Isla Magdalena & Sand Dollar Beach
After a night riding a gentle swell north in the open Pacific, an escort of common dolphins led us into the calm protected waters of Bahia Magdalena. The local traffic pattern had cormorants crossing our pathway, terns whirling and screeching overhead, and frigates soaring even higher searching for a potential victim to kleptoparasitize.
The gleaming white sand dunes of Isla Magdalena were our destination for the afternoon. A network of plants stabilized the dunes behind the mangroves, while the naked dunes further down the beach still shifted restlessly in the prevailing winds.
We found many treasures along the shoreline. Gretchen found a stingray, which still had its barb on its tail. It is much more interesting to investigate this creature as a beach finding than as an accidental meeting in shallow waters. Carlos caught a live blue crab along the shoreline; it waved its pincers about while he showed us its swimming legs and as he flipped it over, he pointed out the anatomical features which told us this was a male crab.
Further down the beach we spied through the spotting scope or our own binoculars a number of shorebirds including whimbrels, reddish egrets and long billed curlews. Much to his delight Pete found the skull of a bottlenose dolphin. He practically danced about the beach as he described the anatomy of the skull and how the melon would fit and its function in echolocation. Once we reached the Pacific side of the Island, we played with the sand dollars as our new “echinoderm eyes,” our new wide-eyed expressions were photographed by our family or friends.
Our week has been filled with new experiences; from fluking blue whales to foraging fin whales, ancient cave paintings to magical boojum trees, cavorting humpback calves to breaching humpbacks. These are the gifts of Baja California that we will treasure for years to come.
Some of our younger travelers have written down their impressions of our week, and now we will share them with everyone.
Our Expedition
Beautiful waves broke against the bow
Around us swam dolphins and whales,
Jumping and breaching
Astounding us all
Climbing up boulders and looking
Around, taking in the beautiful
Land all about
In Zodiacs we cruised, spying
Falcons diving and sea lions barking
Oh, how cute were the sea lion pups
Romping and swimming with us.
Never have we seen such wonderful sights
Inducing friendships that will last all our life.
Always we’ll treasure these memories we’ve made.
! We saw the endemic Boojum Trees!
Bethany Maupin, age 17
Nikki Lockard, age 16
Michaela Maupin, age 15
After a night riding a gentle swell north in the open Pacific, an escort of common dolphins led us into the calm protected waters of Bahia Magdalena. The local traffic pattern had cormorants crossing our pathway, terns whirling and screeching overhead, and frigates soaring even higher searching for a potential victim to kleptoparasitize.
The gleaming white sand dunes of Isla Magdalena were our destination for the afternoon. A network of plants stabilized the dunes behind the mangroves, while the naked dunes further down the beach still shifted restlessly in the prevailing winds.
We found many treasures along the shoreline. Gretchen found a stingray, which still had its barb on its tail. It is much more interesting to investigate this creature as a beach finding than as an accidental meeting in shallow waters. Carlos caught a live blue crab along the shoreline; it waved its pincers about while he showed us its swimming legs and as he flipped it over, he pointed out the anatomical features which told us this was a male crab.
Further down the beach we spied through the spotting scope or our own binoculars a number of shorebirds including whimbrels, reddish egrets and long billed curlews. Much to his delight Pete found the skull of a bottlenose dolphin. He practically danced about the beach as he described the anatomy of the skull and how the melon would fit and its function in echolocation. Once we reached the Pacific side of the Island, we played with the sand dollars as our new “echinoderm eyes,” our new wide-eyed expressions were photographed by our family or friends.
Our week has been filled with new experiences; from fluking blue whales to foraging fin whales, ancient cave paintings to magical boojum trees, cavorting humpback calves to breaching humpbacks. These are the gifts of Baja California that we will treasure for years to come.
Some of our younger travelers have written down their impressions of our week, and now we will share them with everyone.
Our Expedition
Beautiful waves broke against the bow
Around us swam dolphins and whales,
Jumping and breaching
Astounding us all
Climbing up boulders and looking
Around, taking in the beautiful
Land all about
In Zodiacs we cruised, spying
Falcons diving and sea lions barking
Oh, how cute were the sea lion pups
Romping and swimming with us.
Never have we seen such wonderful sights
Inducing friendships that will last all our life.
Always we’ll treasure these memories we’ve made.
! We saw the endemic Boojum Trees!
Bethany Maupin, age 17
Nikki Lockard, age 16
Michaela Maupin, age 15
