Boca de Soledad
I guess that you can tell that it is going to be an awesome day when you get to see breaching and spy hopping whales from the anchored ship, cup of coffee in hand, just minutes after waking up. And that was just the beginning! We boarded the Zodiacs shortly after breakfast and went exploring the waters of Boca de Soledad, located in the northern portion of Magdalena Bay. Many female gray whales were all over the place, swimming against the current trying to get their babies to gain some muscle in preparation for their 5,000-mile-long migration back to the summer feeding grounds in the Bering and Chukchi Seas. But several babies had other things in mind and their young spirits were more inclined to having fun. Some breached repeatedly alongside the Zodiacs or rolled down their mothers’ immense backs! A few adult whales raised their heads vertically above the water, while others just logged at the surface. The weather cooperated and we enjoyed a nice temperature together with the welcome shade provided by the light cloud cover.
The gray whales were heavily hunted by American, Russian, and Norwegian whalers, among others, from the second-half of the 1800s to the early 1900s in all three of their main calving lagoons on the Pacific Coast of Baja California, including Magdalena Bay. They even earned a reputation as ferocious defenders of theirs and their babies’ lives until their numbers dropped so much that it was no longer profitable to hunt them. Gray whales recovered and today the picture is completely different at Boca de Soledad: instead of having whalers throwing harpoons to baby whales, there are whale-watchers photographing them. The female whales no longer smash rowing crews, but approach Zodiacs and pangas in what seems to be an act of pure curiosity. Today we had the privilege to see our own curiosity reflected in their eyes, feel their skins and be grateful for having the chance to participate in a new relationship with a marvelous creature.
