Los Islotes and Bahia Bonanza, Isla Espiritu Santo
This quiet morning the sky of the Gulf of California was covered with white clouds as we approached our first destination of the day at Los Islotes. Los Islotes is a very popular haul-out for the California sea lion and an excellent locality for snorkeling and watching seabirds. Right after breakfast we boarded our Zodiac boats for tours around this interesting pinniped paradise.
Dozens of sea lions were seen in all possible types of acrobatics and games and forming funny rafts that followed our rubber boats. The year-old pups were the more active – diving, swimming, and jumping out of the water. Adult male sea lions were more occupied in barking and practicing antagonistic attitudes against other males, while many possibly-pregnant females just observed them from their very comfortable resting spots.
Frigatebirds, pelicans, blue-footed and brown boobies, as well as turkey vultures, were the bird species observed, either perched on the cliffs, soaring above or actively participating in courtship dances. Later we snorkeled amongst the sea lions to have a better view of them under water, and our Undersea Specialist dove for filming their “submarine flight.”
After lunch the National Geographic Sea Bird moved to another location called Bahia Bonanza, located at the southeastern tip of the Espiritu Santo-Partida Sur Archipelago. In the meantime, one of the ship’s officers threw a device overboard designed to take measurements of the minimum oxygen layer for research being conducted by National Geographic researcher Dr. Bill Gilly. The device was sent to a depth of 500 meters in the gulf.
Once we anchored in Bonanza Bay, we put our kayaks on land and explored the beautiful shoreline of the bay. Some of our guests also swam and snorkeled again, while others preferred to walk peacefully on the long, sandy beach or hike inland to observe the beautiful vegetation, including the wax-producing slipper plant, the cardon and leather plants.
Close to sunset, a colorful sky painted with reds and oranges crowned the end of our fascinating trip amongst the gray whales and the Gulf of California.
