V50 National Geographic Venture in California & Baja December 11 through December 23, 2019. From San Diego, California.

INTRODUCTION

(Anne Fiske – Expedition Leader) Welcome aboard the National Geographic Venture as we explore this beautiful and rugged coastline of the Baja Peninsula. We’ll be wine tasting at Valle de Guadalupe. Zodiac touring along the coastline of rugged islands, exposed to the Pacific. Exploring arroyos and learning about their depth and dimension. Kayaking in still waters in Magdalena Bay and finding adventure in the Sea of Cortez.

As we travel south, the dynamic and rugged coastline of the Baja Peninsula are sure to add dimension to your story.

We are really looking forward to sharing this voyage with you. Welcome aboard.

DAY 1 Embarking Port of Los Angeles

DAY 2 – Santa Rosa & Sant Cruz Island

(Alberto Montaudon – Naturalist) Good morning. Good morning aboard the National Geographic Venture. We are beginning to anchor just off of Santa Rosa Island here in the Channel Islands National Park. Winds are out of the northeast from 10 to 25 knots. Stretch starts in just a moment at 7:00AM. Breakfast is served in the dining room at 7:30. Once again, good morning aboard the National Geographic Venture.

Here we are with our first wildlife sighting (Bottle-nose Dolphin). We have a pretty good sized group of Bottle-nose Dolphins. Just looking over the bow and we still have a good number of them bow riding. So this Bottle-nose Dolphins have several varieties and this look like the oceanic form of the Bottle-nose Dolphin. They tend to be pretty large and they are a toothed whale. The orca is the largest member of the Dolphin family.

This is a pretty good sized group. At least at one point there were probably 40 of them or so. Now they have dispersed a little bit.

DAY 2 – Santa Cruz Island

(Katie Mills-Orcutt – Naturalist/Expedition Diver) We’re gonna be checking out Santa Cruz Island, which I can just start to make out right through the fog. It was once two islands that have now come and smashed together. This is the most geologically diverse of the Channel Islands due to its proximity to the coast of California. It’s still considered a mainland island, not an oceanic island.

We got a lot of nesting birds over here. We’ll keep our eyes peeled for them. I think what we’re looking at over there might be some bird poop. It’s usually the first thing we can see because it’s bright white out there. All of the nitrogen from that poop just rains down into the ocean, which is nitrogen poor for the most part so you get amazing biodiversity underneath the poop rocks.

This is the most sustainable and renewable crop in the world. Giant kelp or Macrocystis can grow two to three feet in a day. Where you see kelp, you’ll generally see really good diversity underwater. I usually try and find a kelp forest if we’re gonna go diving, just ’cause I know there’s gonna be good stuff.

The floats are just to help keep them near the surface so that they can photosynthesize if

they’re closer to the sunlight. But you’ve all felt it. If you’ve broken a piece of algae and you feel that sliminess on the inside, that’s it’s emulsifier. So it takes different substances like carbohydrates and fats and it glues them together.

Pyrosomes. They’re an invertebrate. They are a planktonic species, so they just get brought in by whatever current and it looks like these ones just got caught on the kelp. So they’re very cool though. They glow in the dark.

When you travel through fog and we’ve got the sunshine coming, lighting it up, you can just barely see a rainbow come out. Just defracting off of all of those little water droplets in the fog. Yeah, we call it a fog bow.

DAY 3 – Ensenada & The Valle de Guadalupe, Baja CA.

(Alberto Montaudon – Naturalist)

This trip is very exciting. We get to see the entire Pacific coast of the Baja California Peninsula. It is the second day of our expedition and we’ve landed in Mexico for the first time, Because we’re visiting so many new places and places we don’t often visit, it’s a real expedition and it’s one of the most exciting trips.

We are in Valle de Guadalupe, which is the heart of the wine producing country in Mexico.

(Edgar Guzman Gonzales – Monte Xanic Bodega Vinícola)

This area, it’s one of the most important areas for the production of wine. We are in Monte Xanic. Monte Xanic is now one of the most popular, wine is here in Mexico. Xanic means the flour that blooms in the first rains.

This area, it’s one of the most popular places to produce wine because the weather in this

place is so fantastic. Air from the ocean coming this area and refresh all this place. That’s why in this area we have a lot of condition for the good growing of the grape.

The beginning we see the cave, the cellar. It’s inside the mountain. The natural rock can keep the good condition for temperature inside that place. We seal 1,100 barrels. All French oak barrel. Good temperature 55° Farenheit…