San Esteban

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.

March Madness; Cetaceans, Culebras, Cormorants, Bioluminescence, and a Cornocopia of Ballenas

March Madness; Cetaceans, Culebras, Cormorants, Bioluminescence, and a Cornocopia of Ballenas

This past month has been by far the most remarkable when it comes to marine life encounters. Blue whales have been plentiful, the Humpbacks have been breaching consistently at Gorda Banks, dolphins have been surfing the bow, and of course the Grey Whales continue to leave the guests enthralled. In addition to all these amazing interactions with these beautiful creatures, I must relate a couple other encounters I’ve been fortunate enough to witness.

Whale Sharks- March 6^th marks the first day I have both seen and swam with a whale shark. Around noon on this unusually overcast Baja day senior deckhand Justin took out one of our zodiacs while we were docked in La Paz, to see if he could find the resident whale sharks that are known to live in the shallows of the La Paz bay. About an hour later we received a very excited radio transmission on 88 Alpha telling the Sea Bird that his mission was a success. Luckily, Chief Mate Shawn Nettles, is a southern gentleman and let both myself and Bosun Jordan take a quick work break and attempt to find the elusive whale shark. After charging the choppy bay for 15 minutes in the zodiac we meet up with Justin. Upon arrival he just pointed in the direction of a small ripple in the water, and told us to get our asses in there. Jordan and I stripped down, grabbed our snorkel masks and dove in the direction Justin pointed. I had never seen a whale shark, let alone swim with one, so my heart pounding as I swam through the cloudy water. I was expecting the creature to be directly ahead of my when suddenly its enormous head came into my peripheral only 5 ft away. Despite knowing that it was harmless, I was shocked out of my mind as this 20 ft plus white and grey speckled fish glided past me. Below it was a school of about 30 mackerel while 2 remoras attached themselves to its left pectoral fin. We swam with it for about 30 seconds five or six different times, but in the end had to get back to work. As far as a work break goes, it can’t get much better than that! March 20^th four of us went back only to find 7 plus Whale sharks in calmer seas and better visibility. They are amazing animals to say the least and it was a powerful experience.

Bioluminescence- March 24^th 3:30 am 30 miles north of Isla Carmen. I was on bridge watch with 2^nd mate when out of my left eye I saw 3 torpedoes leaving 30 ft tracers coming straight towards the port bow. Immediately I knew that Dolphins heading through extremely dense Bioluminescence was what we were seeing! I ran out of the bridge and down a level to the bow. While hanging on to the railing, I leaned over the railing and watched these three beautiful creatures glowing while gracefully surfing a few feet off the hull. I had always heard that seeing the dolphins dancing through the bioluminescence is quite the treat, but I didn’t realize just how beautiful it could be. Here I was at 3:30 in the morning on a warm starry night watching as three dolphins playful movements were illuminated such that the bare eye could see a full silhouette. The Cortez Sea was as calm as I had ever seen it and there was no sound but the soft humming of our engines, the splash as we displaced the water, and an occasional dolphin squeak. I can assure you that my smile could not have been any bigger!

Coachwhip- San Jose del Cabo Marina -March 25th- Just on the other side of the dock we found a 3.5 ft coachwhip swimming through the water and eventually climbing the marina wall into the safety of a rock outcropping.

Cormorants-9am-10:30 a.m Magdalena bay March 28^th. While anchored a few miles off of Puerto San Carlos at sand dollar beach in Magdalena Bay I was lucky enough to see a winged migration. Around nine in the morning I started to notice an unusual amount or bird activity of the starboard beam. Once I finally paid attention I saw that there were hundreds of cormorants flying north. After about 5 minutes I thought that I was seeing an unusual amount of cormorants. Another 5 minutes went by…same thoughts. Looking south as far as I could see was a continuous black line slithering along the waters surface. Amazingly that line remained for over an hour and now spread as far as I could see south and headed as far as the eye could see north. Never have I seen so many birds at one time. Occasionally a small V of cormorants would be led by a huge brown pelican. It was quite odd and I must have at least seen 20 separate pelicans leading their smaller followers.

