Magdalena Bay & Hull Canal
After a night at sea we greeted the new day off the western coast of Baja California; some dolphins joined us shortly after sunrise as we headed towards La Entrada, as the biggest entrance to Magdalena Bay is known. Not long after breakfast the first gray whales of our voyage were seen off Santa Margarita Island. Some more awaited us near the southern tip of Magdalena Island, just where this species’ commercial exploitation started in the winter of 1845-1846 when two American whaling ships from Connecticut discovered the bounty of whales here. Today people still travel form distant places to meet the whales, but their motifs are very different.
Early in the afternoon our local pilot Alejandro Camacho guided the National Geographic Sea Bird through the Hull canal towards our anchorage in the northern part of the Bay. We all enjoyed great birding opportunities as we slowly made our way among mangrove forests, mud-flats and sand dunes. Red-head ducks, eared grebes, brant geese, great blue herons, white ibises and a sub-adult bald eagle were observed; even some coyotes stopped their search of marine creatures at low tide to watch us! By late afternoon, shortly before we reached the small fishing town of Lopez Mateos, we encountered some more gray whales. With their big massive bodies shinning on the evening sun, slowly swam their way besides golden sand dunes as a prelude for tomorrow’s adventures.
After a night at sea we greeted the new day off the western coast of Baja California; some dolphins joined us shortly after sunrise as we headed towards La Entrada, as the biggest entrance to Magdalena Bay is known. Not long after breakfast the first gray whales of our voyage were seen off Santa Margarita Island. Some more awaited us near the southern tip of Magdalena Island, just where this species’ commercial exploitation started in the winter of 1845-1846 when two American whaling ships from Connecticut discovered the bounty of whales here. Today people still travel form distant places to meet the whales, but their motifs are very different.
Early in the afternoon our local pilot Alejandro Camacho guided the National Geographic Sea Bird through the Hull canal towards our anchorage in the northern part of the Bay. We all enjoyed great birding opportunities as we slowly made our way among mangrove forests, mud-flats and sand dunes. Red-head ducks, eared grebes, brant geese, great blue herons, white ibises and a sub-adult bald eagle were observed; even some coyotes stopped their search of marine creatures at low tide to watch us! By late afternoon, shortly before we reached the small fishing town of Lopez Mateos, we encountered some more gray whales. With their big massive bodies shinning on the evening sun, slowly swam their way besides golden sand dunes as a prelude for tomorrow’s adventures.
