MS National Geographic Sea Bird
San Jose del Cabo
Monday, March 15, 2010

    I was up early again this morning – before sunrise. As planned, we had cruised all night in a southerly direction and as I exited my cabin we were approaching Cabo San Lucas and Land’s End. We could see the lights from all the resort hotels that line the coastline and see the rocks that define Land’s End. As the sun rose higher, we were treated to the antics of a number of humpback whales as they would breach sending up tremendous sprays of seawater as they crashed back into the ocean.

    We took the ship in close to the rocks of Land’s End and viewed the birds, sea lions, and the large flotilla of small powerboats that were in the area of the “arch” in the rocks. There was a steady stream of little fishing and tourist boats headed out along the coastline from Cabo early in the day.

    We slowly continued to slowly cruise around the tip of the Baja Peninsula on our way to San Jose del Cabo. We watched the whales as we made our way into port. In San Jose del Cabo, we divided into two groups. The first group went into town to view the city, take photos, and shop. My group headed for an estuary on the outskirts of the town to go bird watching.

    During the bird watching walk, we saw many species and heard even more in the trees, grasses, and bushes. There were a lot of coots, ruddy ducks, great and snowy egrets, cormorants, osprey, and many additional birds. We also observed a small snake that somehow managed to get stuck on a piece of floating wood and also a turtle. We also sighted a number of Aluminus mexicanus flying into and out of the nearby airport.

    After our gentle hike along the waterway, we hoofed it into town to meet up with the other group and catch our buses back to the ship. We left town about 12:15 pm and it was only about 15 minutes back to the dock. Once safely back on board, we had lunch and the ship headed out of the protected harbor back into the open sea. In the time since we had arrived, the sea had become quite rough, being whipped up by a bit of wind. The ship pitched a lot during the rest of the day and evening sending a lot of the passengers to their cabins and their beds.

    Knock on wood, but I am continuing my good fortune b not being affected by the heavy seas and pitching of the ship – in fact, I am actually enjoying the ride, but I must say that it make photography on the bow a whole lot more difficult. Its not just the pitching, but sometimes when the bow drops dramatically down into a trough, the sea spray comes flying over the side of the ship drenching everyone up front. Sea water and cameras do not go well together.

    Because of the rough seas, the daily recap session and all of this afternoon’s expert talks were postponed. These seas are a very rare occurrence here, so we are hoping that everything will have smoothed out by tomorrow. The dining room this evening was like a ghost town with about 80% of the places left empty. A few brave people made it to dinner, even though they were not feeling in top condition.

    As I write this journal entry, I am alone with the bartender in the lounge. I’m not too surprised as this is the place on the ship with the wildest ride. The lounge is at sea level and completely forward in the bow. It has nice windows looking out just above the level of the sea and as we pound through the wave, the spray is such that it looks more like we’re in a submarine than a ship. The lounge is filled with swivel chairs affixed to the deck and are currently all empty. Eerily, though, as the ship pitches up and down, they are all swiveling around as though occupied.

    We are on our way to Los Islotes and Isla San Francisco where we hope that conditions will permit kayaking and snorkeling.