Magdalena Bay, Baja California
Our second day in the Boca de Soledad began with crisp, bright sunrise. The “Boca”, or “mouth” in Spanish, is the northern opening of Magdalena Bay. “Mag Bay” is the largest of several coastal lagoons along the Pacific coast of Baja California, which serve as birthing sites for California gray whales. Guests and staff alike were eager to again view the mother gray whales and their new babies in the Boca. We were soon thrilled to find numerous cow-calf pairs navigating the stiff tidal currents of the Boca. Some believe the mothers bring their calves to this area to teach them to swim and navigate in the swift moving water.
After a tasty barbeque lunch on deck, guests were transported to the shore where they could traverse the sand dunes to magical Sand Dollar Beach for a final farewell outing to Baja. Sand Dollar is three miles of clean white sand fronting the Pacific and we were the only souls on it. While beachcombing guests found wonderful shells and were curious about the small holes found in many of the cast up clam shells. The shell of one very spiny animal, a clam known as Pitar lupunaria, is shown here. It shows the telltale, countersunk bore hole of the predatory moon snail, Polinices sp. These snails bore the holes using a flexible, tongue-like structure called a radula, which is lined with stiff rasping teeth. Further searching of Sand Dollar Beach turned up some empty shells of Polinices, which are shown here. Careful inspection of these shells reveals the animal in the lower center has… a moon snail bore hole! Yes, these snails are not above preying on their own kind and most likely this animal ran afoul of a larger conspecific. Karma anyone?
Back on board the National Geographic Sea Bird, guests and staff bid fond farewells on our last evening. This has been a truly magical voyage and none will soon forget it.
Our second day in the Boca de Soledad began with crisp, bright sunrise. The “Boca”, or “mouth” in Spanish, is the northern opening of Magdalena Bay. “Mag Bay” is the largest of several coastal lagoons along the Pacific coast of Baja California, which serve as birthing sites for California gray whales. Guests and staff alike were eager to again view the mother gray whales and their new babies in the Boca. We were soon thrilled to find numerous cow-calf pairs navigating the stiff tidal currents of the Boca. Some believe the mothers bring their calves to this area to teach them to swim and navigate in the swift moving water.
After a tasty barbeque lunch on deck, guests were transported to the shore where they could traverse the sand dunes to magical Sand Dollar Beach for a final farewell outing to Baja. Sand Dollar is three miles of clean white sand fronting the Pacific and we were the only souls on it. While beachcombing guests found wonderful shells and were curious about the small holes found in many of the cast up clam shells. The shell of one very spiny animal, a clam known as Pitar lupunaria, is shown here. It shows the telltale, countersunk bore hole of the predatory moon snail, Polinices sp. These snails bore the holes using a flexible, tongue-like structure called a radula, which is lined with stiff rasping teeth. Further searching of Sand Dollar Beach turned up some empty shells of Polinices, which are shown here. Careful inspection of these shells reveals the animal in the lower center has… a moon snail bore hole! Yes, these snails are not above preying on their own kind and most likely this animal ran afoul of a larger conspecific. Karma anyone?
Back on board the National Geographic Sea Bird, guests and staff bid fond farewells on our last evening. This has been a truly magical voyage and none will soon forget it.
