Luxury Cruise Bible

Exploring Mexico's Sea of Cortez with NW Explorations

Northern Song attracts a visitor! (Photo courtesy of Kristin Ohlson)

By Kristin Ohlson

I awake when the moon is so bright on the Sea of Cortez that I think it’s morning. But when I leave my cabin and climb the stairs to the Northern Song’s salon, I discover it’s only 4 am. Outside, all is dark except for the moonlit water and the distant glow of a giant cruise ship, lit up like a birthday cake. Doubtless, it’s on its way to one of the brightly lit resort towns miles away.

As I help myself to coffee and a plate of freshly baked cookies, I pause to pity the people on that behemoth. They’re snoozing through the protected waters of a stunningly beautiful Mexican national park located between La Paz and Loreto. But lucky me: I’m one of six guests on the NW Explorations’ Northern Song, a 78-foot custom cruiser anchored just off Isla Espiritu Santos, one of the park’s wild, uninhabited islands. In the morning—when that giant cruise ship is long gone—my daughter and I will have to make some difficult decisions. Take a dinghy to the island and explore the abandoned pearl farms that helped make La Paz the world’s largest source of pearls more than a century ago? Examine the tide pools crowded with creatures and tromp the island with the Northern Song’s co-owner and chief naturalist, Jordan Roderick? Or hang out in the wheel room with the other owner and captain Brian Pemberton, reading, playing Scrabble, and jumping to our feet with binoculars whenever a whale or pod of dolphins neared the boat? We managed to do all that and more in our first full day.

Why NW Explorations?

Northern Song spent her first season in the Sea of Cortez from December 2008 through March of 2009. Previously, the cruiser—the gem of NW Explorations, a yacht charter and sales company—stayed in northern waters, taking guests on one- to two-week excursions around the islands of British Columbia and Alaska in the summer months. The company recently decided to add a winter season.

Whether in the Pacific Northwest or the Sea of Cortez, travelers are attracted to these excursions for several reasons. Many come because they’re nature lovers. The Northern Song’s crew not only includes a naturalist but also helps you maneuver—by dinghy, kayak, on foot, or in snorkel gear—into close encounters with wildlife, often in remote areas inaccessible to most travelers. The company is also sensitive to environmental concerns, so guests don’t have to worry about stressing wild habitats.

Avid boaters also flock to these trips. These are people who love the sea, but want to experience it on a luxury yacht much grander than their own vessels, piloted by someone else so that they can enjoy the experience without work.

A third group chooses the Northern Song because they love luxury cruises and have taken several, but now want something more intimate and responsive to their daily whims. During my week in mid-February, there was a crew of four—not including gourmet chef Lisa Bower, formerly a chef at one of Alaska’s most admired restaurants—who greeted our every inclination with friendly helpfulness. Snorkel? Kayak? Hike to the tallest peak on the island? A freshly made margarita? Certainly!

Northern Song

On that first day aboard, it was tempting to do nothing. Northern Song is a sturdy boat with a steel exterior, which handles even choppy seas well. Its interior walls are rich mahogany in shades of burgundy and topaz, and its floors are padded with carpeting that sooths bare feet. There’s an appealing deck at the back of the boat, but I wanted to sink into the leather couches in the salon—like a great room, with a conjoined living room and kitchen—and read while Lisa worked on a fabulous meal.

“You’re on vacation!” Jordan said, when I told him of my dilemma. “Do whatever you want.”

I finally decided I’d read at night. There was simply too much to do during the days. Soon, I lost track of time as we cruised the islands and shoreline of Baja, our activities determined only by the weather and our own inclinations. The only scheduled events were Jordan’s “cocktail chats”—slide shows and informative talks on local wildlife, history, and lore—and Lisa’s meals, artfully created from ingredients she selected at a farmers market in Loreto and served family-style at one large table whenever we finished with our activities. We often gathered to watch her work and sample the ingredients. I’ll always pine for a local cheese with a delicate caramel-like flavor that went into one night’s chile rejenos—the best I’ve ever eaten.

Sailing the Sea of Cortez

Over the course of eight days, we explored Baja’s desert terrain, as Jordan enlightened us about local plants and birds. We snorkeled quiet coves and found an explosion of life under the surface of the water, then studied books back on the Northern Song to identify what we’d seen. In one hour, I saw a Giant Damselfish, a King Angelfish with its startling white stripe and bright yellow tail, a needle-nosed Reef Cornetfish, a Bullseye Puffer, a Balloonfish, a Chocolate-chip Starfish, a Slate Pencil Urchin, a Sun Starfish with eleven arms, and dozens of Brown Urchins, some of which looked as big as basketballs. There were also the many creatures I couldn’t identify, including all the tiny colorful fish that swam past like bright underwater butterflies.

And when we weren’t in the water searching for wildlife, the wildlife came to us. Pods of dolphins veered off course to follow the Northern Song, some swimming along in the bow wave and looking up every now and then to check us out. On the day that we had planned to swim near Los Isolates—a craggy island home to hundreds of California sea lions and brown- and blue-footed boobies—the seas were too rough to get in the dinghy. But after the sea lions noticed us, several of the young ones darted out to the ship. My daughter and one of the other guests sat on the swim step at the back of the cruiser, and the little sea lions circled them and stared with bright curious eyes.

All was not isolation: we spent a few hours in La Paz on the day we arrived and a few hours in Loreto before it was time to catch our plane back to the States; we even spent an afternoon wandering a tiny village, where the residents managed gardens of tall bright flowers despite the desert climate. But these moments of habitation seemed small against their backdrop: hundreds of miles of blue water rimmed by rocky peaks, sometimes pale gold, sometimes streaked green by copper deposits in the stone, sometimes streaked red by iron. An unforgettable trip.

Cruise Fare

For the 2009–2010 season, the cost of a six-night cruise is $3,210 to $3,595 per person, double occupancy for the cabin that my daughter and I shared, with a comfortable full-size bed below and a cozy single bed above and ensuite bathroom with a separate stall shower. There are also two other guest cabins on the lower deck, each with a double bed and ensuite bathroom with a separate stall shower, for the same price. The premier stateroom on the main deck with queen-size bed and ensuite bathroom with separate tub/stall shower will run $$4,125 to $4,620 per person, double occupancy. Families and other groups of up to nine people can charter the Northern Song for $27,500 to $30,800. The price includes meals and soft drinks as well as transportation to and from the airport. Northern Song has a selection of good quality, mid-tier wines, beer and liquor, and charges $5 per drink. Customers wishing premium spirits are welcome to bring their own.

For More Information…

…contact your travel agent or NW Explorations at (800) 826-1430.

Click to view the Northern Song photo gallery.

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