
Ponant releases rare opportunity to explore Baja California, Mexico marine wilderness
And wildlife seekers will have a priceless opportunity to get up close with ocean giants on a rare voyage with Ponant Explorations.
Setting sail in early 2027, the adventure has been three years in the making after an extensive reconnaissance mission undertaken by Ponant's research team.
The Baja California peninsula lies between the Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Cortez and is maritime sanctuary for many species of whales, dolphins, rays and sea lions, who seek refuge in the sheltered wilderness to reproduce in the northern hemisphere winter.
Ponant's team of expert naturalists will guide guests on an 11-day exploration aboard luxury cruise ship Le Bellot, navigating the unspoilt coastline, marvelling over the wildlife, hiking through majestic canyons and visiting small Mexican towns including charming Loreto.
The itinerary has been co-developed with local communities and conservation stewards, which Ponant's Jose Sarica, who directed the research and development scouting mission, says aligns with the operator's ethos of responsible tourism.
'Creating an itinerary in Baja California was a challenge for me,' Sarica says.
'We have a huge responsibility to share this exceptional environment, to pass it on to future generations, and to show that we are worthy of the trust placed in us by the people who live there.
'What I experienced there compares to no other experience: it's the powerful feeling of being truly alive, connected to nature, and that's what our guests will discover.'
+ Exploration in the Heart of Baja California departs from Cabo San Lucas on three dates in 2027: January 31, February 20 and March 2.
+ Packages start at $10,950 per person. Price is subject to change without notice at any time.
+ For more information, visit
ponant.com.

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles

Sydney Morning Herald
a day ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
Port guide: Melaka, Malaysia
This article is part of Traveller's ultimate guide to cruise ports. See all stories. Malaysia's oldest and most historic town is World Heritage-listed and features a fantastic blend of multinational influences in its architecture, culture and cuisine. Who goes there Norwegian, Oceania, Ponant, Regent Seven Seas and Royal Caribbean are among lines that visit, either on South-East Asian itineraries or on longer itineraries that link South-east Asia with India or Australia. Many start or finish in Singapore. Hong Kong company Resorts World Cruises recently launched two-night cruises between Melaka and Singapore for a relaxed way to transit between the two nations. Sail on in The Malacca Strait that runs between the Malay Peninsula and Sumatra is one of the world's great shipping lanes, so if you're into ship-spotting you'll be happy at the sight of huge container ships. Malaysia slumps in a series of green hills clumped with clouds. Closer to Melaka you see a small island that barely rises above the water and is crowned by Batu Gelama Lighthouse. Your ship will anchor off the old town. Berth rites Guests are tendered to Parameswara Jetty which is conveniently near Melaka's old-town core, all of which can be explored on foot. A new Melaka International Cruise Terminal is slated for completion in 2026 in a whole new city area developed over the last decade to rival Singapore as a port - though it is far from a success and many projects lie abandoned. Going ashore

The Age
a day ago
- The Age
Port guide: Melaka, Malaysia
This article is part of Traveller's ultimate guide to cruise ports. See all stories. Malaysia's oldest and most historic town is World Heritage-listed and features a fantastic blend of multinational influences in its architecture, culture and cuisine. Who goes there Norwegian, Oceania, Ponant, Regent Seven Seas and Royal Caribbean are among lines that visit, either on South-East Asian itineraries or on longer itineraries that link South-east Asia with India or Australia. Many start or finish in Singapore. Hong Kong company Resorts World Cruises recently launched two-night cruises between Melaka and Singapore for a relaxed way to transit between the two nations. Sail on in The Malacca Strait that runs between the Malay Peninsula and Sumatra is one of the world's great shipping lanes, so if you're into ship-spotting you'll be happy at the sight of huge container ships. Malaysia slumps in a series of green hills clumped with clouds. Closer to Melaka you see a small island that barely rises above the water and is crowned by Batu Gelama Lighthouse. Your ship will anchor off the old town. Berth rites Guests are tendered to Parameswara Jetty which is conveniently near Melaka's old-town core, all of which can be explored on foot. A new Melaka International Cruise Terminal is slated for completion in 2026 in a whole new city area developed over the last decade to rival Singapore as a port - though it is far from a success and many projects lie abandoned. Going ashore


