On the Sea of Cortez
Baja California, the long finger of land dangling into
Mexico with the Sea
of Cortez on one side and the Pacific Ocean on the other, is full of surprise
encounters. The Sea
of Cortez is a playground
for whales and other marine mammals.
In
La Paz, we
embarked on the Sea Bird, a small cruise ship fitted out with
all sorts of equipment designed to investigate this surprising environment. The
trip opened worlds of wonder to us.
The Sea
Bird is operated by Lindblad Cruises, a line that specializes in
ecotourism. Our guides were specialists in the flora and fauna of
Baja and though they had studied their specialties for many years, they as well
as we were constantly surprised by what we encountered.
“Look,
a Blue Whale,” Steve our expert in marine mammals shouted. “It’s the
largest animal that has ever lived on earth!”
We
saw the dark, majestic body of the whale surface and then slowly sound, several
times. We watched its dorsal fin and its graceful tail disappear
quite close to us. We peered through binoculars while we waited
breathlessly for it to emerge again from the mysterious waters that some call
the Sea of California.
Steve
was full of information: “These waters are ll,000 feet deep at their
deepest...the whales have a different song in each ocean basin... their low
pitched voices can travel l500 miles...no one knows how long they live...ivory
harpoons have been found in whales...best estimate..135-200 years.”
He
told us the area is young in geological time. Millennia
ago, tectonic plates shifted separating the Baja from the mainland causing
the depths of the Sea of Cortez and thrusting up the Sierra
Madre Mountains
on the mainland of Mexico.
“The
rocky islands you see are of volcanic origin,” he
explained.
Just
then another whale surfaced quite close to the ship.
“A
Bryde’s Whale,“ Steve shouted. “I’ve never seen one before.”
We
had not either. The Sea
of Cortez is full of
whales as well as twenty other species of marine mammals. There is
plenty of room for them to cruise its deep canyons and plenty of food brought
up by upwelling currents. Our scientist/guides on board seined the waters with
a net to see what sort of plankton they could find. They put a drop of water
under a microscope and hooked this to the t.v. in the lounge so we could see
the fascinating array of life on the t.v. screen--life forms only visible when
magnified. We saw the larvae of star fish and many beautiful shapes of
diatoms. I thought we might see krill, the preferred food of baleen
whales, but such was not the case. The seine net could not go deep enough
to strain out krill. Our day of whale watching
changed to evening as we watched the vivid colors of evening on the rugged
landscape we passed.
The next
day we saw two humpback whales spouting and sounding in unison, perhaps a
mother and her calf. We got quite close and Andrew, the ship’s
underwater camera man went out in the zodiac to film them. I gasped
when I saw how close he was to the whales’ flukes when he plunged into the
water.
I
asked him if he got any pictures when he was back on the Sea Bird.
“My heart was just pounding,” he said, “but I
couldn’t
get close
enough for filming...we
had equipment to record their voices, but they were not vocalizing
.”
We
learned to identify whales by their spouts...these whales had V shaped spouts
while the Blue Whale spouted straight up. Gray whales have a heart
shaped spout. Two Common Dolphins rode the bow wake as we cruised along. I
leaned over the rail to snap photos. Toward evening the sunlight on the islands
we passed turned their rose madder colors to deep royal blues as a full moon
rose over them.
We also had an underwater camera and
we used it the next day to photograph California Sea
Lions while snorkeling.
We
were up early and the sunrise shining on the islands turned them to gold. After
breakfast we donned wet suits provided by the cruise line along with fins and
snorkels.
We
could hear the barking of the sea lions as they cavorted on a picturesque rocky
island. These were young males, pups, and their
mothers. We slipped into the sea and were greeted by playful sea
lions under water. They zoomed by us and peered into our masks
with their large eyes. They played. I imagined that one was dancing
with me...twisting, looping, and sleek. I wished I had just some of their
underwater
grace. All around us were vivid flashes of bright colors and the fanciful
patterns and shapes of tropical fish going about their lives around the rocky
island.
We
stopped at Arroyo Blanco to kayak around the sea caves. We heard the water
surge and recede, sonorous and low, boom in the caves where we paddled.
Paddling close to the rocks we saw Sally Lightfoot Crabs and lizards and many
types of sea birds: pelicans, blue footed boobies, osprey. On the sandy beach,
small stones and shells washed in and out with the waves. We found paddling around the islands easier
than walking.
Many
varieties of cactus march up the stony hillsides of the islands we
visited. We took hikes, mindful of the thorns. These rugged islands
are not an easy place to live, yet many species of plants have found a way to
cling to the rocks in drought and in the rainy season.
We
were told that 99% of the living space on planet Earth is in the oceans. I felt
we had only scratched the surface on this cruise yet there were mysteries and
surprises abounding. We were fortunate to see a Blue Whale, a
Bryde’s Whale, Humpback Whales sounding and spouting in unison. We
followed a Sperm Whale, but it was elusive. We examined minute plankton through
a microscope. We saw many dolphins and swam with California Sea
Lions. We saw tropical fish and kayaked in sea caves.
We
came home with a deep respect for the surprising life found in and around the Sea of Cortez.
