Thank you for joining this expedition via the web. If you could turn this screen into 3-dimensions and blow it up to life size, you could stand on your chair and enter our world. Today would be a great day to join us.Young California sea lions would be waiting for you in the clear water of the Sea of Cortez. They still want to play even after forty of our guests interacted with them for over an hour. The sea lions row through the water with their big front flippers, beige-colored forms with big brown eyes, spinning and turning back on themselves. They will abruptly swim up to your face mask and peer in to see who's home, blow bubbles and then leap out of the water as they race off. You could have watched their antics with us. If playing with sea lions wasn't your thing, you could have been mesmerized by over thirty species of fish winding through rocks or defending their algae covered boulders or just "cruisin’" as big turquoise parrot fish do.
There would have been room for you on our morning Zodiac tours observing sea lions on the rocks. You could have taken a few lessons on how to loaf. They leave the island for several days at a time to forage. When they return they are truly slackers, except for some of the more aggressive bulls like the one in the photograph just in front of the ship.
After lunch we cruised north along the San Jose Channel looking for whales and dolphins. Those of you at home may be in a place where big snow flakes are falling or the wind is howling across the prairies. It sure wasn't like that here. You could have been basking like a giant lizard on a deck chair. If that didn't suit your fancy, you could have watched dolphins foraging on schooling fish. We were with about a hundred long-beaked common dolphins for thirty minutes. These beautiful creatures have exquisite patterns of grays and whites.
As today drew to a close, we hiked on a desert island called Isla San Francisco. Some made their way along a knife-edged ridge, while others explored the long beach or looked for birds among the desert plants. You would have loved the sunset over the mountain spine of Baja California. The sky was painted with thick orange brush strokes.
Well, none of us saw you today. I guess that fantasy of crawling through the computer screen didn't work. Maybe you'll join us in person, hike those ridges and swim with those sea lions. I guess this is one of those experiences you just have to be here to enjoy. So escape from cyberspace and join us soon.
