The dawn broke as National Geographic Sea Lion motored south into the Bahia de Loreto National Park in Baja California Sur, Mexico. The objective of the morning was wildlife viewing. Keen eyes crowded the decks and watched eagerly. The productive waters of the area did not disappoint. First the word of a distant whale was whispered, then exclaimed, and finally broadcast ship-wide as sperm whales were discovered over and over. The ship was bobbing in a veritable whale-soup. Just to seal the deal, out of the blue, the hotel team appeared and set up an impromptu Bloody Mary bar right on the bow! After a splendid morning watched the largest member of the toothed whale swim and dive, we continued our journey south to Half Moon Bay. Here the watersport toys were deployed and a splendid day of snorkeling, paddle boarding, and kayaking ensued. Once the day began to cool down, hikes up to a nearby ridgeline were offered, and a group of enterprising near-shore explorers went off to explore the intertidal in the spirit of John Steinbeck and Ed Rickettes. To top the day, dinner was served ashore in a barbeque style, informal dinner, and many a s’more was toasted.
2/25/2022
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National Geographic Venture
Port Lopez Mateos
This morning, National Geographic Venture docked at the interesting port, San Carlos. From the 1940s to the 1990s, the port was used for loading agricultural products and fertilizers from the nearby Santo Domingo Valley. Nowadays, San Carlos is basically a place for loading sardines from a local cannery. It is also an important tourist base for whale-watching, principally mating gray whales. At the port, all guests and staff boarded buses to Lopez Mateos, a town located near the northernmost tip of Magdalena Island. The buses traveled across Magdalena Plain, a section of the Sonoran Desert that receives a lot of moisture in the form of dense fog from the Pacific Ocean. Lichens and orchillas, a type of flowering plant, give the desert a phantasmagoric appearance. Guests and staff enjoyed spotting numerous birds, including crested caracaras and kestrels. Once in Lopez Mateos, we boarded local pangas for whale-watching. During two rounds of whale-watching, we encountered several whales close to our pangas. However, most of the whales were preoccupied with traveling, searching for mates, or just finishing their time of reproduction and thus exiting the lagoon. In reality, the whales were not interested in interacting with the boats and their excited cargo, but we had many opportunities to observe the behavior of these magnificent animals. In town, we all delighted in a delicious fish lunch, ‘pescado zarandeado.’ We enjoyed exploring the local dock with its many colorful shops and crafts, and we admired the wonderful sculpture of a cow-calf pair of gray whales.
