Sea of Cortez Island Research

Hello all,

For our final day on this research trip, we stayed another day at Isla Cerralvo. Our schedule was a little more relaxed than the rest of the trip. Our scientists needed time to work on their notes, enjoy some snorkeling time and recover from 12 days of hiking and collecting. The consensus from all is that the trip has been a huge success with new records of plants, insects, mammals, and reptiles. The data will be submitted and a new book on the islands of the southern Sea of Cortez will be published.
It was a privilege for Team Searcher to be a part of this expedition and help rewrite science for the region. Thanks to everyone involved, especially Sula Vanderplank.

We ended our day with one of Baja’s famous colorful sunsets!

Captain Art and Team Searcher

Hello all,

Today is our second day at Isla San Jose. The small mammal team went ashore after we picked up the overnight campers at first light. We moved north a couple miles to the largest arroyo on the island (pictured here). It is located on the western side in the middle of the island. The botany team went ashore for the day. A few hours later we picked up the mammal team. They had a very successful morning getting important data on kangaroo rats and deer mice on this island.

Botany team stays busy in the evenings by pressing the plants collected during the day.

After lunch the reptile team went out and had minimal results. We picked everyone up and moved to the south of the island and took the entire group into the mangroves. Everyone enjoyed the trip! We saw lots of birds and many enjoyed a snorkel trip too. We are traveling south to our last island tonight which will be Isla Cerralvo for 2 days.

We’ve seen a juvenile humpback whale and bottlenose dolphins around the islands. Not much else to report for cetaceans!

Captain Art and Team Searcher

We are all enjoying the Sea of Cortez sunsets!

November 15-16

Hello all,

We had windy conditions today that prevented us from visiting a different location on Isla Santa Catalina. So we traveled south to Isla Santa Cruz where we found a calm spot to launch the skiffs and go ashore. The group surveyed an arroyo for plants and then returned for a snorkel session. We had dinner and then went back ashore after dark for a nocturnal session when an endemic scorpion was recorded.

We picked up the anchor at 3:30 am and traveled north for a “small island day.” We are visiting three small islands today: Roca San Marcial, Isla San Cosme and Las Galeras north of Montserrate. The weather has finally calmed down and we have flat seas in the Sea of Cortez.  The photois off the group on Roca San Marcial, located close to Bahia Agua Verde.

One of the organizers of this fantastic expedition and chief cheerleader for us all is Sula Vanderplank. She is an esteemed conservationist, author, botanist, teacher, Baja enthusiast, and so much more. We couldn’t have done all of this without her!

Captain Art and Team Searcher

Hello all,

We started our day at Isla Montserrat this morning and then made the crossing to Isla Santa Catalina. It was nice and calm in the southern anchorage so we got everyone ashore.

Upon returning to Searcher, everyone was very pleased with their day with plenty of sightings and recordings of plants, lizards and snakes.

We returned some scientists back to the island after dinner so this “nocturnal team” could look for whatever lurks on the island in the darkness. They came back with great results: scorpions, snakes and lizards.

Three people are electing to stay the night on the island to sleep under the stars.

A view from Isla Santa Catalina towards the Baja peninsula

 

 

We are going back ashore in the morning and if we have good weather/less wind, we hope to go to a different place on the island.

Capt Art and Team Searcher

Hello all,

We changed locations this morning to the south end of Isla Carmen within the Bay of Loreto National Marine Park. We’re seeing a little different terrain with some sand dunes at this end of the island. Also, we saw more big horn sheep as we travelled down the island.

The group was able to survey ashore for about 3 hours. We got everyone back aboard and travelled 10 miles to the east to Isla Montserrat. We are contending with some very windy conditions , but the predictions point to a reprieve on the wind tomorrow.

This is just one of the protected marine parks that we are able to access this trip with the required research permits obtained by the scientist team on board. We are very grateful to host this expedition and further the knowledge about this region. It has a special place in our hearts!

Parque Nacional Bahia Loreto (The Bay of Loreto National Marine Park) was created in 1996.  The Park covers 2,065 square kilometers in the Sea of Cortez. The marine park consist of five islands Isla del Carmen, Isla Santa Catalina, Isla Coronado, Isla Danzante and Isla Montserrat. The primary mission of the Parque Nacional is to balance the needs of Loreto’s people with the protection and sustainability of the biological resources found inside its boundaries.

Capt Art and Team Searcher

November 12, 2018

Hello all,

We landed today at Isla Carmen. We anchored in a calm spot and everyone went ashore for most of the day. The landing is a sandy beach and some people went for a swim after hiking to survey plants, insects, and birds.

Collected plants in presses, drying in Searcher’s warm engine room

Isla Carmen is known for its population of big horn sheep and there were multiple sightings of them today. There is a hunting lodge here, run by the owners of the island.

A few people have elected to camp overnight on the beach and a team who are studying the nocturnal animals will go over for a few hours to survey and set traps. We will go ashore early to collect the small mammal traps, retrieve the data and then release any animals. We will cover the south end of the island tomorrow.

One of the San Diego Natural History Museum‘s curators aboard now for this research expedition is Jon Rebman. He states:

The natural world that I seek out in the desert regions of Baja California and southern California provides me with scientific adventure, excitement towards botany, respect for nature, and overall feelings of peace and purpose.

Read more about Dr Rebman’s Botany Department here. We are honored to have Jon and the rest of the scientists aboard!

Captain Art and Team Searcher