Searching for Wildlife & Ensenada Grande
Early this morning our ship, the National Geographic Sea Bird, ventured into the San Jose channel for marine creature seeking. This is a long strip of the sea between the peninsula of Baja California and San Jose Island, and reputedly one of the best areas for encountering marine mammals. We were soon rewarded when a small school of long-beaked common dolphins came for a short ride at the bow of the vessel.
We continuing navigating and spotted several great whales: in the distance an elusive fin whale was detected by the tall blow, and shortly after there was a glimpse of a Bryde’s whale. Also, a pair of humpback whales showed up and breached, to the joy of everyone on board the ship.
Right after the performance of the whales, National Geographic Photographer Susan Seubert invited us to the lounge to share her experiences as a photographer and to tell us the story of how she got involved with the National Geographic Society. At one point the talk was interrupted by our Undersea Specialist because a very tall blow was seen in the distance. It turned out to be one of the largest animals that ever has lived on the planet: a blue whale!
After a time of anxiety and waiting, the whale finally reappeared from its long-lasting dive, and of course we took as many pictures as we could. Later, just before lunch, our Video Chronicler presented the preview of the recorded memories he filmed from this trip.
In the afternoon the ship arrived to the calm of one of the most beautiful bays along the shore of Partida Island: it was Ensenada Grande, where a variety of activities were organized, ranging from a long, vigorous walk to the top of the island to more leisure-oriented walks with more nature interpretation.
To come to a perfect end of this adventure, the sunset was bright red, and the light illuminated the various colors of the cliffs at Ensenada grande.
