Magdalena Bay, Baja California Sur and the Pacific Ocean
The Pacific side of Baja California is unlike the image most of us have of what Baja should be…you know, a barren, hot, windless desert. Being cooled by the cold California Current, the ocean is only about 64 degrees at this time of year, so the morning air is quite cool much of the time. And it gets windy…and this was one of those cold, windy mornings on the western coast of Baja. It was blowing 25 knots and the air temperature was about 63 degrees. No matter. Half of us went ashore to cross the huge sand dunes of Magdalena Island about a mile to the Pacific shore and the other half put on waterproof gear and some clothing layers for warmth and set out to whale watch in the choppy, wind-driven waters of upper Magdalena Bay. It was worth it in both cases.
The walk across the island was really beautiful, with a low layer of shifting sand blurring the ground into a magical, ever-changing landscape. On the water, even though the whales were fewer in number than yesterday and not surfacing as much in the choppy water, we had fabulous sightings and interactions with them. These whales have come here all the way from their feeding grounds in the North Pacific Arctic to mate and breed in the shallow, protected lagoons of Baja California. The calves now are 1 to 1 ½ months old and have grown from 15’ and a ton to about 18’ and 2 tons. They can be very frisky and even curious about these odd creatures called humans that migrate south to visit them in little black floaty-toys called Zodiacs.
One of the calves was curious to the point of intimacy and most of the humans touched and played with them in a way that may have transformed those human lives. The whales hope that the humans will return home and tell the rest of their species how important it is to be kind and take care of their fellow creatures that share this incredible and fragile planet.
By lunch time, we were all back on board and enjoying a splendid meal as the National Geographic Sea Bird made her way through the twisting channel that separates Isla Magdalena from the Baja Peninsula. Along the way, southward toward the exit from Magdalena Bay at La Entrada, we had some wonderful birding opportunities in the mangroves along the channel (herons, egrets, cormorants by the thousands, royal terns and a variety of shore birds).
After leaving the protected waters of the bay we saw a few more gray whales and a variety of birds in the more open ocean (Heerman’s, California, yellow-footed and western gulls; more cormorants; and shearwaters). As the sun set in pastels of orange and red, the mood onboard the ship at the daily recap was light and exuberant. We felt so grateful for our time with the gray whales in this pristine place and were aware of how privileged we all are to visit such amazing places on this, our only planet.
