Boca de Soledad to La Entrada, Magdalena Bay
Today we started the day in a surreal way, with the National Geographic Sea Bird at anchor and completely isolated from the rest of the world by a thick fog; the mangrove-lined coast a few hundred feet away was totally invisible and the only evidence of other forms of life was the occasional sound of a faint whale blow. Morning fogs coming from the Pacific Ocean are common in this part of the Baja California Peninsula and provide vital freshwater to the many plants and animals that live in the so-called Magdalena Plains, the flat desert lands that border the western coast of the lower third of the peninsula.
This morning’s fog didn’t only revitalize the desert plants and give coyotes the chance to lick dew, but enhanced our senses and added a sense of adventure to our whale-watching. We cruised the calm waters in our Zodiacs while looking for gray whales in a gray universe. Suddenly, a dark back broke the calm surface, followed shortly after by a smaller one: a mother gray whale with her young baby. Soon, other whales were spotted and we enjoyed again the privilege of being close to this ambassador of all things wild, cetaceans in particular. Gray whales continue to intrigue human beings with the tolerance or indifference that they show to members of a species that almost hunted them into extinction and today was no exception. Having the chance to observe the antics of a baby whale around the Zodiacs while his mother enjoys herself belly-up a few feet away really changes one’s perception of the creature that the old whalers nicknamed “devilfish.”
During the second half of the day we traveled south through the Hull Canal and into La Entrada, (“the entrance”), as the locals call the gap between the southern tip of Magdalena Island and the northern end of Santa Margarita Island. La Entrada is a deep-water area where adult gray whales like to concentrate and we watched many whales there as we exited Magdalena Bay and entered the open Pacific Ocean. A whole new environment opened before our eyes and soon we encountered a big group of long-beaked common dolphins. We enjoyed watching one of their favorite pastimes as many individuals rode the pressure wave formed in front of the moving ship and provided an appropriate ending to a marvelous day.
