A Great Blue heron hangs out in it's 
nest, hidden by Teddy bear Cholla cactus.

While directly below in the sea several manta ray pairs are mating.





 

Day 1
At around 7-8:00 a.m. everyone met at the Edmonton International Airport, with Mr. Dang and Mrs. Joblinski arriving later than everyone else. After we checked in, while we waited for our flight we had breakfast. We boarded the plane at 10:41 a.m. and left Edmonton four minutes later.

After our four-hour-and-eighteen-minute flight, we arrived at San Jose del Cabo. When we stepped out of the plane, we were hit by the heat wave of hot, humid Mexico. Soon after our long awaited bathroom break, we found our drivers with the Panterra sign and we were split into two groups. Our first destination was the Pemex gas station. Everyone purchased some sort of snack for the long drive ahead. One of the smart, talented girls from Van Two had her first Mexican problemo. The cashier didn’t have enough change for a twenty. Her kind, beautiful friend saved the day by giving the cashier a five-dollar bill.

During the two-hour drive, us grade seven and eight girls got to know each other a bit better. We finally arrived at Marine de La Paz.

Stepping out of the vans, we met Lela and Stasia who guided us toward our boat, the Narval. We were introduced to the captain, Martin; cooks, Paloma & Ester; engineer, Eleazar; and the rest of the crew Guillermo & Sergio.

Our activities were picking our rooms and roommates and eating dinner before going into a long needed sleep. Some of us had a shower!!! Surprisingly!!! So goodnight and talk to you tomorrow.

Katie & Jane


Day 2
Our first day on the water started with a delicious breakfast composed of eggs and turkey bacon. During breakfast we began moving and most of us were a little queasy. After that, Lela and Stasia took us to Los Isolotes to see the sea lion colony. We saw hundreds of California Sea Lions along with, Blue-Footed Boobies, Brown Boobies, and Great Blue Heron nests. The sea lions were everywhere and were diving into the water and climbing up the rocks. A really sad thing to see was that some sea lions were slowly dying because of the cuts they got from being tangled into fishing nets.

In the panga, we saw a bunch of manta rays mating and splashing in the water. After that amazing event, we ate lunch and whale watched. We saw a finback whale and a bottle nosed dolphin that we named Georgie. It was only the first dolphin we saw out of hundreds.

Lela and Stasia took us snorkeling at Lela’s Beach and we collected seashells. We saw a half-dead puffer fish floating in the water, a scorpion fish, a starfish, and an abundance of amazing fish. After that, a pelican followed us to the ship and rested itself on the tarp above the deck. We had no other way to shoo it off other than tickling its feet and eventually it left. In the evening, we worked in our workbooks and called it a day.

Sharon and Holly