Cabo San Lucas
This morning we awoke to another day of mist, fog, and gray. Although we had passed into the tropics during our transit south along the Baja California peninsula, the weather had remained unseasonably moist. Looking in our luggage for a raincoat, or trying to dry off the one we used yesterday was the business of the morning. Our morning cruise took us in the company of humpback whales, or as their Latin name states, the big-winged newenglander. As the Sea Bird bobbed in the residual swell we all had looks at the active whales as they swam to and away from each other. This is the breeding grounds for the humpback so there is large variety of behavior that takes place when the whales congregate. While we were happy to watch from the surface, we had the capability to listen from below. One of the crew said there were strange sounds coming from the bottom of the boat and asked whether it could it be the whales? After putting our hydrophone in the water it only took a few seconds to confirm the emanations. The unmistakable clicks, guttural moans and whistles came out of the speaker. They stopped singing rather quickly, but our concentration on sounds was soon turned to sight once again as they came up very close to the ship.
We had spent quite a bit of time with the whales and after reviewing charts and time table we realized we must proceed on to our afternoon stop, Cabo San Lucas. A hurricane in September attempted to wash away the fast food franchise that has become Cabo. It only achieved damage to the main highway and created a wonderful bloom of plants outside of town. This is where most of us headed. A bird walk and snorkeling were offered near one of the resort beach hotels. While the much larger birding group hiked the jogging trails in search of verdins, woodpeckers, hummingbirds, and raptors, the trio of brave souls looking for a swim and underwater life were rewarded with a completely deserted beautiful beach. The tide was low and the many natural patterns created by the combination of geology and biology were quite striking. There may even have been faces peering back at us made up of sea urchins and granite.
This morning we awoke to another day of mist, fog, and gray. Although we had passed into the tropics during our transit south along the Baja California peninsula, the weather had remained unseasonably moist. Looking in our luggage for a raincoat, or trying to dry off the one we used yesterday was the business of the morning. Our morning cruise took us in the company of humpback whales, or as their Latin name states, the big-winged newenglander. As the Sea Bird bobbed in the residual swell we all had looks at the active whales as they swam to and away from each other. This is the breeding grounds for the humpback so there is large variety of behavior that takes place when the whales congregate. While we were happy to watch from the surface, we had the capability to listen from below. One of the crew said there were strange sounds coming from the bottom of the boat and asked whether it could it be the whales? After putting our hydrophone in the water it only took a few seconds to confirm the emanations. The unmistakable clicks, guttural moans and whistles came out of the speaker. They stopped singing rather quickly, but our concentration on sounds was soon turned to sight once again as they came up very close to the ship.
We had spent quite a bit of time with the whales and after reviewing charts and time table we realized we must proceed on to our afternoon stop, Cabo San Lucas. A hurricane in September attempted to wash away the fast food franchise that has become Cabo. It only achieved damage to the main highway and created a wonderful bloom of plants outside of town. This is where most of us headed. A bird walk and snorkeling were offered near one of the resort beach hotels. While the much larger birding group hiked the jogging trails in search of verdins, woodpeckers, hummingbirds, and raptors, the trio of brave souls looking for a swim and underwater life were rewarded with a completely deserted beautiful beach. The tide was low and the many natural patterns created by the combination of geology and biology were quite striking. There may even have been faces peering back at us made up of sea urchins and granite.