Transient Orca- 4 miles west of isla Magdalena we encountered our first and most likely only pod of Orcas for the season. This sighting was completely unexpected and was follwed by cheers of joy. We had one pod of 12-14 orcas surrounding our vessel for an hour. There were two cute little calfs that barely left their mothers sides. One was missing the top half of its dorsal fin and looked like it had been bitten off. The whales took turns going underneath and all around the ship. I was up on the lido deck which proved to be an ideal photo taking location. All the naturalists said that it was rare to see these whales in this spot, but they still couldn’t say whether or not they were residents of baja or transients on a journey. One of the more detailed photos taken by our undersea specialist Carlos Navarro showed Humboldt squid tentacles hanging out of ones mouth. We also saw a few mahi mahi in the area as well as one very startled sea lion. Carlos told me that resident orcas will rarely eat the sea lions, whereas transients definitely would. Either they were transients stuffed from the delicious squid feast, or baja residents who had no need to pursue the lone sea lion.

CLOSE ENCOUNTERS

2:30 am February 27^th… Second to last 1am to 1pm shift and I’m haggard from sacrificing so much sleep this week on account of amazing whale sightings. This past trip has really given me an entirely new appreciation of both the immensity and splendor of whales. Three days in Particular are worthy of mention:

2/21/10 7:45 a.m. 5 miles SE of Isla Carmen a naturalist spotted a very large blow in the distance coming from what could only be a blue whale. Captain altered the course a few degrees in order to pursue, which was our main objective that morning; “cruising for blue whales” as posted on the morning half of the days itinerary. Prior to this blow we had only had one sighting of Blues to date, and knew they can be tricky. Not only do they tend to stay down for 8-9 minutes at a time, they don’t always follow a linear path. You would think that the largest animal to have ever lived would be easier to spot, but when compared to the vastness of the ocean this is not the case. Fellow deckhand Ian and I were up on the top deck chatting away, doubtful of a close view when all of a sudden there was a blow only 200 yards off our port beam. The time between the blow and the whale disappearing below the surface was obviously much longer than typical whale sightings. We thought that was our only opportunity until it came up again still heading in our direction, and then again. The third time it couldn’t have been further than 90-100 yds out and its true size became apparent. All we could really do was laugh in shock from the phenomena we were witnessing. Three close sightings of a mammal that can weigh up to 200 tons (growing 200 pounds a day) and reach a length of 105ft, right before our eyes. Guests are paying $1000.00 a day and here we are getting paid for such a sighting.

2/23- 6:55-8:30 a.m- La Fortuna / Gorda Banks- Humpback world-

I awoke this morning in a great mood for the fact that it was not only my dads birthday, but because he and my stepmother were coming by the San Jose Marina to hang out with me for a few hours. I easily got through the early hours of the morning with the thought of seeing family after a few months of being at sea. One of my morning chores as the sun is rising is to polish the brass bell found at the bow of the Sea Bird. When I arrived a handful of guests and naturalists were already perched on the deck in anticipation of a breaching humpback, which is a common occurrence in the specific area. No less than five minutes later I heard some screams and a splash. A full-grown humpback had breached around 100 yards off the bow! Usually when we see a breaching whale so close, it is the last time before they are spooked and we don’t get another sighing as close. This was not the case today. This particular whale wanted to put on a show for us and continued to do so for 30 minutes. His act included tail lobbing, pectoral fin slapping, and a breach every 4-5 minutes. The show was spectacular, but what really made it so memorable was a radiant pinkish/ orange sunrise as the backdrop! As the wind picked up, so did the waves; resulting in the loss of a couple of glasses and a batch of pancake batter in the Galley. Captain decided that we had to move on despite such a receptive whale. Just as we kicked out of neutral, the whale gave us a farewell breach no less than 100 ft away off the starboard quarter. I had never seen a breacher at this distance, and it was almost scary. A 45 ft 40/50 ton animal flying out of the water directly in front of you, can be quite startling. Everyone who saw it was screaming in both shock and joy. It was the epitome of a “jaw dropping” experience. Amazing! I didn’t have my new camera until 3 hours after once I meet up with my dad, but for sure the next time we are in the area, it will be out and ready!

2/26- 1:45-3:30pm- Magdalena Bay- Tales of the Gray whale!

