The National Geographic Sea Bird remained anchored at Boca de Soledad through the night and we awakened at dawn to mid-60’s air temperatures and a light breeze of 8-10 mph. The sun rose to a clear day on the bay and people emerged from their cabins to the “pffffft” sound of gray whales all around the ship. The morning exercise class was a bit distracted by their presence, and by a spy-hopper who popped its whole mouth and eyes out of the water to take a peek around. The anticipation of getting a closer look today at these magnificent creatures was palpable.
Our whale watching was split into two rounds to give lots of room in each boat. In the morning those not whale watching had the opportunity to walk along the shorelines and dunes at the tip of Isla Magdalena. If Eskimos have a hundred words for snow, then desert dwellers must have as many for sand. Our feet landed on the hard-packed shoreline near twisted dried-out mangrove patches, which soon gave way to black mineral-rich volcanic sand, which changed to more hard-packed mixture including plant life, shells and branches strewn about. Our feet then sank into water-drenched mud, leading us to the rippled geometric formations of dunes. Wow, what beautiful and rich terrain to explore. Tracks of a variety of creatures – including ours – were seen everywhere. Birds observed were regal terns, oyster catchers, Heermann’s gulls, water gulls, double-crested cormorants, and brown pelicans. The wind and sun were constant.
As for whale watching, we disembarked at the fantail onto the small inflatable boats accompanied by a local pangero with his whale-watching permit. The sun shone brilliantly and the wind waved through the waters, sometimes creating splashes over the upper edges of the boat. The whales were all around us - cow/calf pairs of “PFFFFT” and “pffffft” as well as momma and baby out for a swim. The size of these whales became more real as they dwarfed our boats the closer they came to us. We were treated to spy hops, breaches, and rolling. Some boats were fortunate to have “friendly” whales approach – where the whales interacted with the people in the boats. This heart-felt experience is difficult to put into words, and included tears of joy, big grins, and baby-talk. In the evening we gathered together for cocktails and a Mexican fiesta complete with music from local musicians Los Coyotes.
