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The water just south of Isla Catalina is a spot that we go to and consistently see many type of wildlife, but yesterday we got one of the best shows I’ve seen in a while. We got to play with Orcas. We aren’t quite sure why the transients were in this spot but we sure were grateful!

What made them so awesome was that they were acting very un-orca like. They were bow riding and riding playing in the wake just like dolphins.

I’ve decided to spend a bit more time on the beach this rotation, as a reward for all my hard work and efforts during my last time on the ship. So far, this seems to be working out a bit.

Puerto Gato is a place we don’t get to really often, and I had never had a chance to explore the beach there, so I took a little trip. The little beach is a nice sweeping arch, with nice sand and clear water. What’s so cool about this place is the rocks on the northeast end of the beach. They remind me of the red rocks around Moab, Utah, but they also have this really cool white-wash to them.

After looking around for the infamous “gatos”, I was a little a little surprised to not even see one trace of them cats that were left here many years ago to help combat the abundance of rodents on the island. I did, however, see lots of coyote tracks and scat and that probably explains that.

The other day I was lucky enough to have the time to make a run to the beach. Not just any beach, but one of my all-time favorite beaches! Sand Dollar Beach is on the island of Magdelena, across the bay from the town of San Carlos on the Pacific Ocean side of the Baja Peninsula.

Why do I like this beach so much? Well there’s one story in particular….

It was my last rotation on the National Geographic Sea Lion, sailing as the assistant engineer. We were in shipyard, in Alameda, California and it was the last day. It was also Thanksgiving Day, and it was the absolute last day we could leave to make it down to Herradura, Costa Rica in time for the first trip of the season. That morning we got the bad news. Twenty five to thirty foot seas just outside of the Golden Gate bridge, and it was going to be like that all the way down past San Diego. We had no choice, we had to go. At least it would be a following sea, not nearly as bad as going the opposite way and pounding through the crests.

We made our preparations, tied down everything that was loose and went in to dinner before leaving. The Chef had made us an amazing dinner, and everyone from the just about whole company was there. The only problem was that we couldn’t afford to eat a heavy meal, because we all knew it would just make getting sea sick come that much easier soon.

As we motored under the Golden Gate we proceeded to get a serious dose of getting pounded. Just as promised, it lasted well past San Diego and on into Baja. At one point, being the crazy lunatic that I am, I fought my way up to the top deck on the ship, or the Lido Deck, and stood there in awe as I looked UP at the tops of waves above the ship. It was truly one of the most amazing sights I have ever seen. Luckily, because it was a following sea, it just pushed us along, even faster than we would normally be able to move.

Because of this we were ahead of schedule, and that is when I fell in love with Sand Dollar Beach. Captain Graves decided that we deserved to have a little break from the horrible seas, so we ducked into la Entrada and weighed anchor just off of Sand Dollar beach. Captain then said to everyone, “You have 12 hours before we have to get out of here, I’d recommend you all go ashore and……” then there was silence. Everyone was gone, and that’s where I got my fond memory.

With beaches like this everywhere, how can I complain?

Things are going pretty good down here. The whales have been pretty good, though not quite as good as they will be later in the season. I’ve actually been so busy I haven’t had a chance to take pics of any yet! But that will come in good time….

The weather has been perfect and it sure is good to be back.

And with that, back to some seriously SLOW internet!

I’ll post the pictures as I can, hopefully tonight when I get up to La Paz. I don’t know why, but internet in Cabo is always slow, no matter where I stay. Kind of strange!

It’s good to be back….

Today I actually saw something new. It’s been a while.

We ran into two separate groups of Sperm Whales today. I hadn’t ever seen them before, and I sure am glad that I have now. Fascinating creatures!

