UPDATED: May 29 - added whale video to day 7
UPDATED: May 27 - added dolphin video to day 8
Last year we went on a week long Caribbean cruise with Seabourn. We met a couple on a snorkeling trip that told us about a company call UnCruise and particularly about a cruise in the Sea of Cortez that they had done recently.
Not needing much more than a recommendation from two strangers in March of this year we did the same cruise.
The Sea of Cortez also called the Gulf of California is pretty much straight south of Arizona. Its home to a variety if wildlife; whales, dolphins, birds, etc.
Below is a picture of the extent of our cruise. We flew to San Jose Del Cabo and spent a few days at a resort there on the beach and then a three hour bus ride to La Paz where we joined the cruise.
The highlight of the cruise was the day we bussed over to Bahia Magdalena on the Pacific side to see the gray whales. More on that later.
Day 1, March 1st.
We stayed at a Barcelo resort. Not too bad but wouldn't do it again. Too many selfish people reserving all the chairs around the pool.
The grounds were nice.
The view from our room looking north
..and looking south
The room was decent enough.
I got a new camera and today is the first day I've used it on a trip so some artsy-fartsy shots on the beach.
And some extreme zoom wildlife shots.
A moonlight shot.
Here's a shot I took of a classy guy at the airport...check out his hat. Mom and dad must be real proud of this young putz!
The evening of day 1 we ate at one of the resort restaurants. It was ok - included in the cost of the room - wouldn't eat there again. The waiters did make us a pretty good Spanish Coffee though.
Day 2, March 2nd.
Day 2 was just a lazy day...didn't do much except walk up and down the beach a couple times and drink a few beer.
Another shot, in broad daylight, from our balcony looking south. Right next door they're renovating an existing hotel.
Here's what it looks like from the beach.
And some more beach pics. It really is a nice sandy beach. The water though is quite unsafe with undertows and rip tides and that's why there are very few people in the water.
Our hotel, our room is on the top left - dead centre in the picture. Terri didn't tell me what it cost and I didn't ask. Certain things are best not to know.
This is interesting: the first picture below was taken with my new camera. The second was taken with my cell phone. They're almost identical.
Day 3, March 3rd.
..Day three we have to kill a few hours before catching the bus to La Paz...so down the beach we go again..it's too early for a beer.
And all the chairs are reserved by the pool. People get up in the middle of the night and put shit on the pool chairs to reserve them. And then they don't show up until mid day or later to use them. The resort should have a system to manage this kind of thing. Use 'em or lose 'em. It's the same thing we've seen at every Mexican resort since we started going in 1999. At this point we're not interested in laying around the pool so it really doesn't matter.
It is a nice looking pool though...and only a few Winnipeggers
A few of the critters we meet on the beach today.
Turkey vultures
Pelicans
And a very handsome mini dinosaur.
What a beauty!
A wee turkey buzzard video.
We finally get the bus and get to our ship just after dark.
The room is small but functional. There's a TV in the bedroom and one in the sitting room but no TV channels.
We only broke the toilet once.
Day 4, March 4th.
..First full day on the ship and we went whale watching in the morning. We saw a lot of whales at a distance but none up close. The guides make a big deal about seeing a whale about half a mile away. I guess it's their job to keep everybody thinking we're really seeing some neat stuff.
What we saw mostly was this
Which if you have a good camera (why I bought a new one) you can then zoom to see this - the whale exhaling
...and the odd bit of this... then taking a breath.
There's so many people crowding the small amount of deck space on this ship that you really have to be lucky to get a good shot...or just be rude and push in front of the little old ladies.
This is a very short video of a whale going down...it's 15 or so single shots stitched together to make a short vid.
So after the whale watch we all went to shore for snorkeling and a beach party. Pretty crappy snorkeling. The water is cold enough that they give you a wet suit to wear. A pain in the ass getting in to and a bigger pain getting out of.
Pretty crappy beach party. Only Mexican beer, only Bacardi rum.
The bar and the bar tender. She wasn't as cranky as she looks in this picture.
And, of course, this is how you get to the beach and then back to the ship.
Not a bad stretch of beach I suppose. No topless allowed though.
Nice scenery later that afternoon cruising the Sea of Cortez.
Followed by an amazing sunset.
The beach party video.
Day 5, March 5th.
..On day 5 we're going kayaking.
This is a picture of our ship the Safari Endeavor. You can see that it's not a very big ship.
We're kayaking off this beach. The crew has already taken the kayaks to the shore.
Checkout the back of this boat. Its from Edmonton...must have been a tough sail getting here.
The kayaks we're using are pretty small and they have a back rest that makes them much more comfortable and controllable on other kayaks we've tried. They also have good foot rests that help you when you're paddling.
A kayaking video.
A cool looking bird we saw today.
And another pelican.
Day 6, March 6th.
..Today we're going on a hike...it'll actually be a stroll.
Some pictures of the common areas of the ship:
The lounge.
The bar area.
The liquor supply. They have a pretty good selection of booze actually.
On the top of the ship is a small area for relaxing.
Or sleeping.
Below is a shot of the beach where we start our hike.
Below are some shots from the hike. It really was just a gentle stroll.
A little critter we saw along the way.
A huge bird nest.
If you look close you can see the bird in its nest. I don't recall what kind of bird it was - a big bird though.
A salt flat.
A shot from the ship looking back to the island where we just hiked. It wasn't much of a hike but it burned off a few booze calories.
Day 7, March 7th.
..Today we take a bus ride to the Pacific side for some whale watching. The grey whales come here each year to have their babies and then return to Alaska around the end of March / early April when the babies are big enough and strong enough to make the journey with their mother.
A whole industry has sprung up round this activity and I must say it was the best whale watching expedition we've been on. The whales are so interested in the boats that the come right up to them to see what's going on.
These are the small boats we went out in. Probably abut 8 - 10 people per boat. As usual all the tall guys go in the front and us shorties go in the back. Nothing ever changes.
A mother whale with her baby right beside her.
This is a whale with her head out of the water to check out what's going on.
Zoomed a bit.
A wee whale video
Back on our ship in the late afternoon.
Day 8, March 8th.
..Another hiking day...aka strolling day.
A shot of the land from the ship.
A deceased dinosaur.
Some more shots from the ship.
This is the thing that drops and raises the anchor.
As we were cruising later that day a group of dolphins raced ahead of the boat. They appeared to be having so much fun it is impossible not to consider how intelligent they are and how badly we had treated marine mammals over the years.
Here's the video.
The reality is they're not really racing the boat - they're what's called bow-riding - as the ship goes through the water it pushes water in front of itself and the dolphins essentially surf this pushed water.
See here: http://what-when-how.com/marine-mammals/bow-riding-marine-mammals/
Very cool.
And the real cool thing is they do it at night too and due to something called bio-luminescence they show up as ghostly images. They did it a couple times on our trip but I was unable to capture the video with my phone so here's a link to a short video that kind of shows it.
http://giant.gfycat.com/UnsteadyNeglectedGnu.mp4
Day 9, March 9th.
..Another beach party and kayaking day. The kayaking was good but these guys should really take a Seabourn cruise to see how a beach party is done.
Not a bad beach...nice white sand and crystal blue water.
One of the single gals from the cruise...I think she was a lesbonian.
At least they brought few folding chairs ashore. Very little shade though.
We don't have exclusive use of the beach either...lots of other partiers here.
Later in the day we went around a small island to look at the wildlife.
A lot of birds live on this island... and the white stuff ain't icing sugar.
A sea lion having a nap.
A different sea lion showing how far up the rock it is. It's amazing how they can climb with no real hands or feet.
A huge male sea lion and his harem.
