Ensenada Grande & Los Islotes
This morning when we awoke, the National Geographic Sea Lion was anchored in Ensenada Grande, a beautiful bay at the northwest end of Espiritu Santo Island.
Our surroundings were turquoise water, clear blue sky, and rocks that resembled melting coffee ice cream. At the head of the bay was a gorgeous white, sandy beach. We added bright colors to the beach with our fleet of kayaks, and many of us paddled around the calm bay, where we watched pelicans diving for fish, or saw Sally Lightfoot crabs scurry along rocks at the water’s edge. When we tried our snorkeling gear in the shallow bay, we looked for fishes around rocks, and found bold, comical balloonfishes swimming in the open, seemingly unafraid of everything.
After walking on land for just a few minutes, we heard the beautiful, falling notes of the canyon wren’s song. A short distance inland, past the piles of pearl oyster shells left from pearl harvesting days, we found chuckwalla lizards basking on rocks in the heat of the late morning. A few lucky people saw a black jackrabbit, a species endemic to this island in the Gulf. Beyond a few mangroves there were cacti and other desert plants, and morning glories were blooming, their vines covered in blue flowers.
After leaving the bay, we found a lone humpback whale! We were able to see its tail flukes and back several times on our way towards our afternoon destination - Los Islotes. Here our ship anchored, and we spent the afternoon snorkeling in the company of California sea lions, and numerous fish species. Conditions were perfect: water clarity was excellent, fishes were abundant, and juvenile sea lions were very playful! The sea lions are so agile and fast underwater; they could swim circles around the fastest of us human swimmers! There were sergeant majors, king angelfishes, barberfishes, surgeonfishes, sea stars . . . and suddenly a young sea lion would burst through the scene, with a double twist and a twirl. It was all quite fun.
We cruised in Zodiacs around Los Islotes too, for views of the sea lions resting above water, and the birds such as brown boobies and blue-footed boobies, and the magnificent frigatebirds which soared overhead.
About half a mile away, numerous rays known as mobulas were jumping 5-10 feet out of the water, so we went for a closer look. Dozens and dozens of the rays jumped clear of the water, sometimes 6 or more of them simultaneously . . . and we have no idea why. It was simply spectacular to see, and a wonderful way to end a simply beautiful day.
Happy Spring.
