Boca de la Soledad, Magdalena Bay
We woke up this morning on the National Geographic Sea Lion with perfect weather conditions for whale watching: a calm sea, a clear sky and a bright sun. Immediately after breakfast we boarded our Zodiacs and began looking for blows. Very soon all boats found animals, mostly in pairs of cows and calves, but there were also single individuals. The whole northernmost entrance to Magdalena Bay demonstrated once more to be the empire of these gracious cetaceans.
Our very excited guests and naturalists, followed the different groups in various rounds throughout the day. Our approaches, always slow and quiet, let the mothers and calves feel confident with us. Several times, unexpectedly, they just turned and came to us, and mothers allowed the almost two-month-old babies to rub their heads against the Zodiacs or even be touched by our hands. Single individuals crossed paths with these interactive, whale-human groups. Everyone on the boats had the opportunity of stretching arms and hands to touch the soft, cushioned, lice-and-barnacle-loaded mottled skin of calves.
Eventually some mother cows spy hopped, and some babies lifted their entire heads out of the water, and breached. The activity did not stop until the afternoon, when they appeared to be resting, just logging at the surface of the water, breathing in a relaxed way, and drifting with the quiet tidal current. Some calves probably were also nursing, as determined by the length of time they stayed under the water, and the movements of the mother. Birds of diverse kinds, bottle-nosed dolphins and a beautiful sunset were the corollary for a great day of gray whale observation.
We woke up this morning on the National Geographic Sea Lion with perfect weather conditions for whale watching: a calm sea, a clear sky and a bright sun. Immediately after breakfast we boarded our Zodiacs and began looking for blows. Very soon all boats found animals, mostly in pairs of cows and calves, but there were also single individuals. The whole northernmost entrance to Magdalena Bay demonstrated once more to be the empire of these gracious cetaceans.
Our very excited guests and naturalists, followed the different groups in various rounds throughout the day. Our approaches, always slow and quiet, let the mothers and calves feel confident with us. Several times, unexpectedly, they just turned and came to us, and mothers allowed the almost two-month-old babies to rub their heads against the Zodiacs or even be touched by our hands. Single individuals crossed paths with these interactive, whale-human groups. Everyone on the boats had the opportunity of stretching arms and hands to touch the soft, cushioned, lice-and-barnacle-loaded mottled skin of calves.
Eventually some mother cows spy hopped, and some babies lifted their entire heads out of the water, and breached. The activity did not stop until the afternoon, when they appeared to be resting, just logging at the surface of the water, breathing in a relaxed way, and drifting with the quiet tidal current. Some calves probably were also nursing, as determined by the length of time they stayed under the water, and the movements of the mother. Birds of diverse kinds, bottle-nosed dolphins and a beautiful sunset were the corollary for a great day of gray whale observation.
