Friday morning the National Geographic Sea Bird pulled up to Los Islotes on a perfectly calm, clear blue day. Los Islotes is an outcropping of rock off the peninsula of Baja California, and the spot offers refuge for hundreds of California sea lions, a population of gregarious and carefree otoriids.
This population of California sea lions breed and pup at Los Islotes. Their offspring are born from May to June, and spend the next eight months nursing and playing in these warm waters. The pups will spend the rest of the year alongside their mothers in the inviting sea. Eventually the males will grow into adolescents, developing a strong sagittal crest which is a prominent and visual display of their genetic prowess. At about six years of age they will begin to breed. Though the males hold a strong harem, DNA studies show the dominant male will only sire about 50 percent of the pups his females give birth to. Guests were excited about the possibility of swimming with these gorgeous, active creatures and as they slipped into the water, the pups, about seven months old by this time, swirled around and around. Underwater, there is a different but simultaneous story of marine life. Sea stars, nudibranchs, and Christmas tree worms spend their time filter feeding or scavenging for a meal along the ocean floor and the undersea specialist and her dive buddy, Austin, descended to the substrate underneath the snorkeling platform to capture the activity. They collected only photos and video for the guests, leaving behind all the life they saw to conserve the delicate ecosystem.
The afternoon was spent on a beautiful, white sand beach named Bonanza Beach. Here the sand stretches for more than a mile, while a small natural jetty allows for snorkeling. Guests took to the sea on kayaks and paddleboards, enjoying the calm conditions and general lack of wind. When afternoon activities came to a reluctant stop, the guests got back onboard to enjoy their final night on the ship with the captain’s farewell cocktail hour. Libations and laughter, in conjunction with the guest slideshow and a beautiful dinner led to a perfect close for this voyage in the Sea of Cortez.
