I know that I have totally changed the weekly blogs by having them on different days and sometimes more than one a week. I have been taking advantage of internet. Mostly pirated
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We continued North up the Sea of Cortez. We have now crossed the State line and leave Baja Callifornia South behind and enter into Baja California. This also means that we are now in PDT having the sun earlier in the morning but darker by an hour in the evening.

We are in Caleta San Francisquito. An army camp that fixes boats is in this cove.(I am sure the source of the internet signal.) We had to look up the wording on the boats to find out it was the army. They dress in black. Can you imagine 100F and dressed in black.

Caleta San Francisquito is considered a hurricane hole. It is a cove of the main Bahia San Francisquiteo. The mountains surround the cove, leaving the water inside like a pond. The water depth are only 15’ therefore no fetch can occur. The entrance has a reef with a small opening thus surge will not happen. We will keep this in mind if a hurricane is forecasted for an area near by. So far the hurricanes have been few and headed West to Hawaii. Let us hope we have a hurricane free season. The chubascos have also been lesser than norm. This however is leaving the coast dry. The rainy season has not happened as of YET. It is good for us boaters not to have to worry about thunder and lightning storms at night with their high winds and thunder bolts.
The Sea of Cortez as I have mentioned before is an area rich with sea life. One of the many mammals are the Fin Whales .It is the second largest mammal on earth, next to the Blue Whale, which is also living amongst us.

We have watched the large Fin Whale forage for food 500 meters from the boat while at San Marcos, but now we are in the area that they are the most plentiful.
Unfortunately with the wonder of seeing these things in nature comes the reality of their life. Just a short distance from where we are anchored is a very large Fin Whale that 2 weeks ago beached itself. This had me checking information to find out more about these beautiful creatures.
So here is your lesson on Fin Whales!

The Sea of Cortés contains numerous Fin whale concentrations in the Canal de Ballenas and the Canal de Salsipuedes,(where we are now) Puerto Peñasco and Puerto Libertad, San Pedro Mártir and Turner Islands, the south point of Tiburón Island, the area between San Pedro Nolasco Island and Guaymas . All these areas are biologically-rich, providing a steady food source for the whales to feed on. It is possible to see Fin whales actively feeding at the surface, rolling on their right side with their mouths wide open, scaring prey with white right lower jaw flashes while engulfing huge volumes of water. As they close their mouths, Fin whales appear like gigantic tadpoles as they remain on the surface expulsing water from their throats, filtering the small fishes and crustaceans that have been trapped in the baleen

These whales are usually seen traveling alone or with just a few others. Pods are rare to observe. The whales make very loud low frequency sounds that can travel over hundreds of miles in the water. They can have bursts of speed of 25 knots.

There is not a distinct breeding ground area. Females usually give birth every 2 – 3 yrs to a single calf. Twins are very rare. Calving occurs in the winter after a gestation period of 11-12 months. Breeding also occurs in the winter, and it has been observed that the whales sometimes associate with Blue Whales, and occasional interspecific mating apparently occurs.

Fin Whales feed on krill and various small schooling fish. They can consume six tons a day. It puts what we fish into perspective.

It is not totally understood why a whale will beach itself, but the scientists believe that the sick, and elderly animals will perform this last act. Unfortunately sometimes the mammal has misjudged where his dinner is taking him. (This is rare)
I can attest that a beached whale has a very distinctive smell to it as it rots! I did take a picture. When I get to an internet site that is not pirated and have better signal strength, I will add the picture to this blog.

We will be heading over to Isla Salsipuedes. Its an 18 mile trip. We plan on spending awhile there as there are many anchorages on this one island. One can never tell however.