What an interesting day!

We were scheduled for the 11:00 whale shark run. UnCruise uses a private vendor for these excursions.  Shortly after breakfast the expedition leader (JP) announced that over night in Mexico, the rules had changed.  Vendors were limited to 10 guests per run.  We were scheduled for almost twice that per boat.  So the two runs had to expand to 4 and half the people who were anticipating going on the 8:30 run were bumped to a later run.  That’s change #1. At 11:00 we presented ourselves in the lounge for our briefing.  Then we waited.  Eventually JP (in charge of who goes where on which event) announced that the 11:00 run had been moved to 1:00 and that they were still looking for a vendor to take the 4th run.  So we waited some more – this time for lunch rather than for our boat.  Just before the 12:30 lunch JP announced that our boats were ready to leave. So they threw our chicken wraps (lunch) on the boats. We boarded.  And we were off.

It took about 30 minutes to get to the good sighting location but once we were there we spotted a whale shark within minutes. 

The snorkelers dived in and those of us on the boat got our cameras ready.  The snorkeling was classed as “expert” so we decided to stay on board and watch the action.  That turned out to be a fairly good choice.  Once the swimmers got close to the shark they swam along side as long as they could.  They were going at a somewhat faster pace than I could maintain (based on my self-evaluation of yesterday’s experience).

Following several encounters with our shark we returned to the boat, happy with the experience.  I should note that all four groups did eventually get to go and saw sharks.

We got back just in time to change clothes and hop on the bus to the Serpentarium.  This is a combination wild animal collection/rehabilitation operation in La Paz.  We were treated to a lecture by the Director (in Spanish with an interpreter)(“I’m not the one who usually gives this talk but yesterday he was bitten by a snake.  Don’t worry, though, the snake is doing just fine.”). He talked about their rehab work and the work they do relocating animals (snakes, scorpions, etc.) that show up in people’s houses and need to be relocated to the wild or invasive species (like the green iguana) that they are trapping and returning to their original habitat.  He also showed us a Red Tailed Hawk that is recovering from a wing injury as well as snakes, a turtle, a scorpion, a tarantula, a spiny lizard

and a sightless two armed (no legs) lizard that is endemic only to Baja and a small portion of mainland Mexico.

Following the talk we viewed various animal cages and fed some birds in their aviary. 

Then we returned to the ship with just enough time to walk into town for ice cream before happy hour (the last one of the cruise). 

At happy hour we received instructions for leaving on the morrow – luggage procedures, bus assignments, etc.

Then it was time for dinner.  Tonight was the Captain’s Dinner (steak and lobster). 

After dinner the Captain introduced the crew (those who were awake and not on duty) to rousing applause.  They really have done a great job.

Then it was up to the lounge where we were treated to a slide show of photos taken by the expedition team during the trip. (Yes, I have used some of their photos in this blog.)  We also saw a presentation by the professional photographers who were on the trip.  They are shooting photos of food for an update to the website and along the way took some great video of our activities.  We might be able to see that on the UnCruise YouTube channel.

Then it was time to return to the cabin and pack – suitcases have to be in the hall by 7:00, write, and prepare to say good by to this adventure.

It’s kind-of a sad night.  But return to the real world we must.

TTFN

Since our 11:00 outing had been delayed until much later, I joined a group going with an expedition leader to look around the city of La Paz. I was most interested in the culture center where they talked about the prehistoric indians who had crossed over the Bering Straight and kept traveling right down into Mexico. These Clovis Point indians had drawn animal pictures high up on the ceilings and walls in caves (I was surprised that they look exactly like the European cave pictures!) so the later Indian settlers to this area thought they had been created by giants – thus leading to the name of the mountain range as the Sierras de la Giganticas. La Paz is probably a typical tourist city with LOTS of shoe stores – also lots of bars/restaurants and street peddlers across from where all the boats anchor. There is a “statue” of a huge scallop with a 3 foot pearl in the harbor to commemorate that this area used to be famous for its pearls (scallops don’t usually make pearls – oysters do, but they’re not as photogenic).

When we finally got to go out on the whale shark boat, we roared past cinder block, 5 story hotels that are just sitting there, unfinished, because the “owners” didn’t check to see if the site could handle sewage and where could they get fresh water, and how to safely keep them from tipping over on the sand bar. Also went past another hotel on the mainland side that had built 2 huge slides down into the ocean – however if it wasn’t high tide then you land on the rocks so they had been closed as hazardous – not thinking things through here! The boat driver was able to get in front of the whale shark he spotted so we were actually able to see him through the water pretty clearly.

The whale sharks in the bay this time of the year are just juveniles so he was only 10 feet long instead of the 40 feet with a 5 foot wide mouth that the adults can get – but he was pretty with his spotted skin and 2 ramoras hanging off his tail.

We got back to our ship just in time to catch the expedition going to the Serpentarium – very interesting place. The pens of alligators and iguanas and snakes smelled a bit like skunk. They also had an aviary where you could take a capful of bird seed in to feed the birds – as soon as Randy walked in the door one took the whole cap out of his hand. I had taken a capful of rabbit food and hurriedly tossed it down to the rabbits, quail, and hamsters (almost stepped on a couple)! In addition to what Randy mentioned, they had a pond of over 117 green turtles, 2 owls, a tortoise, and a black hawk with orange legs that they were trying to train to come to a handler’s arm.

Because the schedule had gotten so mixed up we missed the engine room tour which I was interested in because I heard all the hot water for all our showers is heated by running it through the engines. Also they have some kind of salt extractor and so can use ocean water as fresh water on the boat.