Los Islotes and Bahia Bonanza
So this is what a fish looks like when a pelican, or blue-footed booby, or cormorant, or brown booby is finished with it. Formerly free-swimming scaled residents of the waters of the Gulf of California, the fish that fed these birds were now a digested frosty white coating, gleaming white on the volcanic tuff of Los Islotes. Bobbing towards the rocks in our Zodiac fleet we were distracted by a small group of bottle nose dolphins. Small, explosive breaths from the dolphins added to the background cacophony of the yowling of young sea lions, the bellowing barking of adult sea lions and the whistles and honks of blue-footed boobies. What could their conversations be? Possibly anything from “you’re standing on my flipper” to” Hey Mama where’s the fish?” It could only be anthropomorphized speculation. We added our own voices to this menagerie when we later dipped into the refreshing waters for a snorkel opportunity.
Once in the water with snorkels firmly clenched in our teeth, we observed the yellow-tailed surgeonfish nibbling algae with their delicate pursed lips. Mexican goatfish were along the sandy bottom, swirling the barbels that hang from their chins and stirring up the sands in hope of a tasty morsel or two. King angels swam languidly about, proudly wearing their white polka-dot crowns on their cobalt-blue heads. California sea lions zipped about around and below us, some animals hung with neutral buoyancy in the water column, defying gravity and belief.
Directing our attentions southward towards Bahia Bonanza for the afternoon we came across a very large whale. With the wind and waves it was difficult to be sure of the species, for the size of what we were able to glimpse; we’re currently identifying it as a 60% blue whale spotting. There was no element of uncertainty with the next identification, we were 100% sure we had a massive pod of long-beaked common dolphins. The group splashed towards us and many individuals peeled off from the group to ride our bow wave, others surfed along in our wake.
Gathered around a bonfire with Alberto strumming guitar, voices sang in unison to La Bomba and El Rancho Grande. Laughter punctuated the verses as Alberto provided translation of the songs. Singing became more labored as we indulged in the decadence of sweet, sticky S’mores, the melted marshmallows’ gooey texture tugging both at tooth fillings and childhood memories. With the stars twinkling above we came home sandy, tired and satiated after a full and beautiful day in Baja California. Inspired by their experiences, Sophie and Sam share a few words with us tonight.
Dolphins by Sophie Kaster, age 8
I like to watch them swim. I like to watch them diving, or eating or sleeping, even basking in the sun. We saw at least one hundred of them!
Amazing Dolphins by Sam Kaster, Age 11
I just got done watching dolphins, they’re amazing. They were jumping out of the water, it was so cool. I saw 15 dolphins, the food is great, the place is great.
