Trip Summary
This eight-day itinerary explores Baja California’s pristine coastlines and living sea in search of dolphins, sea lions and as many as five different varieties of whales. Board local pangas and enter sheltered lagoons for up-close encounters with California gray whale mothers and their newborn calves. Witness an undersea wonderland, serene desert isles and some of the most beautiful sunsets on Earth. Hike through towering cacti forests and up striking desert canyons or take a slow photo stroll along the shore. Every day is different and rewarding, with opportunities to indulge in active or relaxing pursuits.
Event Itinerary
Day 1: Loreto, Mexico / Embark Ship
Day 2: Bahía Concepción
Day 3: Exploring the Gulf of California
Day 4: Pacific Coast Gray Whale Lagoons
Days 5-7: Cabo Pulmo / Los Islotes / Gulf of California
Day 8: Loreto / Disembark Ship
EXPEDITION HIGHLIGHTS
- Enter gray whale birthing lagoons for up-close encounters with gray whale mother-calf pairs.
- Embark on regular marine safaris in search of dolphins, sea lions and up to six species of whales.
- Snorkel amidst vibrant sea life, including playful sea lions at Los Islotes.
- Hike desert isles, including Espíritu Santo Archipelago National Park, and witness the variety of flora and fauna thriving in this region.
- Spot myriad bird species, including diving pelicans, magnificent frigatebirds and brown and blue-footed boobies.
- With National Geographic Explorers-in-Training, our exclusive family program, kids and teens will learn about this vibrant part of the world—from migrating gray whales to desert plant species.
Meet Your Faculty Expert
Eric Fossum
Professor Fossum—a Queen Elizabeth Prize Laureate, and National Medal of Technology and Innovation and NAE Draper Prize recipient—is one of the world's leading experts in solid-state image sensors. He invented the CMOS active pixel image sensor used in almost all cell-phone cameras, webcams, many digital-still cameras and in medical imaging, among other applications. He worked at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory and was CEO of two successful high tech companies and is a serial entrepreneur, most recently co-founding a startup with two former PhD students, Gigajot. See his personal webpage for more information. His interests at Dartmouth are teaching and researching the next generation of solid-state image sensors for photon-counting and gigapixel cameras. He also directs Dartmouth's PhD Innovation Program and serves as Dartmouth's Vice Provost for Entrepreneurship and Technology Transfer.