The northwest winds we encountered for most of the day yesterday blew themselves out on our southern migration towards Isla Danzante. We awoke to an absolutely glass-flat sea off the western end of Isla del Carmen surrounded in wildlife. An unidentified Baleen whale erratically surfaced in the calm waters, dolphins could be seen on the distant horizon, but the thing that caught our attention this morning was the mobulas.
These smaller cousins to the giant manta ray were flipping and flapping all around National Geographic Sea Lion! At about five feet in wingspan, these oceanic rays looked like pop-tarts on steroids as they leaped, flipped, and turned somersault nearly everywhere we looked. The resounding “SLAP” as they hit the water could be heard clearly above our excited commotion as we tried to photograph and call out directions to the latest jumper. Captain Shawn Nettles was able to maneuver the ship near a small group near the surface, allowing us to peer down into the clear water and see the entire body of several of these graceful rays. Magical!
During the morning expedition leader Larry Prussin pulled out all of the options as guests were able to hike, kayak, swim, snorkel, and expedition landing craft tour as they wished from the perfectly protected little bay known as Honeymoon Cove. One of the rare sightings by snorkelers was the discovery of a sea horse, in less than three feet of water! It posed and delighted us in the water with its oddly shaped body, a perfect mimic of the sargasso around it.
After a scrumptious BBQ lunch on the sun deck, we continued south in search of more whales and dolphins. So far on this expedition we have seen literally hundreds of whales and dolphins, but we wanted more. Fin whales, bottlenose dolphins, and a huge pod of many hundred long-beaked common dolphins were the perfect answer to our quest, and hundreds of gigabytes of memory were gobbled up by hungry cameras intent on capturing the moments throughout the afternoon. As the sun slowly sank behind the Baja Peninsula in the west, we were elated but tired from packing in so much into one Baja day! Rest well dear shipmates, for tomorrow we swim with California sea lions at Los Islotes!
