Thursday, 13 February 2014 – Guerrero Negro to San Ignacio
As some of you may know, I’m due to give a presentation on the subject of FOG later this year. In an attempt to limit the scope, it’s about locations where fog – clouds that touch the ground – are regular and produce moisture to support a flora that would otherwise be doomed. Such fog deserts are common around Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn when accompanied by a cold gulf-stream passing by off-shore. Such situations exist in Baja California where the Tropics of Cancer pass near the town of Guerrero Negro where we spent last night.
Not much of a surprise then that when we woke up for an early morning Whale Watching trip, the scene outside was best described as a pea-souper, or what is known locally as a whale-souper.
Fortunately, when we reached the launching station for the pangas, the air had cleared so that we could now see the end of the panga, the end of the landing to get to the boats and a number of resting Grey Whales bopping in the waves while their calves were performing antics around them.
So not only did we have a wonderful morning out on the water, studying the ‘other succulents’, but I also managed to add more fog-themed images to my presentation archive – fog images filed as S2988.
With the whaling tripout of the way, Angie & I drove along the east of the Vizcaino Desert, an extremely dry area where regular fogs make a significant contribution to the moisture available to plants. All images recorded as Stop S2989.
S2990 was a stop along Mex 1 as it crossed through the eastern end of the Vizcaino Desert. Pachycereus pringly looked extremely dry, with deepd grooves between the ribs. Yucca vallida was here, with some individuals showing their stress due to lack of water by stems that were doubled over, apex touching the ground. Mammillaria dioica was hiding under leafless shrubs. Closer inspection showed that not all the Mams where M. dioica, Mammillaria lewisii was also here, as was Stenocereus gummosus, and various Cylindropuntia that were later identified during a visit to the Mision building and Gardens in San Ignacio, where a selection of these plants were being grown under a selection of labels including Ferocactus peninsulae and Ferocactus p. ssp rectispinus.
We booked into the Desert Inn that much to Angie’s surprise was a carbon copy of La Mison in Catavina and San Quintin.
The Cactus Trip Diaries 