The Rolling Sand Dunes of Isla Magdalena
As guests, we had no idea where we were when we woke up to our Expedition leader’s dulcet tones this morning. It turns out that we had crossed Magdalena Bay in the night and dropped anchor off the rolling sand dunes of Isla Magdalena. We rolled leisurely out of our bunks, enjoyed a fabulous breakfast, and prepared for our first journey of the expedition…a short Zodiac ride to Sand Dollar beach, a pristine stretch of rolling, diverse terrain that lies between the ship and the Pacific. Once ashore, we realized quickly that almost every step of the way across these dunes would bring new discoveries and a feast of natural history stories.
First off, we came upon the remarkably large, intact, recently deceased body of a seahorse lying on its flank in the deep, porous sand. The proud pose and peaceful look of this unusual specimen spoke to the ecological poise of this whole landscape, where every subtle piece fits comfortably in its natural space. As we hiked across the dunes to the Pacific side, the sand revealed stories of life, death, struggle, and triumph. An extended feast had occurred at the high tide mark where several long-decomposed fish corpses still fed smaller and smaller creatures: the tiny rodent, lizard, and even beetle tracks betrayed a vast clientele. Coyote and jackrabbit tracks told a more abstract story until a jackrabbit dashed out from under vegetation nearly at our feet – flying across the dunes so fast that we wondered how it could possibly be leaving any tracks at all. Surprising many of us from the north, we then came upon bobcat tracks that demonstrated the extensive range of this versatile feline. Our eyes were glued to the stories being told in the sand as the expedition naturalists filled in the details and kept our imaginations reeling.
But then we saw the calm blue Pacific rolling onto the beach and most of us had no choice but to strip down and sprint for the water. Several folks body-surfed in the continuous sets of perfect rollers for what seemed like an hour before we noticed the white disc being tossed back and forth on the beach. It was time to set aside natural history long enough for a vigorous game of 8 on 8 ultimate Frisbee. Sweating and covered in sand, we wrapped it up with another dip in the water, then made our way back across those calm, mesmerizing dunes to the Zodiacs and finally back to the Sea Bird. All this, and it was only noon!
After lunch we cruised through some of the best gray whale watching grounds in the world. We followed the Canal de Soledad, barely navigable waters that required a special local pilot to direct us, to Boca de Soledad, where we observed 32 mother and calf pairs and 30 individual gray whales. We also spied a remarkable diversity of birds and several coyotes ranging along the shore under the shade of the dense mangroves. As we made our way to the evening’s anchorage we found ourselves surrounded by blowing, rolling spy hopping gray whales…a great omen for the day to come.
As guests, we had no idea where we were when we woke up to our Expedition leader’s dulcet tones this morning. It turns out that we had crossed Magdalena Bay in the night and dropped anchor off the rolling sand dunes of Isla Magdalena. We rolled leisurely out of our bunks, enjoyed a fabulous breakfast, and prepared for our first journey of the expedition…a short Zodiac ride to Sand Dollar beach, a pristine stretch of rolling, diverse terrain that lies between the ship and the Pacific. Once ashore, we realized quickly that almost every step of the way across these dunes would bring new discoveries and a feast of natural history stories.
First off, we came upon the remarkably large, intact, recently deceased body of a seahorse lying on its flank in the deep, porous sand. The proud pose and peaceful look of this unusual specimen spoke to the ecological poise of this whole landscape, where every subtle piece fits comfortably in its natural space. As we hiked across the dunes to the Pacific side, the sand revealed stories of life, death, struggle, and triumph. An extended feast had occurred at the high tide mark where several long-decomposed fish corpses still fed smaller and smaller creatures: the tiny rodent, lizard, and even beetle tracks betrayed a vast clientele. Coyote and jackrabbit tracks told a more abstract story until a jackrabbit dashed out from under vegetation nearly at our feet – flying across the dunes so fast that we wondered how it could possibly be leaving any tracks at all. Surprising many of us from the north, we then came upon bobcat tracks that demonstrated the extensive range of this versatile feline. Our eyes were glued to the stories being told in the sand as the expedition naturalists filled in the details and kept our imaginations reeling.
But then we saw the calm blue Pacific rolling onto the beach and most of us had no choice but to strip down and sprint for the water. Several folks body-surfed in the continuous sets of perfect rollers for what seemed like an hour before we noticed the white disc being tossed back and forth on the beach. It was time to set aside natural history long enough for a vigorous game of 8 on 8 ultimate Frisbee. Sweating and covered in sand, we wrapped it up with another dip in the water, then made our way back across those calm, mesmerizing dunes to the Zodiacs and finally back to the Sea Bird. All this, and it was only noon!
After lunch we cruised through some of the best gray whale watching grounds in the world. We followed the Canal de Soledad, barely navigable waters that required a special local pilot to direct us, to Boca de Soledad, where we observed 32 mother and calf pairs and 30 individual gray whales. We also spied a remarkable diversity of birds and several coyotes ranging along the shore under the shade of the dense mangroves. As we made our way to the evening’s anchorage we found ourselves surrounded by blowing, rolling spy hopping gray whales…a great omen for the day to come.
