Isla San Jose & Isla San Francisco
The officers of National Geographic Sea Bird pulled anchor before dawn, and we made way for morning activities on the Baja Peninsula. A following swell rolled toward us from the north as the early light broke through a broken cloud layer. Wrap-around swells affected many of the anchorages along the peninsula, so we headed south to the San Jose Channel instead. A group of over 12 short-finned pilot whales swam along with us for a few minutes and later disappeared amongst the whitecaps. This coastline is especially wild. The highway down Baja California is on the Pacific side so few people live in this region. The sun rose above of the clouds and cast pools of golden light on the spectacular Sierra de la Giganta and sandstone shoreline.
Alberto enlightened us with a program entitled Mexico Lindo, about the colorful and fascinating Mexican culture. More pilot whales made another appearance before we anchored for our morning walks.
Our land-based outing was on Isla San Jose at Encantada, a protected anchorage within the San Jose Channel. Most of us walked up a beautiful, wide arroyo on sandy patterns from recent stream flows. This was the first canyon we’d been in with trees. Ironwood and palo verdes added a more somber backdrop for the striking white bark of palo blancos. The rains from past weeks had encouraged the lush greens from desert plants. Bright reds of coral vines added accents. Malva Rosa flowers were feeding an array of butterflies. Several large dark moths called black witches flew about, and many more littered the ground. Those guests on longer hikes made it to a sinuous narrow canyon that had been cut into sedimentary rock.
Later, while cruising on to Isla San Francisco we had a brief view of at least 100 long-beaked common dolphins. They quickly disappeared into the whitecaps of our following sea. Once on the beach, we became immersed in activities. One group walked to the other side of the island with Dr. William Gilly, an oceanographer working with National Geographic. They found many intertidal invertebrates including several species of nudibranchs and many brittle stars. Others snorkeled, kayaked, and hiked. Today’s expedition photo is of a group on its way to a rocky high point with great views of the island below. The south end of Isla San Francisco’s crescent beach can be seen in the background.
As the sun set, we ate a barbeque dinner on the beach. Our chef had prepared barbecued pulled pork and a fish named jurel. Our naturalists told Mexican stories, played the guitar, and gave an informal talk about stars and constellations. This day had been especially full, and most of our guests retired early.
