The Gulf of California
Early morning in the Gulf of California, south of Isla del Carmen. To the west is the beautiful, layered volcanic rock of the Sierra de la Giganta, on the Baja California Peninsula. To the east is the open water of the Gulf of California, and on its far side, some 100 miles away, is the Mexican mainland. Venus shines brightly overhead, and then begins to fade as the first light of dawn brings color to the eastern sky.
We begin our search, scanning over the water for columns of mist that indicate the presence of marine mammals. We are soon rewarded. Even before the sun has appeared, we spot the blow and then the flukes of humpback whales. The eastern sky turns a brilliant red; then the top of the solar disk pokes above the horizon with an unmistakable green flash (OK ... it was more a green blip) and a few more skeptics become believers. We spot more blows. These are not the bushy blows of humpbacks, but taller columns of mist. One whale dives, showing us the characteristic curved fin, set far back on a massive body, which identifies it as a fin whale. Fin whales are residents here; they spend their entire lives within the Gulf of California. Later, we see two smaller Bryde's whales. All of these are rorquals, members of the group of baleen whales with throat pleats that expand to allow them to engulf huge amounts of water from which they strain their food. Where but in the Gulf of California could you find three rorqual species before breakfast?!
But the treat of the morning still awaited us. We ate our breakfast and returned to the foredeck, and found a very tall, straight-sided blow (perhaps 10 meters or 33 feet) that hung in the morning air above the largest of all whales, the largest of all animals, a blue whale. These whales approach 100 feet in length and 200 tons in mass. Over and over, our whale came to the surface for a series of six or so breaths as it restored the oxygen in its tissues. That accomplished, it raised its flukes and descended into the depths to seek out and consume swarms of krill from the productive waters. Once the great whales – the blues, fins, humpbacks, and others – were severely reduced by the whaling industry. These were not bad men. They were seeking a product that society demanded. Now, we know better. With protection of the whale populations and their marine environment (for one without the other is futile), many whale populations seem to be increasing, both here and elsewhere in the world's oceans. May they continue!
We spent our afternoon at Isla Santa Catalina. It is the most remote of the islands of the Gulf and has never been connected to either the mainland or the Peninsula. A walk up a desert arroyo introduced us to the giant columnar cardon cactus, the largest of all cacti and the signature species of the Southern Sonoran Desert, and to the giant barrel cactus of Santa Catalina. The longer-walking group encountered the famous rattleless rattlesnake that is endemic to (found only on) Isla Santa Catalina. Some of our group chose an exhilarating dip in the ocean to admire colorful tropical fish swimming over solitary corals, sea stars, and handsome sea cucumbers, among other invertebrate animals of the Gulf. It was a full and exciting first day of our trip to Baja California.
