MV Horizon at Isla Guadalupe - Film Production

For the next 20 days the MV Horizon will be at Isla Guadalupe with a film crew from Japan.

They are there to discover and document the "islands inhabitants."

Like the 30 day expedition with the BBC they did last year, the crew are sending back regular updates.

This week the film crew with the help of Captain Spencer witnessed something never before seen at Isla Guadalupe, changing the way we view the wildlife here once again.

Captain Spencers Log Day 4

Again we are off the boat before the sun even has a chance to wake up for the day. Away we go off to capture some more footage of the female elephant seal ready to give birth. Or so we thought... after hours of watching, looking and waiting we come to a sad realization that she is gone. Maybe she moved to another beach or maybe she gave birth over night. Nobody knows all we do know is that she is gone. As we wrap up the morning at the beach we get a rare look into the world of wild animals at their finest.

On the way back to the Horizon we spotted a baby Elephant Seal swimming on the surface, so we headed over to take a look and could immediately tell there was something wrong. Maybe he was sick, or injured, all we knew was that it wasn't looking good for this baby out in shark infested waters. As we followed behind the pup, four dolphins joined in on our curiosity. We thought they might try to take advantage of the wounded seal, but fortunately we were mistaken, the dolphin were actually helping the seal back to shore. As the pup struggled for air the dolphin repeatedly dove and lifted the young pup to the surface to breath. It was AMAZING! The dolphins actually were guiding the seal back to shore.

Never in my life would I think a dolphin had such compassion. After the seal made it to shore the dolphin gave a tail slap on the water, as if to say, "high five!" Then off they went into the wild blue. After lunch we spent time on the boat catching up on some editing and interviews. Then out of no where a 12 foot white shark decided it was sick of being cooped up in the ocean and breached 200 yards from the boat. It was awesome. To see such a large shark launch itself out of the water like that.

Now we know for sure the sharks are here. Maybe tomorrow we will put the cage in and see what is swimming below.

Adios
Captain Spencer

Sea of Cortez - Production Adventure 8

Good friend Captain Greg Grivetto of Horizon Charters is on another eco adventure and this time in the company of the BBC as they film their much acclaimed series,“Last Chance to See”. Biologist, naturalist, writer - Mark Carwardine and esteemed actor Stephen Fry host this series and will be aboard as we search for blue, sperm and humpback whales

For the next two weeks he'll be sending us his "notes from the field":

Well howdy sports fans, and welcome to Islas Cedros! After an absolutely beautiful ride north from Cabo San Lucas we made the power decision to stop on the north end of the "Big Island" for a bit of sanity and water sports!

Mark whipped up a scrumptious chowder while Aaron and Kyle jumped in to the briney aquamarine for a couple hours of fun. Aaron just arrived back from his dive sporting a large smile with stories of bullseye rays, huge kelp bass, batrays, octopii and much much more! Kyle is still out paddling about. Captain Greg might even jump into the abyss for a swim about...crazy!

If I sound a little loopy, well it's due to the 48 a** kicking we received after reaching the 24 degrees latitude line. Approximately 280 miles of "Hold on to your hats!" to be exact. I knew that 10 days of beautiful weather on our southern transit and then Sea of Cortez jaunt would be tempered by reality. So now we sit, debating the merits of stabbing forth into the ocean north of Cedros or possibly spending the evening, getting a few hours of normal sleep and then venturing forth en la manana. Hmmm...the second option sounds much better.

I'd like to say we saw a bunch of cool stuff on our way north, but the windows were so wet we couldn't see out so well. The goodship Horizon resembled more of a submarine than a boat! BUT alas, we did see a couple cool sites along the way; marlin on the Golden Gate Bank and then a tremendous amount of life as we ventured up Cedros' leeward side a couple hours ago. Shearwaters by the thousands, Pacific white-sided dolphin, sea lions and now on the beach just to our west, northern elephant seals. Cedros is an amazing island which has me wishing we had the time to venture up the islands Gran Canyon for a trip to the summit. The view from the top is breathtaking and worth the 2 hour trek!

I'll check in at our next calm weather anchorage with a report from Baja's northern Pacific coast!

Adios,

Captain Greg

Sea of Cortez - Production Adventure 6

Good friend Captain Greg Grivetto of Horizon Charters is on another eco adventure and this time in the company of the BBC as they film their much acclaimed series,“Last Chance to See”. Biologist, naturalist, writer - Mark Carwardine and esteemed actor Stephen Fry host this series and will be aboard aswe search for blue, sperm and humpback whales.

For the next two weeks he'll be sending us his "notes from the field":

After yesterdays interlude with the squid of Santa Rosalia we were back on "whale focus" today and started off early with an agitated humpback whale. The whale was being ruthlessly pestered by a pod of bottlenosed dolphin and a pair of sea lions that appeared to be playing "Lets see who can get under the big jumbo swimmer's skin!". Their tactic worked, as every couple minutes the whale would wildly swing and thrash it's tail in an attempt to, "Get those damn pesky flies outta my face!".

The coup de gras, which worked quite well, was a sudden spectacular full body aerial breach that occurred only 100 feet off the starboard side of Horizon! After that, no more dolphin problem...I think they took the hint.

We spent the next few hours drifting in wait as one of Lindblad Expeditions vessels was anchored in the exact locale that we wanted to occupy. The nerve, in a place as large as the Sea of Cortez, couldn't they find someplace else to go? Anyhow, it worked out fine as the BBC needed some down time to film simple shots around Horizon.

The early afternoon was very cool as we made our first landfall in 4 days at the Ancient Whale Bone site on Isla San Jose. Fossilized whale bones, turtle shells, dolphin skulls and clam shells embedded in sandstone decorate the landscape. The surrounding sandstone cliffs are beautiful in hues of brown, tan, red and orange. Mark Carwardine had wanted us to arrive on site before sunrise to take advantage of the beautiful colors that emanate from the rock during the explosion of sunrises first light. Unfortunately, due to the time it took us to make the long 170 mile traverse from Santa Rosalia, we weren't able to make it in time.

Large Sally Lightfoot crabs scurried from rock to rock while crewmember Kyle spotted a puffer fish and large amberjack as he gazed into the water along the shore. It was unfortunate that we had such a short time at Isla San Jose, we all could have spent additional time there.

Shortly after departing Isla San Jose I placed a call to another eco tour company that was whale watching in the San Jose Island Channel. A quick chat provided information on a large pod of sperm whales moving southerly through the channel, so we were off in search of the cousins to Moby Dick. Within the hour we had alongside Horizon 10 of these deep diving champions, seemingly unaware of our presence. The calm of early evening  provided a surreal aire to the scene as we cruised alongside our black wrinkle bodied hosts. Another Sea of Cortez encounter that will not be forgotten!

Tonight we travel south toward Gorda Banks, with hopes of finding more charismatic humpback whales. From what I've been told, the film team already all the footage necessary to produce their show...the rest is gravy to an already amazing meal!

Until Breakfast,

Captain Greg