Exploring Danzante Island
Windy was the theme of this morning. Zodiacs headed out early to investigate the volcanic formed coves of Danzante Island. High winds made for an adventurous ride as we enjoyed the water birds and also many types of cacti that could be observed from the water including cardons, cholla, prickly pear and the sour pitaya.
Upon our return from the Zodiacs, naturalist Adrian Cerda offered a fabulous presentation on the biogeography of the Baja California peninsula. Showing wonderful slides, he explained that three of the four possible types of islands exist here. Though there are no atolls, Baja California does have sandbars, continental and oceanic islands. We discovered that even the island of Danzante that we are visiting today was once attached to the peninsula. Once detached, animals and plants reach the islands by swimming, flying, being carried in the stomachs of other animals or even drifting ashore on floating logs. Finally Adrian eloquently demonstrated the importance of properly caring for the sensitive islands and the creatures that inhabit them, by showing that almost 75% of total extinctions on the planet in the last 400 years had occurred on islands.
After a delectable Mexican flavored lunch, we headed to the island to take advantage of picturesque hiking opportunities. Hikers climbed up a ridge to discover a stunning outline of the island that some believe may have inspired the name ‘the dancer’ for the breathtaking place. They even found an osprey nest with two birds inhabiting it. The snorkelers found a calm spot where they were treated to large leopard groupers, Cortez angelfish, stingrays and even a moray eel quite close to the Zodiac. Those who didn’t make it out to the snorkel site were well compensated with some amazing under water footage provided by undersea specialist, Mike Greenfelder.
The day was completed by a fascinating conversation on the history and current affairs of the area led by naturalists Adrian Cerda and William Lopez-Forment.
Windy was the theme of this morning. Zodiacs headed out early to investigate the volcanic formed coves of Danzante Island. High winds made for an adventurous ride as we enjoyed the water birds and also many types of cacti that could be observed from the water including cardons, cholla, prickly pear and the sour pitaya.
Upon our return from the Zodiacs, naturalist Adrian Cerda offered a fabulous presentation on the biogeography of the Baja California peninsula. Showing wonderful slides, he explained that three of the four possible types of islands exist here. Though there are no atolls, Baja California does have sandbars, continental and oceanic islands. We discovered that even the island of Danzante that we are visiting today was once attached to the peninsula. Once detached, animals and plants reach the islands by swimming, flying, being carried in the stomachs of other animals or even drifting ashore on floating logs. Finally Adrian eloquently demonstrated the importance of properly caring for the sensitive islands and the creatures that inhabit them, by showing that almost 75% of total extinctions on the planet in the last 400 years had occurred on islands.
After a delectable Mexican flavored lunch, we headed to the island to take advantage of picturesque hiking opportunities. Hikers climbed up a ridge to discover a stunning outline of the island that some believe may have inspired the name ‘the dancer’ for the breathtaking place. They even found an osprey nest with two birds inhabiting it. The snorkelers found a calm spot where they were treated to large leopard groupers, Cortez angelfish, stingrays and even a moray eel quite close to the Zodiac. Those who didn’t make it out to the snorkel site were well compensated with some amazing under water footage provided by undersea specialist, Mike Greenfelder.
The day was completed by a fascinating conversation on the history and current affairs of the area led by naturalists Adrian Cerda and William Lopez-Forment.
