Boca de la Soledad, Magdalena Bay
After a quiet night we woke up this morning in Los Titeres, a beautiful location in Magdalena Bay just south of Puerto Lopez Mateos. From here, we re-positioned our ship the National Geographic Sea Lion to Boca de la Soledad (or the Mouth of Solitude), the northernmost entrance to the bay. Here we started a whole day of gray whale watching on board our Zodiacs. Since the first moments we found pairs of this fascinating cetacean species. In fact, several mother whale “cows” and their calves were discovered navigating with or against the tidal currents. Sometimes they left the bay or came in, just as a preparation for the long journey that they have to undertake very soon to the feeding grounds in the Bering, Beaufort and Chukchi Seas. So far, most babies are between four and eight weeks old, so the cows allowed them to explore and show their acrobatic capabilities even with the close presence of our boats. Many calves put their heads out of the water to spy at what type of creature was observing them.
Single individuals were seen as well going in every direction, probably looking for mates. Young males and females showed their more erratic traveling, holding their breath for longer periods of time than the pairs of cows and calves, but some of them spy-hopped and even breaching several times. Their huge bodies were seen almost three quarters out of the water! Cameras, of course, were slower than the whales or, the non-digital ones ran out of film! The adult nursing females also contributed to our delight with their gentle fluking and diving under or between the Zodiacs.
At the end of the day we had a very much deserved dinner on the ship and the delightful performance of Los Coyotes de Magdalena, a group of local musicians that played varied and beautiful Mexican music.
After a quiet night we woke up this morning in Los Titeres, a beautiful location in Magdalena Bay just south of Puerto Lopez Mateos. From here, we re-positioned our ship the National Geographic Sea Lion to Boca de la Soledad (or the Mouth of Solitude), the northernmost entrance to the bay. Here we started a whole day of gray whale watching on board our Zodiacs. Since the first moments we found pairs of this fascinating cetacean species. In fact, several mother whale “cows” and their calves were discovered navigating with or against the tidal currents. Sometimes they left the bay or came in, just as a preparation for the long journey that they have to undertake very soon to the feeding grounds in the Bering, Beaufort and Chukchi Seas. So far, most babies are between four and eight weeks old, so the cows allowed them to explore and show their acrobatic capabilities even with the close presence of our boats. Many calves put their heads out of the water to spy at what type of creature was observing them.
Single individuals were seen as well going in every direction, probably looking for mates. Young males and females showed their more erratic traveling, holding their breath for longer periods of time than the pairs of cows and calves, but some of them spy-hopped and even breaching several times. Their huge bodies were seen almost three quarters out of the water! Cameras, of course, were slower than the whales or, the non-digital ones ran out of film! The adult nursing females also contributed to our delight with their gentle fluking and diving under or between the Zodiacs.
At the end of the day we had a very much deserved dinner on the ship and the delightful performance of Los Coyotes de Magdalena, a group of local musicians that played varied and beautiful Mexican music.
