This morning we were still underway in route to Magdalena Bay, and although the sea was not rough, the constant roll of the Pacific swell weighed heavy on some of our guests. It would not be long before we would reach the calm of the protected waters of our destination—home to one of the gray whale breeding lagoons. For those not waiting out the ocean surge, the appearance of the occasional humpback whale was well worth the effort of standing watch at the bow. Between spotting whales, we had the coastline of the barrier islands that line the western side of Baja to see. Made up of exotic rock delivered to Mexico on a plate of tectonic scale, these islands are a constant reminder of the peninsula’s fascinating geologic creation.
When we reached Mag Bay, the peaceful waters that greeted us were a welcome relief from the consistent motion. The entrance to the bay is aptly named La Entrada, “the Entrance.” With the sun on our faces, and the serenity of the water, we all mustered on deck just in time for our first gray whale sighting of the expedition. Even after so many whale sightings in the previous days, the sight of this new species was as exciting as our first whale. As Carlos exclaimed, “Gray whale!” all hands rushed to the rail to see two gray whales surface near our ship. They submerged with a showing of their flukes, and we headed onward toward the narrow channel called Hull Canal.
Hull Canal is extremely narrow channels within Magdalena Bay were the shallow water has been colonized by a long stretch of mangroves. The channel can change year to year so at the beginning of the canal we pick up our pilot, Alexandro Camacho, a local fisherman who comes out at the beginning of the season and marks the deepest part of the cut. For National Geographic Sea Bird, it a difficult stretch of navigation, for us, it is a wonderful opportunity to view some of the residents of this important ecosystem. Frigatebirds, herons, egrets, and many shore birds line the way for us, as curious of us as we are of them. All afternoon we watch the birds, three coyotes were seen on the beach, and at one point a group of bottlenose dolphins rode our bow as we cruised the length of the canal.
When we reached the end of the canal, it was Lee, one of our naturalist, who saw the first set of cow/calf gray whales. Then someone else saw another, and then another. The further we went into the main body of water that is Mag Bay, the more whales we encountered. By the time we reached our anchorage for the next couple of days we already had seen more whales than we had hoped for. Tomorrow we will encounter them again, this time from the vantage point of our expedition landing craft, and on their own level.
After setting the anchor we all headed ashore to hike the incredible dunes that separate Magdalena Bay from the open ocean. The warm light from the setting sun made the dunes a magical area to explore. A few of us made it to the sea on the other side. Within minutes of reaching the far shore we had already found the skeletons of two dolphins, a seal, and a sea turtle, reminding us that this is a wilderness—a wonderful and beautiful wilderness.
