Baja Cruise.

12-28-07 SEA OF CORTEZ: I am behind a few days from the busy pace these Lindblad people set. Anyway, we left LAX on 12-26-07 after another two-hour delay on the tarmac. We ultimately did get to Cabo and connected with our bus for a four-hour ride to La Paz to catch our ship. We had a refreshment stop at Los Adobes, a bistro with a beautiful cactus garden. It was dark when we finally got to the 'Sea Bird',the Lindblad/National Geographic ship.

On 12-27-07 the 'Sea Bird' took us north to Isla Coronados, an island further north in the Sea of Cortez near the town of Loreto. During the morning sail we saw lots of dolphins surfing on our bow wave. After lunch we had a hike to the top of a volcano and through two seabed terraces. Judy and I actually did only the first half of the hike. It was quite difficult under foot as the trail, so to speak, was made of loose, round volcanic rocks, which, being round and loose, tended to roll on the steep hillside. We each had a bit of a roll too.


Dolphins in the bow wave, reflection of bow of ship.


Isla Coronados. andesite and basalt.

Soldiering on to 12-28-07 and Isla Danzante, another volcanic island, a bit back to the south, but still near Loreto. We started the day kayaking and had a cruise of the shoreline in a zodiac with a naturalist guide. We saw lots of birds including: pelican, brown booby, blue-footed booby, egret, great egret, sand pipers, gulls, blue heron, kingfisher, grebe. We also got in a quick hike to the top of this island before lunch, a much shorter hike than the previous day. In the afternoon we snorkeled and had a guided hike back to the top of the volcano again seeing the birds, a couple small lizards and a scorpion. The snorkeling was in water with temperature of 67°. There were no coral but rock formations served as home to the mostly small fish. There were a couple of interesting starfish. The swim was, brrr, fairly short even with a wet suit.


Kayakers.


Isla Danzante and the 'Sea Bird'.


Cardon cactus and friends.


Pelican.


Starfish.


12-29-07 SEA OF CORTEZ: In the morning we went ashore to the town of Loreto after docking at Puerto Escondido. Loreto is an early mission colony founded in 1697 and the spot from which Junipero Serra started his string of California missions. The mission church is still there, a Romanesque building now with an attached small museum and courtyard. The rest of the town has a seaport for boats and lot of touristy shopping. We all walked around and some of us bought stuff and some of us showed sensible restraint. The afternoon was on the water looking for whales, but only getting a brief glimpse of some dolphins.