We
boarded our boat, The Searcher, in San
Diego and sailed all night to Ensenada
where we had to clear customs. We then
sailed to Isla Todos Santos which we
cruised around to see the wildlife along
the shores. The rest of the day was
spent crusing to our next destination,
Islas San Benito. We came ashore and
hiked to the lighthouse where we ate our
packed lunch. Along the way we saw a
kazillion elephant seals and many osprey
on their huge nests. One nest was so
close, Dave and I climbed right up to it
to look inside. Luckily no one was home
and all we saw was some feathers and a
good look at everything they use to
build the nests. The next two days
were spent in the most fantastic place
in the world, San Ignacio Lagoon. If you
haven't read my previous travelogue on
Baja, this is the place where the Grey
Whales give birth and, for some reason,
many become what is know as "friendlies"
and bring their babies to visit the
skiffs. We were a little disappointed by
the number of visitors (guess we were
spoiled by our last trip) and had only
two good encounters. However, there was
a lot of activity such as breaching,
spyhopping, etc. which also is very
exciting. The second afternoon we went
into the mangrove and took a walk along
a beautiful beach which was full of
shells in pristine condition. We sadly
left magical San Ignacio for Magdalena
Bay, another place known for friendly
encounters. The whale gods were not with
us this day and all we saw was a bunch
of whale flukes - they wanted nothing to
do with us. We visited a magnificent
beach with sand dunes and went to
another mangrove. We have now sailed
down the Pacific around Cabo San Lucas
into the Sea of Cortez, probably the
best place in the world for whale
watching. Along the way we had some
Common Dolphins riding our bow wave, saw
some Blue and Fin Whales and came to the
Gorda Banks where we'd have the best
chance to see Humpbacks (my favorite
whale). Again, the whale gods didn't
smile on us and, although we saw some
humpbacks, they weren't very
exciting. We were awakened around 5:00
to see the spectacular sunrise over the
beautiful red sandstone cliffs of Punto
Colorado on Isla San Jose. I wish my
photographics could do justice to this
beautiful place. Dave and I walked as
far as we could in an arroyo, just
enjoying the scenery and the opportunity
to enjoy the solitude of being there
with just each other. We thought "what
could be better than this" when there
was an announcement that we had some
Blue Whales around the boat. Little did
we know what we would see - three or
four Blue Whales lunge feeding!!!
Captain was yelling, we were screaming -
what a thrill!!! These huge creatures
which are over 90 feet long, the largest
animal ever to have enhabited the earth,
were gorging themselves on krill (a
shrimplike crustacean about one inch
long). They have throat pleats which
expand to seven times their girth which
they fill with water and krill. They
then use their tongues to push the water
out through their baleen which act as a
sieve, leaving only the krill. It was a
chance in a lifetime encounter and one
I'll never forget!!! If that weren't
enough, we came upon a head of
Bottlenose Dolphin which were leaping
behind our boat. What a day. . .
. From here we visited Isla Santa
Catalina which is known for their wavy
barrel cactus. We took another walk in
an arroyo with another couple we met on
board. We were unable to anchor at our
next scheduled destination so went to
Isla Espiritu Santu, someplace I've
never been previously. Took a walk along
some cliffs and then headed to our final
stop, Los Islotes where you are able to
swim with the sea lions. We decided not
to take our snorkel stuff, since we'd
been here twice before so we enjoyed
sailing around this small island and
watching the antics of these wonderful
animals. From here we sailed to Cabo
San Lucas and our flight home.
Hopefully, this won't be our last trip
to Baja - one of the favorite places
we've ever been.
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