Yesterday, alone made the purchase of my new camera completely justifiable. As far as my encounters with wildlife go, this was the most amazing interaction I have ever had. For over a month now we have been taking guests on these gray whale adventures with touching one being the ultimate goal. Only a few have come back with huge smiles on their faces from a mother offering her curious new calf to the watchers in the zodiac. Yesterday however we encountered a friendly full grown gray. A 45 plus ft of whale coming up to the surface to be pet by the frantic hands is something I never expected to be so powerful. First off, just watching it approach and come under the small crew panga we were in was a little nerve whacking. With one violent whip of its tail we could easily be sent flying into the water, but that was not the case. This whale was incredible and quite intrigued by the collection of 5 boats loaded from guests from all over the world who had come with hopes of finding it. The Zodiacs each had 8-10 guests in them and the local pangas each contained 4-8 guests. Our Panga, organized by Captain Cay had a driver, 3 other crew and myself in it. With the whale being so friendly, everyone was ecstatic causing all the boats to cluster up into one huge mess of competing hands to touch this massive creature. Our driver however, was a badass and knew that the whale would get annoyed with all the chaos, so he positioned us a little outside the nonsense which proved to be exactly where the whale kept coming once frustrated with everyone else. This allowed me to touch it on 3 different occasions and get some amazing photos. The highlight however was the whale coming up under the Panga to scratch its barnacles! It shifted us back and forth, and could have easily taken us wherever it wanted and definitely was capable of tossing us into the water. In the end we had a mutualistic relationship in which the keel of the panga scratched its back, while it posed for amazing photos, and allowed us to rub our hands across its rubbery skin. I can’t explain how insane this day was, but I can assure you that it was quite euphoric! Viva la Ballena Gris!!!!

there she blows

Heading north from Cabo to San Carlos was a bit rough; 6-10ft. For the first time the motion didn’t affect me in waves of that size. A good portion of the crew vomited or at least was incapacitated due to the constant pitching of the vessel. Every couple hours we had a visit from our most common visitors so far, the long beak common dolphin. At one point a group of around 100-120 torpedoed in from all directions. As the evening approached, so did the real entertainment, Humpbacks! As far as two miles out we could see three humpbacks having a grand old time as the sun began to set. This was the first time I had ever seen a breaching whale so naturally I was very enthused. As we approached the amount of breaching subsided and one of the whales split off from the other two, which were now moving very quickly. Just as we concluded that the show had come to an end ¼ mile off our starboard bow the two traveling whales breached in perfect unison illuminated by a brilliant sunset! That evening around 2230 we arrived in Bahia Magdalena. As Ian and I went to the bow to open the anchor box we were startled by spouting Gray whale no less than 20 meters from the bow! A perfect end to an amazing day, and a phenomenal welcome to the breeding ground of the gray whales!

The morning of the 17^th was the best day to date aboard the Sea Bird, not only for the fact it was my 26^th bday, but mostly due to the location and activities of the morning. It happened to be transition day so instead of only 12 hours off after a 12 hour shift we enjoyed an extra 6 to adjust to the new schedule! The previous night Senor Deckhand Adam, Botsun Chris and fellow deckhand Ian and I all made plans to sacrifice a bit of sleep to take advantage of one of the crews favorite destinations; Sand Dollar Beach. Magdalena Bay is separated from the pacific by the ¼ mile wide Isla Magdalena. We loaded up a zodiac with boogie boards and headed to the beach. From there we giddily ran across the sand dunes carefully avoiding the sporadic piles of sand dollars and other shells that have accumulated over the years. The sky was free of clouds and the sun was strong. At the peak of the tallest sand dune the first view of the pacific was had! Glassy light blue water with 2-4 ft waves rolling in at 15-second intervals! Although it was a beach break there were definitely some waves holding form and ready to be shralped by the adrenalized boogie boarders freshly released from captivity! A boogie board is not a surf board but proved to be a rather exciting alternative. Just being back in water and using the basic movements as surfing completely rejuvenated me, allowing me to temporarily forget I was a slave to the boat. I had a 2 hour boogie session and had some great rides as well as took some thorough poundings! Oh how I missed being in the water! After the boogie session we were beckoned by the soft sand below the wind cut dunes. Some fun jumps and dives we had and a few funny photos were taken of us flying through the air. Then…11:45 back to the boat! A local pilot and his son were aboard to guide us through the shallow waters of the Hull Canal up to Lopez Mateos where we anchored for 2 days. The Hull Canal is extremely difficult to navigate and in places is only a foot deeper than the draft of our vessel. The pilot Alejandro has been guiding the Sea Bird through these tricky waters for over 15 years!

