NGL 24.14.608N 110.02.931W clear sky, air temp 36C, water temp 27C, visibility 10mts, wind N5, swell N1-2
So much has happened over the past 24 hours, this trip is epic and never ceases with surprises!
Yesterday afternoon, after hopping around the beautiful bays of esp Santo, we got everyone onboard and sailed south towards Punta arena. We made it to the beach of the abandoned hotel by sunset. This beach is one of my favorite to snorkel, as it has a reef with lots of octopus, eels, turtles, and all sorts of sea of Cortez fish. We waited for the darkness to be (almost) complete and went for a night dive and snorkeling. A minute after I dropped the snorkelers in the water, I saw the lights go off and then I heard shouts of surprise and amazement: they were surrounded by bioluminescent plankton! Each of their movements was creating a million sparkles in the water. They all looked like Tinkerbells with stars above their head and all around in the water. The divers had a good time too.
On our way back to the boat, a surprise was awaiting: a school of mobulas (more than 50) was feeding on the plankton attracted to the surface by the floodlight of the Gallant Lady! Some guests jumped in and were surrounded by the mobulas, mouths wide open, in a feeding frenzy. At the moment, the mobulas are so busy feeding, they will not avoid you, they will be right in your face and that is a unique experience. Everybody enjoyed the show, from the water or from the boat.
This morning we woke up in front of la Ventana and we had great snorkeling with a big school of mobulas, for about 1hr. Then after breakfast, we found another school, smaller, but with rays jumping ten at a time, like popcorn. Then just before lunch, we found a Brydes whale. Juvenile, BIG yet not full size, and cherry on the cake: super friendly! Engines off, just drifting with the waves, our friendly whale would keep circling the NGL, passing really close, turning on its side, coming up the bow, up the stern. it even did a breech and showed us its pretty pinkish belly! It has been with us for 2 hours now and won’t leave.
This is our last day, and guests have a hard time finding words to describe this trip. Everyone has big smiles and sparkles in their eyes.
