Day 6 – Pacific Ocean – Crossing the Tropic of Cancer

Well, actually we didn’t stop at Magdallena Bay, but sailed past it and along the shores of the desert like landscape of the Baja Peninsula. Strong winds and low hanging clouds contributed to waves and a bumpy ride down south. It was difficult to chase the solitary Bryde’s Whale in the AM. The seas were rough. We spotted it exhale, arch its back and then dive back in.

An hour and a half later, hundreds of Common Dolphins appeared and leapt alongside our boat. They looked like they were having fun bow riding, the currents pushing them forward without having to put extra effort. They are tough subjects to capture on camera. You gotta keep on clicking. Mid afternoon, we were called out again, a pair of humpbacks diving in and out of the choppy seas, exposing their short dorsal fins. They disappeared into the horizon as we rolled from side to side.

During sun set, Common Dolphins unexpectedly turned up and rode the waves again. We continued south and crossed the imaginary line of the Tropic of Cancer, 23.5° N of the equator. The TOC passes through 17 countries, 3 oceans,1 strait and 2 Gulfs. Interestingly enough, the UAE is one of the countries on the list. To be specific, it’s the stretch between Abu Dhabi (capital of UAE) and Liwa. Desert and empty skies.

We sailed down to the southern tip and turned towards the Sea of Cortez. And sunshine.

Day 7 – Gordo Banks & Bahia Frailes

Off Cabo San Lucas, we drifted along Gordo Banks rather than party with the A- listers and college students at the all inclusive resorts. We crashed a different party. Humpbacks were congregated over an underwater mountain range rich in marine life attractive to fishermen and divers Gordo Banks is popular for.

The Humpbacks were curious and gave us company from the AM until the afternoon as we basked in the sun. We came across multiple Humpbacks often hanging out together, gliding in and out of the water next to our boat, puffing out ocean spray and then sneaking underneath the boat. They fluked a ton, flapped their fins, tail slapped and kept us on our toes.

We heard a Humpback music performance via a hydrophone, an underwater microphone that was tossed into the water. They could have been 10s of kms away. Engines off, half hour of males gurgling, squeaking and growling in concert. Humpbacks in the Indian Ocean sing a different tune to the ones in the Pacific Ocean for example. The songs change every year depending on who they have gigs with, when they connect with others from the same ocean, what beats they pick up and whether they signed off the rights to play them somewhere else.

In the afternoon, we headed north towards Cabo Pulmo National Park and landed at Los Frailes a tiny fishing village in pursuit of a road runner. Meanwhile, I wondered who lived in the mansions on the fringes of the cliff overlooking the beautiful Sea of Cortez. “Philanthropists”, duh. A few fishermen live on the island, not all year round. We walked by a bunch of colorful fishing shacks on the coast and began our looney quest of catching the road runner. On camera, ofcourse. We beepin’ failed.

Back on the boat, we cruised up North headed to Isla San Jose off Punta Coyote.