Sand Dollar Beach and the Hull Canal
When I woke up this morning I hardly believed that I was on a ship. The night was so quiet and the ocean inside Magdalena Bay was so smooth that almost nobody felt any reckoning of the Sea Bird, our ship. Then, the low, profound and gentle voice of our Expedition Leader, Don Diego (alias Jim Kelly) was heard all over the ship. Those whose bodies rapidly respond to the call and went out from their cabins, had the opportunity to contemplate a magnificent sunrise; the sun, precluded by a glimpse of a green flash, was a perfect ball of fire rising up from the horizon. The quietness of the bay and its sand dunes were then painted with oblique sun rays of red, orange and pink colors.
Later, we disembarked and hiked on the dunes of the long and narrow Magdalena Island. Its secrets were then unveiled: here, yellow flowers of devil’s claws and evening primroses; there, the purple of rattle weeds and sand verbenas; and everywhere, white flowers of daisies. At fifty yards away from us a black-tailed jackrabbit escaped with an elegant run, with his head completely carried up and big ears erect. When he stopped, it pretended that it was completely hidden, for it didn’t notice that our digital cameras were aimed towards it. Mangroves, other succulent salt-tolerant plants, as well as huge flocks of birds of different types, like sandpipers, willet and godwits, and golden sand dunes were seen as the various groups of guests and Naturalists progressed towards the Pacific side of the island.
In the afternoon, we navigated northbound in the so-called Hull canal to get to our night’s anchorage, close to the fishing village of Lopez Mateos. Our local pilot, Alejandro, drove the ship through the long, shallow and sinuous, officially un-navigable channel. Fortune set up for us vast numbers of birds. The double crested cormorants were in their nests occupied with the feeding of their chicks. Magnificent frigate birds were roosting atop the dry mangroves’ branches. Pelicans, thousands of pelicans, flew and plunge-dove all the time we navigated. Huge flocks of willets, sandpipers and godwits, among others, also showed up to our delight. Close to the anchoring site, we sighted our first couple of grey whale cows and calves, in slow and unworried swimming and diving. By the end of the day we felt very lucky to be right in this pristine Mexican place.
When I woke up this morning I hardly believed that I was on a ship. The night was so quiet and the ocean inside Magdalena Bay was so smooth that almost nobody felt any reckoning of the Sea Bird, our ship. Then, the low, profound and gentle voice of our Expedition Leader, Don Diego (alias Jim Kelly) was heard all over the ship. Those whose bodies rapidly respond to the call and went out from their cabins, had the opportunity to contemplate a magnificent sunrise; the sun, precluded by a glimpse of a green flash, was a perfect ball of fire rising up from the horizon. The quietness of the bay and its sand dunes were then painted with oblique sun rays of red, orange and pink colors.
Later, we disembarked and hiked on the dunes of the long and narrow Magdalena Island. Its secrets were then unveiled: here, yellow flowers of devil’s claws and evening primroses; there, the purple of rattle weeds and sand verbenas; and everywhere, white flowers of daisies. At fifty yards away from us a black-tailed jackrabbit escaped with an elegant run, with his head completely carried up and big ears erect. When he stopped, it pretended that it was completely hidden, for it didn’t notice that our digital cameras were aimed towards it. Mangroves, other succulent salt-tolerant plants, as well as huge flocks of birds of different types, like sandpipers, willet and godwits, and golden sand dunes were seen as the various groups of guests and Naturalists progressed towards the Pacific side of the island.
In the afternoon, we navigated northbound in the so-called Hull canal to get to our night’s anchorage, close to the fishing village of Lopez Mateos. Our local pilot, Alejandro, drove the ship through the long, shallow and sinuous, officially un-navigable channel. Fortune set up for us vast numbers of birds. The double crested cormorants were in their nests occupied with the feeding of their chicks. Magnificent frigate birds were roosting atop the dry mangroves’ branches. Pelicans, thousands of pelicans, flew and plunge-dove all the time we navigated. Huge flocks of willets, sandpipers and godwits, among others, also showed up to our delight. Close to the anchoring site, we sighted our first couple of grey whale cows and calves, in slow and unworried swimming and diving. By the end of the day we felt very lucky to be right in this pristine Mexican place.
