Desert Critters

A native Baja California rattle snake, expertly handled!

Whales, coyotes, dolphins, pelicans, gulls, shore birds, raptors, even one or two shrikes and caracaras — during our trip to Baja California we looked for wild birds and mammals of all types, on land and on the water. It’s much more unusual to see wild invertebrates because they are elusive and mainly nocturnal. However, on the first day of our voyage, before we boarded the ship, we enjoyed a presentation from a reptile expert, who works for a nature center that tries to protect these often-reviled creatures. 

The speaker, Victor Velazquez of El Serpantario Rescue Center, showed us a number
of species of invertebrates. He and his helpers allowed us to touch the less dangerous ones.

I’m posting this on Friday in order to share with Eileen’s “Saturday Critters” blog party, where one can link to images of domestic animals, pets, zoo animals, imaginary creatures, and wildlife. 

Beautiful Baja California

While we were watching blue whales and humpback whales from the bow of the ship, the naturalists/guides and passengers
noticed a huge school of dolphins in the distance. They estimated 150 individuals.

The dolphins swam towards the ship because they enjoy bow-riding, that is, they get in front of the
ship’s bow wave and enjoy being pushed through the water by the power of the ship’s engines.

Bow-riding.

The first morning of the trip we watched a number of blue whales off the ship’s bow.
The ship’s pilot is very good at following the whales.

Also from the ship’s bow, we saw a variety of sea birds: both close up and at a distance.

We watched these Masked Boobies and five of their friends swooping and diving.

Frigate Birds were often flying overhead.

… and always gulls!

Mangrove swamps are home to many species, including pelicans and cormorants.
In fact, we saw pelicans everywhere!

From the small boats we also saw shore birds.

Here I am, kayaking in a lovely, protected bay with beautiful red dunes!

I find that the sand dunes on the beaches are very beautiful

Naturalist Carlos leading our hike on the dunes.

These Mexican towns include interesting street art. Unfortunately, there are also signs of poverty.
This is very much a trip dedicated to wildlife, so there is virtually no contact with local people.

Most of all, the open sea and the interior lagoons are stunning!

The moon was full on our first night of the trip, and was beautiful every night.
Here it is from our balcony at a point when the ship was facing conveniently to see it.

From shore as the moon was rising on another night we could see the lit-up ship on the horizon.

— Map from Lindblad

We have now been back home for a few days, and are adjusting again to our Michigan climate. Fortunately, since our return, we’ve enjoyed a bit of winter sunshine! 

The National Geographic Venture, the ship on which we traveled,  is run by Lindblad Expeditions. We have found it to be a wonderful and reliable travel company. Lindblad partners with National Geographic, enabling travel to many hard-to-reach locations such as the great beaches and lagoons of Baja California, as well as offering trips to Patagonia, Iceland, Greenland, Svalbard, the Panama Canal, the Pacific Northwest, Antarctica, and many more. The naturalists on these ships are fantastic, and we always learn a lot! Our expedition was called “Baja California: Among the Great Whales.”

Here is a link to the website where you can learn more about Lindblad if you are interested: https://www.expeditions.com/

 Blog post © 2023 mae sander

The National Geographic Venture

The National Geographic Venture was our home for one week in Baja California last week
on a Lindblad Expedition. We traveled down the east coast and up the west coast of Baja.

At sunrise, many passengers enjoy the light show from the bow of the ship.

At sunset in a beautiful anchorage one day, a local musical group performed on the sun deck.
One of the naturalist staff enjoys accompanying them.

In the ship’s dining room once, we had dinner with two naturalists, Carlos and Adrian,
who are both very knowledgeable about the wildlife and the history of Mexico.

The back of the ship, seen from the dock. The orange boat is a life boat.
The second balcony from the back belonged to our cabin.

Enjoying the sun on our balcony.

The view from the ship

  

Looking towards Cabo San Lucas at the tip of the Baja California peninsula.

The full moon was setting on our first morning onboard.

Late one afternoon, a very acrobatic whale was breaching off the end of the ship.
We spent quite a lot of time whale watching from the bow of the ship.

Zodiac excursions from the ship

After putting on a life vest and checking off our names on the On/Off Board, we and the other passengers
would walk down the stairway to the Zodiac boats to go to beaches or to cruise around and see wildlife.

On a Zodiac cruise.

A Zodiac tethered just below our balcony.

On one Zodiac cruise, we could see the Venture through a natural arch.

 

From the Zodiacs, we viewed a sea lion colony. Much of the coast of Baja is a protected nature reserve.
Thus, the Zodiac stays a safe distance to avoid disturbing the animals.

“Wet Landings” mean you wade to or from the Zodiac. Better roll up your pant legs!

Cruising on special whale-watching boats called “pangas”

In the two lagoons where breeding grey whales spend the winter months, the Mexican government allows
only a small number of boats to take passengers to see these extraordinarily friendly animals.

There is a theory that the whales are especially attracted to the sound of certain brands of outboard motor.

On the dock

One of our two days watching the breeding grounds of the whales was a two hour bus ride from the ship.
This is the dock where we took these small boats — the pangas.

Blog post © 2023 by mae sander

Beaches

As our ship, the National Geographic Venture, headed around the tip of Baja California, we stopped at a number of very beautiful beaches, where we were often the only humans. The long expanses of sand, the dunes, the birds, and other creatures are just wonderful!

Sand Dollar Beach

Everyone agreed that this beach had more sand dollars than we’ve seen on any beach elsewhere.

We walked across the dunes for around 20 minutes to
go from our landing spot to Sand Dollar Beach on the Pacific Ocean side.

Beach Picnic

S’mores of course!

Coyotes on the Beach

Our guide Carlos pointed out these coyotes that live on the dunes near a beach.

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After a very interesting wildlife walk, Carlos sketched a whale on the beach.

 

Birds own the Mangrove Beaches

 

Photos © 2023 mae sander