Santa Rosalia, Baja California – Tales of the Gulf
Pre-dawn light flooded our world this morning as we once again awoke to absolute breathless winds and glass-flat seas. The deep blues and blacks gave way to reds, oranges, and yellows as the sun froze our position; we had truly become a painted ship upon a painted ocean. The golden hour had begun!
The call from the bow came almost as soon as it was possible to scan for wildlife, “Whale at 12:00 o’clock!” A mother and calf Bryde’s whale were the main characters in the first tale of the day. Mom was slowly exploiting sub-surface food resources for breakfast with her calf right at her side. On her closest pass in front of the National Geographic Sea Bird we saw and photographed a deep wound on her caudal peduncle, evidence of a fascinating tale that leaves our imaginations to fill in the rest of the story.
Long-beaked common dolphins graced the bow of the ship as we were literally surrounded by several hundred animals leaping clear of the waters’ surface in a synchronized water ballet. There were so many individuals in this pod that these energetic dolphins actually changed the surface of the ocean as they beat and thrashed the sea surface to a boil. Beaks and bodies and tails filled our camera frames as gigabytes of memory cards were quickly consumed in a frenetic burst.
Perhaps the most unusual tale of the day came to us in the form of an inquisitive striped marlin. This magnificent billfish escorted the ship for almost 40 minutes, first down the port side and then along the starboard rail, flashing iridescent blues and purples as it went. Delicate “S” curves were carved into the flat seas with the swooshing side-to-side movement of its tail.
Our late afternoon was spent wandering the sights in the quaint town of Santa Rosalia. Once back on board the most romantic tale of the day came to us in the form of champagne and toasts to Bob and Deb Hulse, who celebrated 35 years of marriage.
The final tale of the day came in the dark of the night as bioluminescence painted outlines of fleeing fish and darting squid like bright green fireworks exploding off the bow of the ship. The “oooohhhhs” and “aaaahhhhs” reverberated into the night, as we had once again become a painted ship upon a painted ocean.