We were fortunate enough to locate the Gray whales on every zodiac cruise. Guests were emotional and moral was high! Good vibes on the boat after food marine life sightings! Leaving San Carlos and heading south was quite the humpback experience. We had to refrain from stopping at every sighting in order to keep on schedule. Humpbacks were breaching everywhere and we even saw one younger male tale slapping for 5 minutes straight. Gorda Banks just of of the East Cape of Baja proved to have the largest humpback population. For a good hour at any given time you could see a spout or a breacher in some direction. Now I want to see some Blues!

Island Hopping

January 2nd 2010 marks the completion of our third 7 day expedition throughout the Sea of Cortez. This day also marks the 43rd consecutive day of 12 hr shifts, and 3 days a way from my much needed day off. I figured I would have been writing a bit everyday or at least a post a week, but often find myself so tired after work that all I can do is climb into bed and collapse! I have now experienced all the different shifts from the rotation and found that my current shift is the best; 1am-1pm. This shift allows me to complete the night chores without all the chaos that comes with the day walkers. I found to really love having a task list and completing them on my own rather having to listen to my superiors all day. The mornings are always fun to work because the guests wake up and are always heading out on some sort of boat operation, so we stay pretty busy, causing time to fly by. Once 1pm hits...I sign off passing over the rest of the tasks and can either partake in a nice afternoon activity, tan up on the top deck, or just go down to my cabin and relax!

Our destinations to date have included the following islands strung out Cortez: Isla Espiritu Santo / Partida, Isla San Francisco, Isla San Jose, Isla Danzante, Isla Carmen, Isla Santa Catalina and Isla Marcos. All of these islands are beautiful in their own unique way, and vary as far as available activities. Isla San Francisco has one of the most beautful beaches for just relaxing in the sun called Half Moon Bay. The tiny Isla Danzante offers stunning 360 degree views from its highest peaks as well as gorgeous kayaking water protected from the raging wind in the main channel. Isla San Jose has some great day hikes and is the spot to go if you want to walk among the Cardon Cactus. Isla Marcos has a year round population due to mining, but the waters were so rough it was hard to land Zodiacs on shore, so I have yet to explore these lands. We did however see our first whale , a Brydes of the outing just to the west of the island. Isla Santa Catalina is an incredible island with great snorkeling waters at the base of roca elefante which is a huge rock formation resembling an elephant head. Santa Catalina is also a great place to get some arroyo hiking in while searching for the rattle-less rattle snake, and Catalina barrell cactus both endemic to the island!

Isla Espiritu Santo is the closest island to La Paz, and has the most to offer for tourists. It is surrounded by shallow coves whose blue waters allow breathtaking views. There are hiking opportunities, snorkeling areas, phenomenal kayaking waters along wild rock formations, and great beaches for swimming or just plane relaxing. To the north is Los Isotes which are two large rocks making up a Sea Lion colony. This is one of the guests favorite destinations due to guaranteed close encounters with the playful and curious creatures. They swim right with the snorkelers and often come right up and nibble on the wet suits!

Besides the lone Brydes whale mentioned above, we have seen a few humpbacks in the distance, many dolphins, a group of 12 Brydes whales and the most impressive a 40-50 ft Fin whale with her Calf just 75-100 meters off the port side of the ship! (No Photos to share at the moment, but real Whale season comes soon)

Life is sweet, I am tired and more will come once I get this long awaited day off! Happy New Year everyone!

final preparation

The seven day positioning trip from Alameda to La Paz was very uneventful. Perfectly calm seas, clear sunny days, and ridiculously illuminated nights from the moon. The only wildlife to be seen was our daily visit from a couple of pacific white side dolphins and a few spouting whales in the distance. Unfortunately I was asleep for a two minute viewing of a westbound school of 80-100 of the mentioned dolphins. Chief Mate Shawn Nettles saw a couple of marlin skimming the waters edge about 100 miles north of Cabo. Monday the 7^th of December around 4pm we got the first view of the 100’s of mansions littering the Cabo cliffs. Luckily we were ahead of schedule so captain allowed us to go for our first swim out in front of lovers beach and the Cabo arch. The water was warm and salty and it was a great welcome to Baja! That evening the moon was waning which displayed more stars than I ever remember seeing. There was no light pollution whatsoever besides the dim running lights of the Sea Bird enabling us to clearly see all the basic constellations and if I knew more…I’m sure they were clearly visible as well.

