Isla Del Carmen, Isla Santa Catalina
We found the biggest, the largest, the most massively wonderful creature swimming around and possibly feeding just south of Isla del Carmen this morning. A blue whale, what an incredible sight for our first full day here in Baja California. To start at the top of the whale chart, with not one, but as the morning unfolded: TWO! Yes, two blue whales. Their mottled gray skin viewed through the filter of the sea showed as a turquoise-colored patch while they swam and exhaled between dives. The power and impressive musculature of these leviathans was made more apparent when one individual arched its back and lifted its flukes high in the air while it made a sounding dive. What an exhilarating sight!
The far flung island of Isla Santa Catalina occupied our afternoon. This is where we went into full immersion mode and literally jumped right into the Gulf of California. Outfitted with masks, snorkels, fins and wetsuits the watery realm and its residents became our new objects of interest. Moorish idols swam languidly with their exaggerated dorsal fin trailing behind like a garish party streamer. The sergeant majors swam around in somewhat orderly contingents, and the urchins stood spine straight on their rocks.
Terra firma was the platform for our next adventure as we explored Isla Santa Catalina and her wondrous cardon cactus forest. The birds were perched aplenty in the late afternoon. Hooded Orioles investigated the cactus flowers, white-winged doves flitted nervously about and the elegantly attired black-throated sparrow stood sentinel on the blossoms as well. A loggerhead shrike trilled an unusual song and three ravens mirrored the image of mischievous as they perched in a row high on the cactus columns.
From blue whales to ravens’ tails we filled a day with discoveries and gathered stories to share today, tomorrow and for years yet to come. A truly magical start for our week in Baja California.
