Puerto Gato and Isla San Jose, Baja California Sur, México
If you travel to Baja California to look for whales from a boat, you make your way to San Jose Island Channel. Due to the very deep waters off these coasts, the upwelling causes great phytoplankton blooms, which in turn cause zooplankton blooms, which goes all the way up the food chain, creating a great food source for many different marine animals, including the great behemoths we came to look for. But the wind from the NE made quite a few whitecaps, making the finding of these animals very difficult.
Our morning landings were at Puerto Gato, where we had a huge beach to explore, and made a series of walks inland, among the incredibly green vegetation and red sandstone. Cacti of different species were seen, as well as so many other desert plants. It has been raining in the last few days, and the desert has exploded in green, with innumerable plants showing their leaves.
Later in the afternoon we moved to the island of San Jose, where we hiked again in a quite different habitat, with less plants, but with some very interesting views, among which were a series of darkling beetles eating away at the meristematic or growth tissue of many jumping chollas!. And to top the day off, we had a BBQ and a bonfire there.
If you travel to Baja California to look for whales from a boat, you make your way to San Jose Island Channel. Due to the very deep waters off these coasts, the upwelling causes great phytoplankton blooms, which in turn cause zooplankton blooms, which goes all the way up the food chain, creating a great food source for many different marine animals, including the great behemoths we came to look for. But the wind from the NE made quite a few whitecaps, making the finding of these animals very difficult.
Our morning landings were at Puerto Gato, where we had a huge beach to explore, and made a series of walks inland, among the incredibly green vegetation and red sandstone. Cacti of different species were seen, as well as so many other desert plants. It has been raining in the last few days, and the desert has exploded in green, with innumerable plants showing their leaves.
Later in the afternoon we moved to the island of San Jose, where we hiked again in a quite different habitat, with less plants, but with some very interesting views, among which were a series of darkling beetles eating away at the meristematic or growth tissue of many jumping chollas!. And to top the day off, we had a BBQ and a bonfire there.