It’s funny, when you talk to people about the art form that they have chosen to use to vent their creativity they usually get pretty serious about it. With all of these respected and coveted photographers aboard, there is definitely a bit of seriousness in the air. If you sit and talk to each one of them about how to take a good picture, they will each tell you a different thing. I find it interesting that most of the photo geeks I’ve come across the last couple of years will step right up and tell you that their way is the best way.

As time goes on I’ve realized that there is no right and wrong when it comes to doing things. It’s really more about consistency. If you do things consistently you will get better and better. That is why anyone that is new to anything isn’t as good as the person that has been doing things forever. The apprentice is trying to learn his way, making mistakes and learning the lessons it takes to become more efficient at what they do. Slow and steady wins the race. In this case, the race isn’t really a race at all. It’s about learning to put something down on a piece of paper the same way that you see it in your mind. That’s what makes a good photo. When I can look at something, snap pictures of it, then later that day see the picture and it is exactly as I remembered it. That is a good photo.

We’ve had a good couple of presentations from Cotton Coulsen and Sissie Brimberg, both of which have worked for National Geographic Magazine for thirty plus years. They also have photos published in just about every travel magazine known to man. The style they have is very distinct, and attractive to my eye. They shoot everything at an aperture of F/5.6 or larger. Everything. In a lot of ways this makes sense to me, but not always. Really, I’m still learning and very much the apprentice. I’ll give this a try for a bit and see how it works for me. It should be a good experience, none the less.

The weather has been insanely good lately, little wind and calm seas the whole time. The last couple of days we’ve been making our way up the sea on our way to the midriff islands. Currently, we are off the coast of Santa Rosalia exploring the island of San Carlos. We only come here a couple of times a year, so this is a treat. We will be in Santa Rosalia for about 24 hours, and then the real treat begins. We head north to the midriffs, where we only venture once or twice a year. Islas Rasa and Estaban will hopefully be a big treat for us, if the wind and seas will allow.

The moon and sun rises have been awesome!!!!

We sat and watched a typical baja sunset, while floating along on perfectly calm waters last night. Finally we’ve gotten into the best part of Baja. It’s getting warmer now, and as we get further along on our voyage there will be more time for swimming and photography.

The water is still a bit chilly, running around 65 degrees, but for me it’s just about right. I was born and raised in the rivers that drain the run off of melting Sierra Nevada Snow. It’s my personal opinion that when you get into the water, you should be cooled and refreshed. When I was down in Costa Rica swimming wasn’t all that great for me. The air temperature was 90, as was the humidity, and the water temperature was around 85. To me this was like taking a bath in a tub of sweat. I’ll take 65 over 85, any day.

As I go along, on these great adventures, I keep finding more and more things that would be really cool to have along with me. Now, I’m starting to get into swimming a bit more and diving may be in my future. An underwater camera sure would be nice, I’ll have to start doing some research.

We made our last stop at el Arco today, a sad moment indeed. The rest of our time here will be spent up into the sea of Cortez, exploring and enjoying. The traffic in the waters around San Lucas were pretty busy, I’m hoping that the tourists were there in droves. We did see two big cruise ships heading in for the day, so that is a good thing. Once again, I hope nothing but the best for the people of Los Cabos. Tourism is what will keep them peaceful and good.

Since we’ve been under way quite a bit this trip, we’ve heard quite a bit from our Nat Geo speakers. It’s been a very good show to this point. Jack and Rikki Swenson are amazing teachers. I always value their time on my ship so much. I found out that that they have a great website, www.expeditiongallery.com and I’d highly recommend taking a look. The couple is extremely well traveled, and has seen much of the world through a view finder.

After leaving el Arco some common porpoises came over to bow ride for a while, and they rode most of the way over to Gordo Banks. It’s a very special thing to see the looks on guests faces when they first see a pod of 500 porpoises swimming and jumping towards the ship. One I won’t forget, since I probably had that same look on my face at one time.

We did see a few Humpbacks around Gordo Banks, but it wasn’t nearly as good as it has been recently. No breaching today, but they are always great to watch, no matter what.