A dense layer of fog, coming from the Pacific Ocean, covered the entire area of the Magdalena coastal lagoon this morning, making the National Geographic Sea Bird look like a ghost ship. As we were stretching with the Wellness Specialist on the upper deck, we wondered if we would even have the opportunity to go whale-watching at all. We knew that we had to try, so after breakfast, we got ready to load into our Expedition Landing Crafts for the whale watching excursions, prepared with our GPS. Suddenly though, the fog burned off and the sun rays came down like hot darts upon our hats, long sleeves and sunglasses. Everything, the dunes of the island, the mangroves, the birds, the blue sky and sea, and the port of Lopez Mateos in the distance, was immediately unveiled. Everyone dispelled their previous worries with efusive smiles. That is the nature of the Magdalena region: untamed and unpredictable. With this in mind, we started exploring and it didn’t take long to find the first pairs of gray whales, just off the ship.
The graceful females with their babies skimmed silently through the quiet, still water of the lagoon, just like a sharp knife cuts butter. We watched them with excitement, amazed at their size and friendly behavior. Some cows came very close to us and allowed their calves to play with our hands and arms! The cameras worked hard, and clicking away endlessly. Everyone was asking each other the same question: “Did you touch the whales?” The answers were all the same: “Yes!”, “I did!”, “Of course!”, “Yeah!”, “Sure!” combined with wow’s!, uhu’s!, “the skin feels like rubber!” and many other expressions of joy and delight. The morning and afternoon progressed rapidly in this way, and the gray whales performed their well known acrobatics, like spy-hopping, breeching, spinning, rolling, fluking, nursing and more. At times, we complained: “I missed that!”, “my battery is dead!”, or simply screamed “do it again, please little whale!” and so on.
By the late afternoon, we returned to the National Geographic Sea Bird full of emotions and a better understanding of these fascinating whales. We were in their home, invading their private lives and intimacy, and they were excellent hosts. If we could, we would love to tell them: “thanks a lot whales, for the fantastic moments that you gave us today”. And to celebrate the day, we had dinner, music, dancing, fiesta and dessert. We went to bed dreaming of tomorrow’s adventures, maybe again with the gray whales.
