After a calm night, we awakened to the sound of a blowing gray whale. The morning was cool, and very little wind made ripples on the calm waters of Magdalena Bay. This bay is the third and southernmost locality where gray whales travel to mate and to pup their young. This is probably because of the calm waters, slightly warmer than the water in the open ocean. Even more importantly because orcas or killer whales, their principal predator, do not enter this bay. The other two localities are further north, Laguna de San Ignacio and Guerrero Negro. This species of whale has an enormous migration route, from Mexico up north to Alaska at Behring Sea and Chuckchik Sea, where they pass the summer months, eating enormous quantities of a crustacean called amphipod, to make their blubber layer thick enough to withstand up to eight months without eating.
We divided our group into three, two for whale watching and one for walking on the beach and into the island. Here we visited and enjoyed the kids jumping and rolling in the dunes until they were definitely tired. Some plants were seen along the way, and we looked for coyotes or jackrabbits, but saw none.
Meanwhile, the whale watchers had a marvelous experience seeing the mother-calf pairs of whales very close, and then even touching them, as the whales seemed to ask for it! The young animals were the most active, frolicking on mother’s back and then coming to our boats, where they stuck their heads out of the water and “solicited” some attention. This kept on for almost the complete time of the watchers.
Meanwhile, above our heads, a good number of cormorants and pelicans flew, and the magnificent frigate birds watched everything from high above. Gulls flew everywhere, as did a few terns and other birds.
After lunch, the whale-watching continued until it was almost dark, when we all returned to the ship and to the good cocktail hour, where the “Coyotes de Magdalena” gave us a good representation of Mexico’s music, accompanied by a güiro and three maracas.
And dinner was a delicious Mexican Fiesta!
