Channel Islands to Baja California

Wednesday, December 13, 2023 Punta Colorada and Puerto Gato If the other day was heaven for bird watchers, today was special for geologists.  There’s amazing history of the earth here right in front of your eyes if you are taught how to look. We approached Isla San Jose at Punta Colorada:   The island is made up of fossilized sand dunes, with all the shells and critters memorialized in fossils.   The stripes on the land tell stories:   We began our “moderate” hike (I know now what that means) and soon came across fantastic sights.   Here’s an area where the fossilized sand lay underneath a stream which brought rocks and minerals over the edge.   You can see a waterfall of rock from the sediments the stream brought:   In other places the overlying rock remained as the softer fossilized sand is eroded by wind:   Our hike took us under huge rock overhangs: This perfectly formed scallop shell is under a rock layer and buried in...

Tuesday, December 12, 2023 Los Islotes and Ensenada Grande (Isla Partida)   Today was truly remarkable.   We began this morning with a Zodiac ride to tiny outcroppings of rock populated heavily by birds and sea lions, as the waters here are very rich in fish.   Called Los Islotes, they are north of the island where we spent the afternoon called Isla Partida, and all are due north of La Paz:   We saw brown boobies and blue-footed boobies, frigate birds, cormorants, pelicans, turkey vultures, and more.   There are many birders on the trip, and they were in heaven!   Here are the islands of Los Islotes: Silhouettes of pelicans:   Some blue-footed boobies:   And a collection of pelicans: There were large numbers of sea lions:   Their noise was incredible:   Towards the end of our visit, a group of five or six adolescent sea lions, known to be curious critters, came to our boat and circled it, dove under it, porpoised alon...

 Monday, December 11, 2023 Cabo Pulmo and Los Frailes This is an easy day to write up, although it was rigorous and tiring.   This morning we left for touring on pangas, local small boats with a cover, in the Cabo Pulmo National Marine Park.   The park extends five miles along the coastline between the communities of Cabo Pulmo and los Frailes.   We were with a national park guide. It was a coolish and very windy day, and the coastline was spectacular.   In addition to all the other birds, we saw a red-tailed hawk! We passed a pelican rookery: And we saw many colonies of sea lions:     We searched for whales but saw none this morning.   We returned to the ship where we had a lecture on the conservation efforts by the Cabo Pulmo community leaders which led to the remarkable success in the reestablishment of corals, fish and birds.   After lunch we had shuttles to the beach. There are fishing shacks on the beach just at the border...

 Sunday, December 10, 2023 San Jose del Cabo   Today was a town and humpbacks.   There are two towns in the very south of Baja California, San Jose del Cabo and Cabo San Lucas, and this morning we anchored off of San Jose del Cabo and took Zodiacs into town.   As always, there were choices of what to do, including birding at an estuary which runs just east of the town; I chose the walk with the photographer, which was fun.   The town has a large central plaza, at one end of which is the church:   Being Sunday, there was a service just starting at the church, and the priest was greeting parishioners at the front door. The angles and the light at the side door made for an interesting photo:   The streets are decorated for upcoming Christmas, and we practiced taking photos of the decorations in multiple ways, using telephoto to compress the space and shooting into the sun and the sky.   Interestingly, everyone’s iPhones did a better job of ...

 Saturday, December 9, 2023 Bahia Magdalena and Sand Dollar Beach   Yesterday was a day at sea; I have no photos.  In the morning the National Geographic photographer on board held a clinic, and we could bring photos and problems for her opinion.  She’s very good and very helpful.  We had a mandatory snorkeling briefing, and then after lunch had a lecture on plankton, amazing creatures!  Following that we had a lecture on patterns of marine biodiversity which was fascinating.   This morning we are in Bahia Magdalena (or Magdalena Bay), a very large bay with a rather narrow opening to the sea.    Across the barrier island of Isla Magdalena is the ocean, and between them is a series of sand dunes up to 40 feet high.  We were offered four options: walks of three levels of vigor, and a beach bum opportunity to just veg on the bay side beach.  The hike to the ocean would take you to Sand Dollar Beach, and the option with the in...