Our last days of this "Among the Great Whales" voyage were spent in the waters of Magdalena Bay in search of the California gray whale. We left our ship the Sea Lion by Zodiac, and made a short journey into the far reaches of Bah¡a Magdalena, looking for whales. We were accompanied by "panga" -- boat -- drivers from the town of San Carlos, who seemed to have a strong sixth sense about whales and their activity in this shallow and protected bay.
Bah¡a Magdalena lies along the Pacific coast of the Baja peninsula. It is a protected body of water where the gray whales mate, deliver their babies and raise those babies until they are ready to make the long migration north, some 5,000 miles to their summer grounds in northern Alaska.
Our experience this morning consisted of observing cow/calf pairs and juveniles as they move through sheltered waters preparing for their long journey north. We were fortunate enough to have many close views of mothers, calves and young solo whales as they moved gracefully through sheltered waters awaiting the appropriate migration signal. Move north! Move north!
