Morning found us anchored off the point called “Los Titeres” (the Puppets). South of the northern tip of Bahia Magdalena, also the northern tip of the island of Magdalena. Some wind moved the flag of the ship, and the sky was gray, threatening more wind. Immediately after breakfast we started our whale watching, in two groups. With a local fisherman (panguero) in each of our boats, we set off to different parts of this northern portion of the lagoon in search of a “friendly” whale, which we was identified somewhat south of our anchored position. Here we approached the animal at a certain distance, and waited for the whale to approach us. This happened, and soon we were all enjoying the fantastic views of a gray whale pretty near our boats. On some occasions the whale approached even more! This was on and off during our time out, when we at last returned to the ship to allow the second group to whale watch! Fantastic!
By midday we were moving south under the expert driving of Alejandro Camacho, along the large Bay of Magdalena, to reach the “Boca” or “mouth” of the bay in its southern part. Along the way we had superb chances to observe the mangroves, and a good amount of different birds, among them, magnificent frigatebirds, cormorants, two species of gulls, and some curlews and godwits. The weather had improved, and we had a fantastic sunset, typical of Baja California.
We eventually reached “La Boca,” the mouth of the bay, that space between the southernmost point of Isla Magdalena and the northernmost point of Isla Margarita, and headed out to the open Pacific. Here we saw a few gray whales, but we kept going west, then south, to our expected arrival point tomorrow morning, the end of the land, or “Finisterra.” But, oh luck of ours, we then met a lonely humpback whale, probably a young male, who really showed off to us, very near our ship, with a good series of breaches! We watched it for a while, till it began to get too dark to see well. Tomorrow we will definitely see other humpbacks near San Jose del Cabo, at the famous “Gorda Banks.”
