May 22, 2016 (Day 8)
When we woke, wind was again looking like it may interfere with our plans. Thankfully it began to lay down around ten this morning and we made our run to Isla Espiritu Santo. The journey to the island was uneventful and we slid into the cove where Nelson and Goldman landed in February of 1906.
This was the place where a company out of La Paz was showing successful results at growing pearl oysters. Scattered about the shore were ruins of buildings (mostly the rock foundations) and an amazing network of rock-walled channels where the seawater entered and exited further down the beach. Many of these channels were in surprisingly good shape for being over 110 years old.
Pearl oyster beds on Isla Espiritu Santo in surprisingly good shape for being over 100 years old.
The old rock foundation of a house.
We spent time viewing and watching a magnificent frigate bird colony. The parents were feeding their downy chicks, a few males were showing their red throat pouches, among a wide assortment of other behaviors.
Colony of magnificent frigates.
Farther up the shore is an arroyo where a well had been dug many years before. A short walk to film that and the fiddler crabs on the beach was a special treat.
This island is the most visited island of the Gulf of California. Many tour boats full of tourists pass through each cove along its spectacular coastline. The brilliant blue colors of the water set against the bright red and brown of the island is truly spectacular.
A true Baja paradise... despite the harsh and unforgiving desert beyond.
We are off to the Pacific side of this wonderful peninsula, to Isla Magdalena and Isla Santa Margarita in particular.