Day 9 - Monday 5th April
San Jose Island - San Jose Channel
In the morning we headed into Punta Colorado (which means “red point”). We took the skiffs and David led us up the beautiful arroyo surrounded by pink and white-layered sandstone embedded with fossilised shells.
We had great views of male Costa’s Hummingbird, Red-tailed Hawk and Gray Flycatcher along with many Whiptail lizards.
Next we went snorkelling or for skiff rides beneath the sandstone cliffs in beautiful clear water and many fish were seen such as the large Dogtooth Snapper, Colorado Snapper, Blue Gold Grunt and juvenile Damselfishes. Skiff rides took us to a cave to the south where we saw White-throated Swifts and Yellow-footed Gulls.
Once back on the Spirit we quickly spotted a group of 200 Bottlenose Dolphins that put on a spectacular show of acrobatics, leaping and jumping out of our wake. At the same time a Striped Marlin was seen jumping along with the dolphins.
After lunch we found a group of 500 Common Dolphins in a tight formation that entertained us with their bow-riding and energetic swimming. There were many young calves amongst the group.
As we motored north towards Santa Cruz Island we spotted two Dwarf Sperm Whales, or Kogia, resting at the surface. They looked like upside down surfboards floating on the sea. These small cetaceans are easy to identify at a distance, but hard to see well. They are mysterious and boat-shy so usually dive before we can get very close.
Continuing north we ran across a group of 30-40 Short-finned Pilot Whales with great views. These gentle whales surfaced all around the boat.
We found ourselves in a similar position to the other evening as we came across a large male Sperm Whale four miles to the west in the low light. We watched the whale spout for eleven minutes. After 56 minutes the whale came up and we raced to get there. The whale was up 9 minutes and blew 36 times. After a further 36 minutes the whale came up again for 6 minutes and then gave good views as it dove once more.
After dinner we all enjoyed a great show of bioluminescence off the bow complete with zigzagging fish that left sparkles in
the water.
