Pinnipeds of Isla San Benito Oeste

 

Thursday, December 7, 2023

Pinnipeds of Isla San Benito Oeste

Today was remarkable!  We traveled further south overnight and are at the southern end of the state of Baja California.  Further south is the state of Baja California Sud which we will enter tomorrow.  We are at the offshore islands named Islas San Benito, a grouping of three small islands off the coast of Baja California, with a population of 2:

Our activities today were on San Benito Oeste, and the first activity was a Zodiac ride along the coast to see the pinnipeds there (pinnipeds being marine mammals who use their flippers as limbs to walk with). 

We saw four species of pinnipeds: Guadeloupe fur seals, elephant seals, harbor seals, and sea lions.  Here are some fur seals and elephant seals:

Here are some sea lion pups, who climb high on the cliffs while their mothers are off fishing.  Their only predators are sharks: 

There were many cormorants (and much cormorant guano): 

And the largest pelican rookery in Mexico:

 After touring the island by Zodiac, we went ashore for a hike.  We landed at a collection of ramshackle shacks used periodically by fishermen: 

The only building in good repair was the church: 

The coastline was dramatic as we began our hike: 

We came across a large group of elephant seals with one very large male and a number of females with young pups (our naturalist estimated two weeks old).  These pups nurse extremely fatty milk and gain ten pounds a day for a month, after which they’re on their own:

Here’s a portrait of a female: 

We could hear the seals loud barks, although it doesn’t come across in the video:

      (It turns out my connection won't allow a video upload.  Sorry)

We continued out walk and found cactus with edible flowers which we tried.  They were quite tasteless: 

Most impressive were the agave flowers.  After sending up these enormous stalks with the flowers, the plant dies: 

Back at the boat we had a late lunch, and then in the afternoon we had two lectures, one called Whales 101 which was amazingly comprehensive, and the next a presentation by a National Geographic photographer on the composition of photos.  It was very helpful.  Cocktail hour began at 6:00 as usual, and the wrap-up was at 6:30.  Dinner at 7:00 (especially delicious tonight with Ahi Tuna as a main course), and a watercolor lesson after dinner.  I skipped that.

 Surprisingly, Baja California Sud is in the Mountain time zone, so we’ll set our clocks an hour ahead tonight.

 It was a remarkable day!!  More tomorrow or when I can.