Bahia Magdalena
White fingers of dissipating fog festooned the mounds of sand dunes on Isla Magdalena as the Zodiacs landed the first walkers ashore this morning. The air was soft with moisture and the leaves and flowers of the desert plants held precious droplets of condensed water. Here on the west edge of Baja California’s Magdalena Plain, 50 percent of the water for the plants and animals comes in the form of fog or ‘neblina.’ Walking across the island to the Pacific Ocean reveals the curved shape of barchan dunes and close up, the ragged plant-covered hummocks become delicate blooms of ground cherry (a yellow tomato-like flower), loco-weed ( a purple spike- in the pea-family), sand verbena (ice plant family- a small umbel of deep magenta) and other little beauties.
Pausing at the top of the highest dune, the sweeping vista encompasses 12 miles of undeveloped white beach bracketed by two mountainous reddish rock headlands. We were drawn irresistibly toward the ocean’s edge where many of us enjoyed a swim through the gentlest of the azure breakers. Thousands of large sand dollars have washed ashore here and the shells, bones and carapaces littering the area make for delightful beach explorations. A ghost crab experiencing a moment of inattention was temporarily caught by Justin, our Undersea Specialist. These arthropods burrow deep in the sand above the high tide line, delicately slurping detritus off grains of sand and balling up the ‘clean’ sand outside their holes. Ghost crabs can hold water in their gills and carapaces to support them in spending time out of the water feeding.
Hull Canal, the narrow mangrove-lined channel between Isla Magdalena and the peninsula provided excellent afternoon opportunities for watching shorebirds and scouting for gray whales. Just as the announcement was made for Colina Coyote, the high dune that marks the beginning of the nursery lagoon, the first California gray whale of the afternoon was sighted! Out on deck, everyone scouted intently and as we cruised northward, 11 whales were sighted, 7 singles and 4 mothers with calves. For thousands of years, these unusual baleen whales have made the incredible 11,000 mile annual migration to come to these calving lagoons and bear their young.
Tomorrow we’ll board our small Zodiacs and go out among them.
White fingers of dissipating fog festooned the mounds of sand dunes on Isla Magdalena as the Zodiacs landed the first walkers ashore this morning. The air was soft with moisture and the leaves and flowers of the desert plants held precious droplets of condensed water. Here on the west edge of Baja California’s Magdalena Plain, 50 percent of the water for the plants and animals comes in the form of fog or ‘neblina.’ Walking across the island to the Pacific Ocean reveals the curved shape of barchan dunes and close up, the ragged plant-covered hummocks become delicate blooms of ground cherry (a yellow tomato-like flower), loco-weed ( a purple spike- in the pea-family), sand verbena (ice plant family- a small umbel of deep magenta) and other little beauties.
Pausing at the top of the highest dune, the sweeping vista encompasses 12 miles of undeveloped white beach bracketed by two mountainous reddish rock headlands. We were drawn irresistibly toward the ocean’s edge where many of us enjoyed a swim through the gentlest of the azure breakers. Thousands of large sand dollars have washed ashore here and the shells, bones and carapaces littering the area make for delightful beach explorations. A ghost crab experiencing a moment of inattention was temporarily caught by Justin, our Undersea Specialist. These arthropods burrow deep in the sand above the high tide line, delicately slurping detritus off grains of sand and balling up the ‘clean’ sand outside their holes. Ghost crabs can hold water in their gills and carapaces to support them in spending time out of the water feeding.
Hull Canal, the narrow mangrove-lined channel between Isla Magdalena and the peninsula provided excellent afternoon opportunities for watching shorebirds and scouting for gray whales. Just as the announcement was made for Colina Coyote, the high dune that marks the beginning of the nursery lagoon, the first California gray whale of the afternoon was sighted! Out on deck, everyone scouted intently and as we cruised northward, 11 whales were sighted, 7 singles and 4 mothers with calves. For thousands of years, these unusual baleen whales have made the incredible 11,000 mile annual migration to come to these calving lagoons and bear their young.
Tomorrow we’ll board our small Zodiacs and go out among them.
