April 6th. Isla San Esteban- Today we landed on Isla San Esteban which is home to the endemic spiny-tail iguana as well as the Pinto chuckwalla. It is also the furthest north we have been all season. It is a typical baja island; dry, rocky, and filled with cactus. The cordon cactus were blooming, and the yellow billed gulls were nesting on the shore. It was a beautiful setting and beckoned me to come run through the arroyos. Assistant Engineer Chaz and myself headed into the quotidian arroyo scene armed with our canon rebels, where we perambulated about in search of charismatic reptiles. We were told that 10:30 am is the magical hour where suddenly Chuckwallas come out of their slumber. And that time proved to be exactly right! 100 yards into the Island we got our first glimpse of a spiny-tail iguana. It was all shades of grey with a couple black patches. It didn’t seem too startled by its human spectators, and leisurely walked off into its world of rocks and cacti. The entire group of guests and naturalists headed off in all directions hoping to find these endemic creatures. Chaz and I headed in the opposite direction than all the guests for a more extensive search. The first few hundred yards we didn’t see any pinto Chuckwallas, but a few minutes before 10:30 we found out first one. He was just warming up for the day and was quite lethargic allowing us to get very close. This was my first ever sighting of a pinto Chuckwalla and I was quite impressed. We spent the next two hours running through desert arroyos, crumbling rocks, cordon cactus, and startling chuckwallas every few steps. We must have seen 15-20 and heard twice that amount scampering off in fear as we approached. It was a very special day and it is one of the islands that I’m sorry to not have spent more time exploring.
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