On Board the Maria Cleofas
We met up with Greg Alker, director of the non-profit Grupo Cleofas, early on the morning of Monday, Oct. 5th at the San Felipe Marina. Greg had arrived in town the previous day, along with the Maria Cleofas – the flagship vessel for his organization. Most of the time, this 125 foot former fishing boat is stationed at the Tres Marias, a unique chain of islands along the Southern Pacific coast of Mexico that are home to many endemic species.
Sunrise on board the Maria Cleofas.
For the next month however, the Maria Cleofas will serve as a launching pad for vaquita conservation here in the Northern Gulf of California. Our Souls of the Vermilion Sea production crew (which is now officially international with the addition of co-producer Brenda Razo from Mexico City) will be on board this boat for the next week along with marine mammal scientists and vaquita experts Tom Jefferson and Tom Kieckhefer (who run the non-profit Viva Vaquita). We’ll be using the latest information gathered from both the remote acoustic monitoring program and the vaquita survey vessel Ocean Star to determine where the greatest concentrations of vaquita are in the hopes of getting video and still images of this elusive species.
Tom Jefferson scans the horizon for vaquita.
Before we could board the Maria Cleofas however, we had to get the blessing of the Mexican immigration officials at the Port Captain’s station in San Felipe. Here we encountered some problems – it turns out that Greg was missing the same crucial immigration form that Joe and I failed to secure when crossing the border a week ago. Just as Joe and I were required to drive back to the US border to get this form, Greg was told he needed to return to Mexicali before boarding his boat!
As the only member of our team with access to a car, I offered to drive Greg back up to Mexicali. We made the four and a half hour round trip without incident – I knew from past experience exactly where to go to secure this paperwork. We were back in San Felipe by mid-afternoon and were finally able to board the Maria Cleofas.
Preparing to board the Maria Cleofas with Greg Alker and Tom Jefferson.
Unfortunately, the weather conditions here in the Northern Gulf right now are not conducive to sighting vaquita. Because they are so small and elusive, it is only possible to spot a vaquita when the sea is very calm. Today the wind is blowing and the sea is choppy, making it highly unlikely that we’ll be able to get any images of a vaquita. Everyone on board is hopefully that the weather will change, but in the meantime we must patiently wait and hope that we’ll be lucky enough to catch of glimpse of this most elusive of porpoises.
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2 Comments
Mark 11 years ago
Good summary of this critical situation. Hopefully Wildlens will get good pictures and video of the Vaquita to help make the world aware that this species is on the brink and that everyone has to work together to save this species.
Ruth Caudell 10 years ago
Last year south of Muege, Playa Coyte, a whale shark swam with me. The day was clear, windless,& waveless. I’d wanted to swim with one since 3 years earlier I’d persuaded local fishermen in a panga to leave 1 alone, not to encircle, & ?kill it! Then, as I swum out, the whale shark made a U-turn , & swam close enough to touch, but, we did not. Thrilling, & expansive! I’d heard @the vaquitas. Please send updates, & good luck w/ your work! At this time, I am in debt, so can not send$, sorry.