Naturalist guide: John C. Conlon
April 6:
All guests onboard by 5:30 PM. Nice to see one of our French guests back again. It is always a pleasure to have professional whale people on board.
April 7:
Leave La Paz by 8 AM and do a panga ride around Los Islotes by 11:15 AM. After lunch most guests go for a snorkel. The water is now considerably warmer than it was in mid-February, which is nice. The afternoon snorkel is fun. There seems to be a lot more activity on the part of the male sea lions as they are becoming more aggressive about keeping other males from desired spots on the rock ledges. We pull anchor about 2:30 PM and are soon looking at a mom and calf pair of fin whales. We track them for about 45 minutes and get fair looks at best as they are moving quite fast. Judging by the straight line, they are likely going somewhere in particular. We aim toward San Franciscito and on the way get the group of bottle-nosed dolphins that we are seeing regularly to the east of Cabeza de Mechudo. We watch for about an hour. Drop anchor at about 7 PM and watch for the coming sunset.
April 8:
Pull anchor from San Franciscito and shortly thereafter drop it at San Jose lagoon. Panga ride is good at mid-tide. Great looks at yellow-crowned night herons but the best of the morning is the radiant greens of the little green herons in the mangrove roots. We again pull anchor and by 11:45 AM we begin a wonderful though odd day of whale watching. First we find a dead adult female humpback on the beach beneath the light beacon at the San Jose salt mine. It appears to be a relatively recent death, as the skin is mostly still intact, though a bit torn. She is approximately 45 feet long. Tongue out, belly up and slightly bloated, she is only slightly hard on the nose and with no apparent orca or ship-strike marks. We later round the northern tip of San Jose and find NO blue whales. They are ALL gone!!! We do get a distant look at a group of 30 or so bottlenose dolphins. And, we soon pick up a living humpback... that proceeds to do a 25 minute dive. Excellent look at how well adapted these animals are at spending time under water. Some decent looks eventually! Onward we spot several orcas northeast of Las Animas. They are flying to the south and we follow for several miles. On the way we get a distant look at two dwarf sperm whales. All along we are looking at pairs, triplets and quadruplets of mantas, plus one hammerhead and one thresher shark as well. Later, we get a second look at the first bottlenose pod and later still a look at a pod of another 30 or so bottlenose. Sunset is spectacular and we anchor for the night at el Mangle.
April 9:
Lovely morning hike up el Mangle arroyo. It is relaxed and cool with the morning's westerly breeze. Good looks at gnat catchers and ash-throated flycatchers. Pull anchor at approximately 11:30 AM. Pick up one blue whale just southeast of Isla Habana and it pulls us several miles back to the south. Along the way we cross paths with one juvenile humpback that passes beneath the Don Jose. We also see leaping thresher sharks, one sooty shearwater and one and one half kilometer lines of jellyfish. We aim northeast toward Santa Cruz. To the west of San Diego we pick up two blues that are alternately feeding and traveling north. We eventually aim south for San Franciscito for the night. Dinner is superb! Juan Carlos prepares lamb for dinner, accompanied by broccoli, scalloped potatoes and guacamole. I am really amazed at the variety of meals this year. The vegetables and sauces are always changing. I have rarely had the same dinner twice in the six weeks I have been on the boat. Guests are very happy with the meals and say so on a regular basis.
April 10:
Morning on San Francisco. Guests go for varying combinations of hiking, swimming and kayaking. We pull anchor by 11:30 PM and aim to the east of San Jose. Several guests have commented on their happiness with the relaxed approach to the progress of the week. We get good looks at some 200 common dolphins feeding with pelicans, yellow-footed and Heerman's gulls and frigate birds. We aim south as the north wind is picking up. We eventually aim for Los Islotes as the wind is increasing. We take an afternoon snorkel and go kayaking. And then we aim for Ensenada Grande to anchor for the night. Most guests are content to hang out during the siesta for reading on the boat. Three particularly agile guests are up for an adventure. Jose and I talk for a bit and I then take the three around the northern point by panga. Felix drops us off and we then hike around the point, over the scree of sharp rock and volcanic ash dust above the north wind's waves hitting the rocks beneath. We look straight up 60 feet of shear cliff composed of alternating layers of black lava and pink ash. Two guests stop and sit still halfway around. The other and I keep going and make it all the way around. Up the slope we go, then up the cliff to the top flats of Isla Partida—I've never been up here before! We see black lava rock and natural glass crystals. We spook one black jackrabbit. And on the way down we spook a big Hunsacker's spiny lizard. Felix picks us up at 7 PM. Thank you from all to Felix and Jose!
April 11:
Pull anchor at approximately 8:30 AM as the wind has pretty well died out over the night. We aim northwest and pick up two humpbacks after an hour or so. One of the two is the same individual that we looked at north of San Jose on Tuesday, April 8. We get good looks. Two more humpbacks travel by us toward the northeast. We soon aim south and find a feeding frenzy of some 100 common dolphins (many with remoras), a hundred or so pelicans, some brown boobies and yellow-footed gulls. All are feeding heavily on a sardine school. It is interesting to watch the pelicans in particular as they always aim for the perimeter of the sardine school. We aim back to the northeast but the wind is again picking up. We soon pick up a pair of fin whales and a distant humpback. Some fair looks at the finbacks and we aim for Candellero as the wind is now blowing hard and two guests are feeling a bit seasick. We spend the afternoon walking and kayaking and enjoy happy hour on the beach. We anchor for the night in the lee of Isla Ballena.
April 12:
We pull anchor after breakfast and are off to the west to see if we can find some whales. We do ultimately find two separate groups of bottlenose dolphins and a lot of leaping mobulas in the far distance. We reach the marina in La Paz by 12:30 PM and end a wonderful adventure.