West Australian
4 days ago
- West Australian
Globetrotting in exotic English garden Biddulph Grange in Staffordshire
'It's a garden made for getting lost in,' says Dave, the man on the gate at Biddulph Grange. 'However, I will give you a map.' Wind the clock forward 20 minutes and I'm on a pine-fringed path where I find a group of English pensioners clutching their maps. 'Excuse me,' says one, with a hopeful smile. 'Do you know where we can find China?' It's possibly the most alluring place in this whole garden, where a golden water buffalo overlooks a carp pond by a colourfully flamboyant temple and footbridge. Together, scouring our maps, we deduce that if you go through that tunnel, around that path, down those steps, past the stumpery of ancient oak trees, you should eventually locate it. Just as I'm about to head towards a handsome cluster of Chilean monkey puzzles and Mexican Montezuma pines, someone in the group announces with a throaty laugh that on the back of a map is a section of interest. It's titled 'How to find the Chinese Garden'. Biddulph Grange is that kind of place; exotic and eclectic, a bit of an adventure, cleverly set over several levels of a National Trust-run estate in the moorlands of Staffordshire, where the Midlands of England meet the North. Billing itself as 'The Garden Town of Staffordshire', Biddulph is twinned with Fusignano, a small town near the Adriatic coast of northeastern Italy. There are Mediterranean influences at Biddulph Grange Garden, but it's the flavours, species, heritage and history of the East and the Americas that dominate here. One minute you're immersing yourself in the Himalayan Glen, the next you're wandering beneath maturing Californian sequoias — felled and replanted in 1995 — or discovering 'Egypt', where stone sphinxes guard a tomb-like tunnel topped by a pyramid-shaped yew hedge and containing a statue of Thoth, the god of botany. You can also mosey along a shaded avenue of lime trees or idle and picnic on wide open lawns. I'm visiting on a warm May day when the bushy rhododendrons are in vivid bloom by the lake and gardeners are tending to multiple varieties of tulips on the Dahlia Walk (which will be flush with dahlias in late-summer, early-autumn). Dahlias are native to Mexico and Central America, a region that gripped James Bateman, who, between the 1840s and 60s, created this garden with his wife, Maria, and their artist and landscaper friend, Edward Cooke. A landowner and horticulturist, Bateman had penned one of the heaviest and most important and beautifully-illustrated botanical tomes of the early Victorian era: The Orchidaceae Of Mexico And Guatemala, published amid the 'orchid fever' that was sweeping Europe at the time (Bateman's obsession with orchids began even earlier, aged just eight, when he received one as a gift). Using his inherited wealth, he funded plant hunters, who would pluck orchids and other species — rhododendron from Turkey, golden larch from China, cedar from the Himalayas, maple from Japan — and transport them back to his estate and its fledgling garden. You can learn more about Bateman, how he blended his scientific and religious beliefs and the rise, fall and renaissance of this garden in informative panels scattered across the garden (including in the half-timbered, mock-Tudor Cheshire Cottage). There's a small exhibition, with old photographs, in the basement of the neo-Gothic Biddulph Grange mansion, which was built in 1897, three decades after the Batemans left for London. Replacing an earlier Italianate-style villa destroyed in a fire, the property was later used as a hospital before falling into neglect. There's now a cafe and a second-hand bookshop on the mansion's ground floor. Taking ownership of the Biddulph grounds after fundraisers campaigned to salvage the site, the National Trust embarked on its biggest-ever garden restoration project between 1988 and 1991 and it regularly undertakes tweaks and repairs. The temple in the Chinese garden was recently re-roofed with more than 600 new ceramic tiles — built by specialist tile manufacturers in Stoke-on-Trent and based on the original design. The craftsmanship is excellent and another reason to seek out this gorgeous garden within a garden. + Biddulph Grange Garden is usually open daily, 10am to 5.30pm, between April and November, with earlier closing times in the colder/darker months. Admission is £13 ($27) for adults, £6.50 ($13.50) for children aged 5-17. See .+ For more information on visiting Staffordshire, see .+ To help plan a trip to Britain, see .