Back to my heart's home
February/19/2008
I
finally got on the water today, 11 days after
arriving back to my beautiful
Loreto. My divemaster Rafael greeted me with raging flu and chills when I
landed from the Alaska 602 flight. Poor guy was apologetic for being ill,
suggesting that he might not be able to dive the next day. I greeted him
warmly and replied that we certainly wouldn’t be diving for at least a week
until his health returned.
I expect Rafa was grateful for the respite as he slept for the entire week.
High winds and rough seas kept us shore bound for another few days until
finally the weather broke and we were awarded a generous forecast. Complying
with a request for a whale diving expedition, we set off at 7:00 am to pick up
a party at Loreto Bay and headed southeast towards Carmen Island where Rafa
felt we would find some action.
Twenty minutes later, we found a school of dolphins however their intentions
were to feed, not play. They were working the sea, as is their custom, all
surrounding the bait in a large circumference, driving it further into the
centre for the easy pickings of the group. They were pretty much focused on
their stomachs and left us to our own devices. Shortly after, Rafa spotted a
fin whale. These giants are slightly smaller than the blue whales, about 88
feet, and are of the baleen family, having no teeth, unlike our native orcas.
Gliding effortlessly atop the water for the time it takes to gulp several
breaths, we barely have time to rush to it, before it arches its back and
takes a languid roll into the water with the final flash of its jagged fin to
let us know it had gone to feed. Three other boats were already on the scene
so we elected to go further south to continue our search.
We were rewarded by running into another school of bottlenose dolphins,
already satiated and ready to play. Rushing to greet the wake of our bow, they
cavorted, sped up with crescendos of airborne leaps, and generally surrounded
the boat in a relaxed, engaging manner. I am as usual, straining from hanging
over the bow edge like an idiot in a desperate attempt to stroke them as they
run with the boat. I was enjoying some nice eye contact, when one of them to
the starboard begins to play dead. Neither I nor Rafa had seen this behaviour
before, typified by the dolphins swimming upside down with its nose upward
and head thrown back, simulating a dead dolphin. Astonishing performance.
We rounded the southern tip of Carmen and headed northeast where Rafa’s
intuition was leading us. We spent a delightful hour cruising along the
shoreline, full of green cactus, basalt and limestone outcrops. We stopped at
an isolated white beach framed by lava caverns where we took a snack and
spelunked among basalt that housed embedded petrified shells and fossils.
Wonderful shell detritus littered the beach including molted remains of
lobster shells.
We headed back in the direction from which we came, the look of desolation on
Rafas face evident because he felt he was disappointing us with his
performance. His four passengers, including the effervescent captain Ramon el
Cabron, were having a marvelous time enjoying the splendid weather. We
negotiated around the point and a couple of miles toward Loreto we cut the
engine and enjoyed a spectacular lunch of shredded beef, chiles and bean
burritos provided by Rafa’s wife, Margarite. Cracking open a couple of Tecates, we laid
back until Ramon, choking back his food managed to excitedly exclaim that he
had just spotted a blue whale. Another boat far away came to the same
conclusion and we all raced to find a blow hole.
The next hour was spent tracking this leviathan and enjoying the show it put
on for us. One cant imagine the size of these beauties because as they
surface for air, you barely get to see the expanse of their backsides. Its
only when they arch their backs in preparation for submersion, slowly breaking
the surface and lifting a huge tailfin that you realize you are witnessing the
largest creature on the face of the earth. Truly a magnificent and humbling
experience; everyone on both boats cheer mightily after the big blue dives
back to the depths.
We repeated this same experience four times until Rafa could no longer contain
the wide grin on his face. We returned back to the marina, heady from joy and
awe for a day that will be perpetually etched in all our memories.
God bless Loreto. My joy knows no bounds now that Ive returned to my hearts
home.
Loreto. My divemaster Rafael greeted me with raging flu and chills when I
landed from the Alaska 602 flight. Poor guy was apologetic for being ill,
suggesting that he might not be able to dive the next day. I greeted him
warmly and replied that we certainly wouldn’t be diving for at least a week
until his health returned.
I expect Rafa was grateful for the respite as he slept for the entire week.
High winds and rough seas kept us shore bound for another few days until
finally the weather broke and we were awarded a generous forecast. Complying
with a request for a whale diving expedition, we set off at 7:00 am to pick up
a party at Loreto Bay and headed southeast towards Carmen Island where Rafa
felt we would find some action.
Twenty minutes later, we found a school of dolphins however their intentions
were to feed, not play. They were working the sea, as is their custom, all
surrounding the bait in a large circumference, driving it further into the
centre for the easy pickings of the group. They were pretty much focused on
their stomachs and left us to our own devices. Shortly after, Rafa spotted a
fin whale. These giants are slightly smaller than the blue whales, about 88
feet, and are of the baleen family, having no teeth, unlike our native orcas.
Gliding effortlessly atop the water for the time it takes to gulp several
breaths, we barely have time to rush to it, before it arches its back and
takes a languid roll into the water with the final flash of its jagged fin to
let us know it had gone to feed. Three other boats were already on the scene
so we elected to go further south to continue our search.
We were rewarded by running into another school of bottlenose dolphins,
already satiated and ready to play. Rushing to greet the wake of our bow, they
cavorted, sped up with crescendos of airborne leaps, and generally surrounded
the boat in a relaxed, engaging manner. I am as usual, straining from hanging
over the bow edge like an idiot in a desperate attempt to stroke them as they
run with the boat. I was enjoying some nice eye contact, when one of them to
the starboard begins to play dead. Neither I nor Rafa had seen this behaviour
before, typified by the dolphins swimming upside down with its nose upward
and head thrown back, simulating a dead dolphin. Astonishing performance.
We rounded the southern tip of Carmen and headed northeast where Rafa’s
intuition was leading us. We spent a delightful hour cruising along the
shoreline, full of green cactus, basalt and limestone outcrops. We stopped at
an isolated white beach framed by lava caverns where we took a snack and
spelunked among basalt that housed embedded petrified shells and fossils.
Wonderful shell detritus littered the beach including molted remains of
lobster shells.
We headed back in the direction from which we came, the look of desolation on
Rafas face evident because he felt he was disappointing us with his
performance. His four passengers, including the effervescent captain Ramon el
Cabron, were having a marvelous time enjoying the splendid weather. We
negotiated around the point and a couple of miles toward Loreto we cut the
engine and enjoyed a spectacular lunch of shredded beef, chiles and bean
burritos provided by Rafa’s wife, Margarite. Cracking open a couple of Tecates, we laid
back until Ramon, choking back his food managed to excitedly exclaim that he
had just spotted a blue whale. Another boat far away came to the same
conclusion and we all raced to find a blow hole.
The next hour was spent tracking this leviathan and enjoying the show it put
on for us. One cant imagine the size of these beauties because as they
surface for air, you barely get to see the expanse of their backsides. Its
only when they arch their backs in preparation for submersion, slowly breaking
the surface and lifting a huge tailfin that you realize you are witnessing the
largest creature on the face of the earth. Truly a magnificent and humbling
experience; everyone on both boats cheer mightily after the big blue dives
back to the depths.
We repeated this same experience four times until Rafa could no longer contain
the wide grin on his face. We returned back to the marina, heady from joy and
awe for a day that will be perpetually etched in all our memories.
God bless Loreto. My joy knows no bounds now that Ive returned to my hearts
home.