Welcome to our two week expedition to Baja California. These are Fiesta Flags in San Jose del Cabo.
We arrive at the port in San Carlos, Baja California Sur at dusk, with an extra passenger. These are very big pelicans.
Alumni Magazine from Michigan State, our alma mater. In a small restaurant a long way from home.
An osprey (Seahawk to us folks from the Pacific Northwest) grabs a fish to take back to the nest. Bahia Magdalena, BCS.
Our intrepid explorer on the mangrove tidal flats, Isla Magdalena, BCS.
This is a tiny piece of a Balaenoptera musculus, a blue whale, and the largest animal in the world—perhaps the largest animal that has ever existed in the world. This one is probably 80 or 90 feet long
They offered us an opportunity to get up at 0445 this morning to photograph the sunrise. I passed, and took the easy way out—I waited and shot the sunset instead.
We’re heading from the Pacific side of Baja to the Gulf of California side, passing the built up areas around Cabo San Lucas. I got a photo of this very nice house, right on the water. Complete with humpback whale flukes.
Bottlenose dolphins (“Flipper”) leaping in front of San Jose Island in the Gulf of California.
This morning we had bottlenose dolphins, this afternoon they were common dolphins, maybe 2-300 swarming the ship. This one was pretty close by, no cropping magic required.
Gulls in formation off the ship. Gulf of California.
Pelican Sisters. Isla San Marcos.
Front piece of a small shark, one of 100 discarded by fisherfolk.
A Magnificant Frigatebird grabs at anchovies in the Gulf of California off Isla San Marcos.
The Two Ton Puppy. Gray whale calf, Laguna San Ignacio.
We had 10 mother-calf pairs come up to our boats eager for attention.
Sunrise at Isla Rassa. Home to 95% of the world's Heermann Gulls and Elegant Terns.
Elegant Terns, fighting over an anchovy.
Heermann's Gull, Isla Rassa. They lay their eggs right on the paths.
The Cowboy Caravan. Dust plumes from the army of trucks hired by Lindblad to take us from Bahia de Los Angeles up to the Boojum forest.
Boojum Trees, the largest of the Ocotillo family.
Boojum Trees, outside Bahia de Los Angeles.
It's another tequila sunrise.
Brown Booby.
Leaping california sea lion.
Blue footed booby, last seen by us in the Galapagos.
Instead of a quiet Zodiac cruise to see Booby nesting sites, we had a wild ride when the dolphins appeared and wanted to race.
Beachmaster. Male sea lion, San Pedro Martir.
American Oystercatcher, Bahia Conception.
Brown Pelican.
The Friend from Home. Osprey, better known around Seattle as a Seahawk.
The Pelican Sisters return.
Diving Pelicans
Chaos in the water.
The pelicans are so heavy that they need to push off the water.
Anna, having been laid low by a GI bug, bounces back.
Moonset at Punta Mechudo.
Sealions are just goofy. These guys all popped out of the water and faced the same direction.
Cardon Cactus, the icon of Baja.
Good luck spotting the sand colored lizard in the sand.
Nuthatch, maybe.
(Perhaps) a Xantus hummingbird.
Early morning Zodiac ride at Los Islotes.
Mama Frigatebird keeping a close eye on her offspring.
Baby Humpback playing in the wind.
Baja Utah. Punta Colorada, unlike the rest of volcanic Baja, is a world of sandstone.
Punta Colorada, 0554 Easter Sunday, 9 April 2023.
Ralph Lee Hopkins, who started the Lindblad-National Geographic photo partnership back in the 90s, completes his last expedition before retiring.
Easter Sunrise. Punta Colorada. That's the National Geographic Venture.
The hard core photographers climbed to the top of the ridge to get the very first shots of the sunrise.
Thar She Blows. Captain Ahab's obsession, the great sperm whale.
The last quarter of a 60' long sperm whale, the world's largest predator.