The minute we arrived at the fuel docks, customs officials and health inspectors bombarded us. Due to ever growing concern of swine flu, Mexican law has gotten far more strict than the past year adventures. We, as in fellow deckhand Ian, had to dig through all the trash with a Tyvek suit and respirator, separating all the meat and fruits from the rest of the trash. It was a task so foul that I would for sure have vomited. Once separated it had to be sprayed down the following morning with some sort of chemical before it could be off loaded. The ironic / humorous part of this rancid and time-consuming project was that once we were given the approval to offload, it all went in the same garbage truck! After translating for a couple of mechanics and government officials I was dubbed the official translator. It was nice to see that all my Spanish has paid off, but also a hassle while constantly delaying my daily projects.

We spent 4 days in La Paz docked right in the center of the marina paralleling the main drag. All that separated us from the music blaring street cruising Mexican rigs, was 150 ft concrete walkway and a security gate. It was great having town so accessible as well as having the ability to people watch from the decks. For the duration of our stay in La Paz, three local workers came aboard; Javier, Martin, and Gilberto. For the past 10 years 2 of the 3 had been helping out with painting and cleaning tasks whenever the Sea Bird came into port. The were hilarious and proved to be hard workers once I got on them a little! The amount of work we accomplished in those 4 days really impressed me. The boat was such a mess from shipyard and positioning that I was concerned we wouldn’t be ready in time for the first group of Baja guests.

Tender November / Happy Thanksgiving

Life in a shipyard is far more work and pain than I originally had anticipated. Immediately after tying up alongside our sister ship the Sea Lion, we were bombarded by new faces consisting of shipyard workers and crew from the other vessel. The Shipyard workers hurriedly rolled out a blue plastic material from the stern of the boat all the way to the forward lounge and then down into the crew quarters where they could access and drain the black water tank. Stores were transferred over to the Sea Lion, and everyone was put to work. Myself, and fellow deckhand Ian were sent below to clean the bilges below, which unknown to us would soon be the week long setting of the most uncomfortable labor tasks I have ever been involved with. An hour after arriving at Bay Ship and Yacht company 2900 main st Alameda California we were preparing to be lifted out of the water into dry dock. The process in which a 152 ft long boat is lifted out of the water is quite incredible to experience. Bow first we headed into a narrow slot between two small concrete piers where we tied up to cleats and evidently were directly above a hydraulic lift capable of lifting tens of thousands of pounds right out of the water. Once the underwater diver confirmed that the boat was lined up correctly with the lift, we were ushered out of the Sea Bird and stood aside while it rose out of the water. Seeing the boat in which you live out of the water is a beautiful site, but was soon forgotten once the excruciating labor began. Being out of the water allows one to access the places which are normally submerged and cannot safely be accessed while below the agua. The priority was to get the bilges ground down and repainted. Being inside a bilge was a new experience for me. In order to enter and find a comfortable or at least tolerable position involves a great deal of contorting and bumping of knees and heads against the steel frame. These are places so uncomfortable that anyone would feel claustrophobic, and once you are wearing a respirator, ear muffs, goggles, and awkwardly grinding away rust with an angled grinder, it become hell! 4 days of hot uncomfortable grinding were followed by 4 days of painting with one the most toxic of paints; Hempal, while basking in its fumes in tight quarters. I was more than pleased to be out of there! After 8 days of dry dock, we were lowered back into the water and then moved all our belongings off the Sea Lion back onto the Sea Bird initiating the same hellish process to be undergone by the Sea Lion crew! The rest of shipyard was comprised of chipping paint off all walls / railings, grinding them down and then feathering them with an orbital sander in order to apply a nice smooth coat of fresh paint! After 3 weeks of this pattern I can proudly claim to be surgical with my grinding skills! Working 7-5 for 10 days straight takes its toll on your energy and your body, so once that day off comes around I was more than ready! It is currently 3:46 in the morning and I am two hours and 14 minutes away from completing my first of 7 nights of the graveyard shift! The Sea Lion disembarked for a 2 week positioning trip south to Costa Rica at 8pm thanksgiving evening! We head south December 2^nd, and my next blog will most likely entail details of more vomiting or excited stories of whale sightings!