Closing out our last day of this amazing voyage, we returned to Bahia Almejas for another session with the gray whales. Once again it did not disappoint, as we were surrounded by gorgeous spyhopping gray whales. After lunch our guests had the opportunity to enjoy kayaks and hikes at Punta Belcher. After our beach time we enjoyed the music of Los Coyotes, followed by our fiesta dinner, and finally the guest slide show to close out the week. An unbelievable journey!
1/21/2025
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National Geographic Venture
El Cardonal, Espiritu Santo Island
This morning National Geographic Venture anchored at El Cardonal, one of the many little bays along the protected western coast of Espiritu Santo Island. Espiritu Santo is one of our favorite islands in the Gulf of California for its beautiful pink-red-orange calc-alkaline ignimbrites, which are part of the Comondu Volcanic Field. We hiked and explored the land, discovering the combination of three magnificent ecosystems –mangroves, dunes with halophytic plants, and the desert vegetation. Many cardon, galloping, and organ pipe cactuses were seen by our interested guests and staff under sunny and breezy climatic conditions. A number of sea and land birds were also observed, as well as tracks of one of the endemic island mammals: the ring-tailed cat, the smallest member of the raccoon family. After lunch and a very interesting presentation about the origin of the Gulf of California, guests were invited to snorkel along the northern rocky shore of El Cardonal and to explore by Zodiac. This active day was finished and crowned by a multicolored sunset behind the peak of the impressive La Giganta Mountain Range, also built by volcanic ignimbrites.
