Bahia Magdalena & Pacific Ocean

Early morning is one of the best times to enjoy good whale watching. A light breeze and a beautiful sunrise greeted us on the first round of Zodiac cruises, to look for California gray whales. Even before we embarked our Zodiacs from the National Geographic Sea Bird, dozens of blows could be seen in the distance. As we got closer to these leviathans, we noticed that most of them were mothers and calves. This has been a wonderful thing to observe, since in this rapidly changing world, the numbers of whales in the Baja California lagoons has fluctuated greatly in the last years. As a general consensus, naturalists have agreed that this place looks like it did ten years ago.

We got another surprise that Mother Nature had kept for us until the very end. A mother and calf showed increased curiosity toward us and our inflatable boats. In no time at all, these gentle giants were under our boat and seeking interaction with us! It is impossible to explain this behavior, where creatures that have been hunted by humans in the past, and almost wiped out, have the amazing capability to change their attitude toward us. Have they forgiven humanity? We will never know, but one thing is certain: when you look eye-to-eye with a whale, there is an intelligent being, whose intelligence may have been underestimated, and they are true non-human persons.

The National Geographic Sea Bird continued the journey towards the open Pacific Ocean. We sailed back through Canal de Soledad, and on our transit we had an opportunity for more whale and bird watching. Finally, we approached “La Entrada,” or the southern entrance to the bay. As we sailed into the open sea, we saw about ten more gray whales and some interesting pelagic bird life. Later on, as the sun was setting, a group of common dolphins joined us momentarily to ride the ship’s bow.