Isla Montserrat
During the night the El Norte wind gained in force, blowing hard and raising the fetch in the Gulf of California. The Sea Lion continued her voyage north through the gulf until the early morning hours when Captain Graves decided it would be best to find refuge in quieter waters. At approximately 5:00am, the Sea Lion took shelter in the protected waters at the southwest corner of Isla Monserrate. The deck crew dropped the hook just off of Punta Tumbas and the lee created by the island provided calm seas.
Expedition leader Michelle Graves began announcements during breakfast explaining the current weather pattern and a change of plans for this Baja expedition. We would be spending the whole day in these protected waters and begin getting acquainted with this very unusual ecosystem affectionately called, “a desert by the sea.”
Once all the preliminary drills for our trip were finished, Zodiacs were launched and in a series of shuttles all those interested in hiking were brought ashore and assembled on the beach. It was a glorious sunny day. White caps could still be seen a few hundred yards off shore. Though, here on the beach the breeze was slight and quite welcome as the air temperature began to rise following the path of the sun across the sky.
We were divided into several groups, some of us wanted a little more exercise, some wanted more interpretation and some of us just wanted to stop, look and take in a dry place that had obviously had enough rain to grow a very special, interesting and diverse group of plants, insects, reptiles and birds! Dispersing into a small arroyo, each group began their mutual explorations winding along our respective paths finding a thick profusion of trees, shrubs and small flowering plants. In our morning walks, much explanation was given to this rare experience of seeing such lush growth in a desert. As we explored we learned we were walking on 1,000s of seeds, waiting for just the right combination of conditions to occur so that growth, flowers and seeds would insure the next generation’s survival.
Looking out into the Gulf of California we could see the Baja peninsula with Isla Carmen slightly visible to the north. The Gulf of California also known as the Sea of Cortez or the Vermillion Sea came into existence when the San Andreas Fault caused the splitting away of the Baja peninsula from the mainland of western Mexico, leaving a necklace of 53 islands scattered down the peninsula of Baja’s eastern shore. In 1978 President Lopez Portillo gave title to Isla Tiburon, the largest island in the gulf along with the adjacent coastline to the Seri Indians. At the same time he set up a special biosphere protecting all the islands of the Gulf. The protection was very important because of many rare and some endemic species of birds, reptiles, plants and fish.
Our morning walks on this protected island gave credence to a strong message of protection for this large water and island territory. “When a mosaic of biotic communities is saved together and kept healthy within a larger landscape, few endangered species fall between the cracks and succumb to extinction processes. Not only do humans benefit from the conservation of large wild landscapes, but many other species do as well.” From the tiniest bellybutton flowers to embedded shells in rock, to butterflies and hummingbirds; each of us found a moment alone, a gift being presented to all the observant eyes amongst us, in this desert by the sea.
During the night the El Norte wind gained in force, blowing hard and raising the fetch in the Gulf of California. The Sea Lion continued her voyage north through the gulf until the early morning hours when Captain Graves decided it would be best to find refuge in quieter waters. At approximately 5:00am, the Sea Lion took shelter in the protected waters at the southwest corner of Isla Monserrate. The deck crew dropped the hook just off of Punta Tumbas and the lee created by the island provided calm seas.
Expedition leader Michelle Graves began announcements during breakfast explaining the current weather pattern and a change of plans for this Baja expedition. We would be spending the whole day in these protected waters and begin getting acquainted with this very unusual ecosystem affectionately called, “a desert by the sea.”
Once all the preliminary drills for our trip were finished, Zodiacs were launched and in a series of shuttles all those interested in hiking were brought ashore and assembled on the beach. It was a glorious sunny day. White caps could still be seen a few hundred yards off shore. Though, here on the beach the breeze was slight and quite welcome as the air temperature began to rise following the path of the sun across the sky.
We were divided into several groups, some of us wanted a little more exercise, some wanted more interpretation and some of us just wanted to stop, look and take in a dry place that had obviously had enough rain to grow a very special, interesting and diverse group of plants, insects, reptiles and birds! Dispersing into a small arroyo, each group began their mutual explorations winding along our respective paths finding a thick profusion of trees, shrubs and small flowering plants. In our morning walks, much explanation was given to this rare experience of seeing such lush growth in a desert. As we explored we learned we were walking on 1,000s of seeds, waiting for just the right combination of conditions to occur so that growth, flowers and seeds would insure the next generation’s survival.
Looking out into the Gulf of California we could see the Baja peninsula with Isla Carmen slightly visible to the north. The Gulf of California also known as the Sea of Cortez or the Vermillion Sea came into existence when the San Andreas Fault caused the splitting away of the Baja peninsula from the mainland of western Mexico, leaving a necklace of 53 islands scattered down the peninsula of Baja’s eastern shore. In 1978 President Lopez Portillo gave title to Isla Tiburon, the largest island in the gulf along with the adjacent coastline to the Seri Indians. At the same time he set up a special biosphere protecting all the islands of the Gulf. The protection was very important because of many rare and some endemic species of birds, reptiles, plants and fish.
Our morning walks on this protected island gave credence to a strong message of protection for this large water and island territory. “When a mosaic of biotic communities is saved together and kept healthy within a larger landscape, few endangered species fall between the cracks and succumb to extinction processes. Not only do humans benefit from the conservation of large wild landscapes, but many other species do as well.” From the tiniest bellybutton flowers to embedded shells in rock, to butterflies and hummingbirds; each of us found a moment alone, a gift being presented to all the observant eyes amongst us, in this desert by the sea.
