On our first morning in the Sea of Cortez, under a beautiful blue sky, a huge blue whale repeatedly swam by our ship (see picture). It was one of five different cetaceans seen this morning. Among the others were common and bottlenose dolphins, fin whales and a lonely tropical or Bryde's whale, all swimming close to our ship, the Sea Lion, on occasion.
We spent all morning enjoying the thousands of dolphins, as well as the whoosh of the blows of the baleen whales, audible to us even at 100 meters away. Using a hydrophone on a Zodiac away from our ship, we had the opportunity of listening to the high-frequency clicks produced by the passing common dolphins; this was a very special experience.
