We are lucky. Onno is amazing, competent AND easy going!! This is a rare combination in a ship’s captain.

In fact, after Roger and Aashima come aboard the 4 of us spend a lot of time laughing …… and eating. Turns out Onno is a professional chef and Aashima is a great cook. I cook some but most of my contribution is washing dishes – especially in rough weather. I have never been seasick.

The good part: The first days we were anchored in Frailes I recorded the whales singing. They were close. “From the reverb of their voices I’ll bet they are singing near pinnacles” I say to the crew.

“Onno, can I look at your chart plotter? I want to check out the topography of the ocean bottom around here. Up north the whales like to sing in cathedral-like structures; pinnacles and canyons. I think they like the acoustics – they sound fabulous!”

“Aha! There’s a canyon just to the south of Los Frailes” I think we’ve found their concert hall” I record the whales singing on the 4 days we are anchored off Frailes. A few Humpback whales including a mother and calf acually swim past Lost Pearl. These recordings are still not the best because the background of shrimp and sand masks the whale sound when we are anchored so close to the shore. However you can hear more of the song.

Unfortunately this is the last recording I could make from Lost Pearl because we had to leave Los Frailes. Onno’s dinghy was stolen in La Cruz and he has to get to La Paz to pick up another one at the repair shop. Onno and I head out in Lost Pearl early in the morning to catch a calm weather window and motor north to Los Muertos. Roger and Aashima drive there to meet us. We count Olive Ridley sea turtles on the way there and a gorgeous young whale shark glowing in the sunlight slips by Lost Pearl just under the water’s surface. The Sea of Cortes is still magic even though much has been lost.