The Sea of Cortez

The reason for our trip to the Baja was a tour with Lindblad Expeditions http://www.expeditions.com/. The tour was called Where the Desert Meets the Sea.
We met the tour group at the Los Cabos airport at 2 p.m. Rick and Reed, the missing ones from our family, still were missing. But the tour group was large enough that 2 buses were needed and Rick and Reed would be there in time for the second one.
The tour bus was really nice. Not quite as roomy as an inter-city first class bus, but nice. We were given a snack and cold drink as we boarded. We rode past San Jose del Cabo, past Cabo San Lucas and stopped for a drink and snack in Todos Santos. The place, the name escapes me right now, was very pretty with a cactus garden. After that stop we continued to La Paz. Our ship, the Sea Voyager, was docked at a pier right in town. The bus drove out the pier to the ship. The Sea Voyager holds approximately 60 passengers so check in was nothing like a regular cruise. We settled into our cabin and looked around the ship. After dinner, we had time to go out and walk on La Paz’s Malecon. We walked a long ways one direction and didn’t get to the end of the Malecon. We wondered how long it was, since we only walked one direction. It is not a developed with clubs, restaurants and shops as the Puerto Vallarta Malecon but it was really nice for strolling. We would like to visit La Paz again some day.
The second bus arrived shortly before dinner time and the missing Rick and Reed were on board. That was good, because this wasn’t like a regular cruise. We didn’t stop at another commercial port until the end of the trip!
Lindblad trips are filled with activity. We began each day with breakfast at 7. Each day we visited one or two of the small islands in the Sea of Cortez, which is also called the Gulf of California. On the islands, there was the option to take a nature walk of varying lengths. Some of the islands had swimmable beaches, so that was a choice too. Snorkeling was offered many days. We got to the shore from the Sea Voyager by Zodiac boats, those motor powered rubber boats.
Zodiac cruises were given to better view the islands.
One of the highlights of the trip for me was snorkeling with the sea lions at Espiritu Santo Island. Another chance to snorkel with the sea lions had to be cancelled due to high winds. We saw pilot, fin and sperm whales. We saw so many sea lions that it was almost routine. We were joined by bottlenose dolphins several times. They liked to ride the waves at the bow of the ship. The dolphins seemed to take turns in the wake. We experienced two of the most beautiful sunsets I have ever seen. One night the sky was completely pink, which made the mirror smooth water look equally pink. Another night the sunset was very dramatic and looked like a photo studio background. We visited an island called Isla Rasa which is a seabird preserve. Actually, all the islands in the Sea of Cortez are protected by the government. We only saw other people a few times all week.

Besides the outdoor activities, Lindblad took very good care of us on the ship. Meals were all delicious and dinner always had a meat, fish and vegetarian choice. There was a lounge where presentations were made about Mexican history, videos of underwater activity, and recaps of each day’s events.
Seating in the dining room was always open so you had the chance to meet many of the other passengers. The expedition staff also ate with the passengers so we got to know them better as well.
The cruise ended in Guaymas, on the mainland part of Mexico. We visited a pearl farming operation, ate lunch at a local restaurant and then headed to the airport. The Guaymas airport is very small. I think they only have one scheduled flight a day. We flew to Phoenix where we spent the nigh5 at the Best Western near the airport. All the flights into and out of Dallas were delayed that day due to bad weather, so we arrived late in Dallas. Mom and Dad were able to get the last 2 seats on the flight to Waco. Harold and I ended up having to wait about 4 hours to catch the next available flight to Waco. We did get back just fine, but a little late. At least American Airlines did give us a dinner voucher and a $100 travel voucher each for the trouble.