Tom O'Brien, our expedition leader, woke us up a little prior to our scheduled wake-up call this morning, but all was forgiven when he announced the reason: a large group of spinner dolphins off the port side.
I jumped out of bed, threw on shorts and a sweatshirt, grabbed my binoculars and dashed out on deck. What a sight!
The surface of the sea, sparkling in the early morning sunshine, was literally jumping with dolphins. When they weren't bow-riding, these sleek mammals were leaping out of the water and actually spinning in the air before vanishing underwater. Naturalist Larry Hobbs, who's been coming to Baja for many years, was particularly excited. He's never seen spinner dolphins in the Sea of Cortez (they're usually found in warmer waters), and he found this group especially interesting because of the large number of young dolphins.
