Punta Colorada and Puerto Gato

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 a sand layer which is eroding.  It will fall soon, and we saw many shells high up on the island:

 

When we finished our climb, we went back down to the rocky beach for a walk to a place where large fossils were known to be exposed:

 

We climbed up above the beach:

Here’s a fossilized whale vertebra buried in the rock:

 

This crab is called Sally Lightfoot.  I need to explore why it has that name.  These colors are NOT enhanced—it really is that vibrant:

 

There were baby Sally Lightfoot crabs nearby:

 

These tiny Periwinkle snails were in tidal pools.  They’re only about ½ inch across:

 

Also in a tidal pool was this serpent star:

 

Finally, after the walk, we went back to the ship and while we ate lunch, the ship moved to Puerto Gato, a small bay on the mainland.  There were choices of activities, I chose to go sea kayaking along the coast.  It was spectacular:

We returned to the ship in time for dinner, after which there was a show of everyone’s five best photos (which had been turned in earlier).  Many were truly wonderful.

 Tomorrow morning, we dock in La Paz as our trip ends.  It’s been remarkable, educational, beautiful and relaxing.  We will be bussed to the Cabo airport, and I will be picked up there by my sister Meg and her husband Richard.  I’ll spend a few days with them before flying home on Monday. 

 Thanks to everyone who wrote or commented on this blog.  Future trips will include a mission to Israel with the Rochester Jewish Community Federation in February, Mongolia with Leah in July, and a gorilla trek in Rwanda in late August with some travel in Uganda before that starts.  I hope to blog Mongolia and Uganda/Rwanda, but probably not Israel.