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We had a moderately rough crossing from Isla San Franciscito to Los Islotes (close to Espirito Santo) but were rewarded with an amazing sighting of a baby blue whale. At Los Islotes, we surprised some underwater harvesters fishing illegally. Unfortunately, they took off before we could get a good picture of them. Our divers had a couple of great dives and saw lots of neat stuff including California sea lion pups who came over to play with the divers.
Read MoreWe ventured inside for over a mile and saw amazing upside-down jellyfish and tiny oysters in the mangroves. We also saw osprey, egrets, ibises and herons. We then steamed over to the protected bay at the south side of the small island of San Franciscito where some of our guests went beach walking.
Read MoreOur divers had two great dives and saw lots of sea fans, horn sharks, guitarfish, stingrays and yellowfin tuna. Dave went looking for a blue whale that had been spotted nearby and instead, found a huge school of thousands of mobula rays on the surface, jumping and flapping their wings (pectoral fins) and leaping up to 6 feet out of the water!
Read MoreToday’s dive sites included the wreck of the ferry Salvatierra and Suwammee Reef with its enormous biomass of fish, sea lions and cormorants. This is where Peter Schalwyk, one of our favourite divemasters, shot his famous sequence of a determined cormorant chasing and finally catching a bait fish.
Read MoreThey started the dive day at the tiny little islet of La Reina – famous for the enormous bait ball of scad (mackeral) that hang out around the rock. Up until a couple of years ago, this was known as the best and most reliable site in the Sea of Cortez at which to find giant manta rays.
Read MoreOur good friends from the Vancouver Aquarium and Marine Science Centre (led by the ever-intrepid Andy Lamb) requested a repeat of the Sea of Cortez spring expedition of 2 years ago. So heck, why not!
Read MoreThe quickest and easiest way to get around San Lucas is by water taxi so Sandy simply flagged down one of the dozens of passing pangas and made it back to the Nautilus.
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