water vapor signifying our first great whale sighting of the trip. The conditions were perfect for finding whales, and soon we were timing the breaths of not one, but three blue whales. These huge and magnificent baleen whales, the largest animal to ever inhabit our sweet planet, are slowly making a comeback after being heavily hunted during the whaling period. Our time with the blues was as long and leisurely as they seem to be— that’s about eighty feet long!
As we made our way toward Isla Santa Catalina, bottlenose dolphins and California sea lions also danced across our bow. Most curiously, the sea lions stole the show with their leaping and porpoising alongside the ship. Dr. William Gilly, our onboard researcher from Stanford University, dropped a depth-finder overboard and showed us the deep scattering layer at about 250 meters where the whale’s food resource (krill) lives during the daylight hours.
Hiking and snorkeling were the two perfect choices for our warm afternoon at the south end of Isla Santa Catalina. Under the water we watched giant damselfish guarding their territories, beautiful king angels and big schools of scissortail damsels along with many other fishes. On the land, we strolled up the narrow gravel arroyo, marveling at the size of the cardon and giant barrel cactus and the overall number of interesting plant species in this arid place. We listened to that mournful Sonoran desert icon, the white-winged dove, while the light grew ever more enchanting.
