A pink-orange sunrise illuminated National Geographic Venture this morning while sailing to the southernmost section of Magdalena Bay, called Almejas. Once there, our guests and staff boarded pangas, local boats, for a long whale watching session. There were probably 30 gray whales (females and males) surrounding the boats performing all kinds of behaviors related to mating. Practically all spyhopped, some breeched, many showed flukes, and almost all rolled over to show their bellies and their pectoral fins. Sometimes, five whales at a time were spyhopping, and the cameras and cell phones were snapping like crazy. We also observed hundreds of double-crested cormorants, brown pelicans, magnificent frigatebirds, and western gulls going back and forth to get food in this productive environment.
In the afternoon, the vessel moved north to Santa Maria Bay where our guests and naturalists explored the sand dunes and mangrove environments and found their amazing inhabitants –shore and land birds, sand dollars, shells of many different species, fiddler crabs, a coyote, jackrabbit tracks, and unique sand dune plants.
Back on board, we finished our first day of exploration enjoying the music of local performers, Los Coyotes de Magdalena, and a deligthful dinner.
