Boca De Soledad
Gray Whales are locally known here in Bahia Magdelena as Ballena Gris. Our morning in the nursery of the Gray Whales turned up quality rather than quantity. This is the first Lindblad “Among the Great Whales” Expedition of the season and it is starting absolutely fine. Everyone found the whales, a few had some fine opportunities to see close-up spy hopping, one of the many whale behaviors that we will witness as we transverse Magdelena Bay to the Pacific and back up the Gulf of California.
The Zodiacs were plying all over the area and one of the best sightings came from within view of our ship. Such are the whims of wildlife. All our Zodiac’s had pangeros – local fishermen that are certified and carry permits as whale watch operators. They and we follow specific rules to avoid disturbance of the mama whales and their babies, such as only two boats with a whale at one time, and approaching diagonally from the side rather than directly from the back or front. We don’t approach closer than 100 feet, but if the whales want to visit us – that is just fine. Sometimes they come right up to the boat, which we can never count on, but we are ecstatic when it does happen.
After a delicious lunch of gazpacho soup, ham tarts and paella rice dish and chocolate chip cookies, half our group headed back into the Zodiacs for another opportunity at close whale sightings. The other part of the group went for a stroll on the beach. The dunes are magical in this area, the colors, textures and shapes are spellbinding. This is all due to fine, coarse, white, brown and black sand being pushed with different wind directions for different durations at different velocities.
The dunes left us with a sense of space and solitude. This was the place to really wiggle our toes in the sand – the feel of sand so fine and soft that it cannot be compared to any carpet. We were walking one of the best shell beaches you could find in Baja California. Venus, Arks, Auger, Murex and countless other species were found intact.
The day ended with a Mexican Fiesta dinner prepared by our own galley. As part of our fiesta, a band from the town of Puerto Aldolfo Lopez Mateo came on board with music and song, and we added the dancing! For the remainder of the night, we listened to the sound of the wind mixed with ocean surf and soft whale blows right outside our doors.
Gray Whales are locally known here in Bahia Magdelena as Ballena Gris. Our morning in the nursery of the Gray Whales turned up quality rather than quantity. This is the first Lindblad “Among the Great Whales” Expedition of the season and it is starting absolutely fine. Everyone found the whales, a few had some fine opportunities to see close-up spy hopping, one of the many whale behaviors that we will witness as we transverse Magdelena Bay to the Pacific and back up the Gulf of California.
The Zodiacs were plying all over the area and one of the best sightings came from within view of our ship. Such are the whims of wildlife. All our Zodiac’s had pangeros – local fishermen that are certified and carry permits as whale watch operators. They and we follow specific rules to avoid disturbance of the mama whales and their babies, such as only two boats with a whale at one time, and approaching diagonally from the side rather than directly from the back or front. We don’t approach closer than 100 feet, but if the whales want to visit us – that is just fine. Sometimes they come right up to the boat, which we can never count on, but we are ecstatic when it does happen.
After a delicious lunch of gazpacho soup, ham tarts and paella rice dish and chocolate chip cookies, half our group headed back into the Zodiacs for another opportunity at close whale sightings. The other part of the group went for a stroll on the beach. The dunes are magical in this area, the colors, textures and shapes are spellbinding. This is all due to fine, coarse, white, brown and black sand being pushed with different wind directions for different durations at different velocities.
The dunes left us with a sense of space and solitude. This was the place to really wiggle our toes in the sand – the feel of sand so fine and soft that it cannot be compared to any carpet. We were walking one of the best shell beaches you could find in Baja California. Venus, Arks, Auger, Murex and countless other species were found intact.
The day ended with a Mexican Fiesta dinner prepared by our own galley. As part of our fiesta, a band from the town of Puerto Aldolfo Lopez Mateo came on board with music and song, and we added the dancing! For the remainder of the night, we listened to the sound of the wind mixed with ocean surf and soft whale blows right outside our doors.
