La Florida & Santa Maria Bay
Our last day started a bit earlier than usual as we boarded the Zodiacs immediately after breakfast to go look for whales. And boy, we found them! Numerous gray whale mothers and their babies swam peacefully between the mangroves and sand dunes at La Florida and many of them allowed us to get close. Some of them a bit too close, if you know what I mean! It is really remarkable to think that those beautiful moms belong to the same species that the old whalers nicknamed the “devil fish”; their calm demeanors today contrasted sharply with the “viciousness and ferocity” reported by the whalers. But then again, those whalers were harpooning the baby whales in order to make their mothers come closer and of course the big ladies didn’t like it! Anyway, today we experienced a much nicer interaction with the whales and fully understood why gray whales are now nicknamed the “ambassadors of the cetacean world.” Everyone who has ever gotten a close look at one of those inquisitive baby whales, every bit as curious towards us as we are towards them, would agree.
The National Geographic Sea Bird sailed south along the Hull Canal and anchored off the eastern side of Magdalena Island opposite of the Santa Maria Bay; located on the Pacific side of the island, the bay is a gorgeous place and we crossed the sand dunes in order to reach it. We like to call it “sand dollar beach” for obvious reason, as there are many of the bleached echinoderms’ skeletons all over the place. It is a beautiful beach with not a single building around and made the perfect place to end our great exploration in Baja California!
