Boca de la Soledad, Magdalena Bay
The second day of activities at Boca de la Soledad started at 0700 with the early risers on Zodiac cruises for whale watching. The day before we were more than happy with our observations that included cow and calf pairs logging, playing, swimming and diving with the strong incoming tide. This morning, however, adult or close to adulthood females and males were observed acting in ways that we and our Mexican companions (the “pangueros”) interpreted as courtship behavior: both animals traveling together intentionally, rolling over their own bodies, erratic swimming and diving, and several spy-hops that were performed just a few yards from two of our boats! In fact, a giant body came out of the water several times without any sound and splash at all, just as soft and delicate as it could. After a few seconds scanning the surroundings every time it went out, the animal sank slowly and silently, leaving frustrated cameramen on each Zodiac at every single time we realized it was there!
No mating event was observed, but our Zodiacs moved constantly to look for more whales. Finally, as everybody came back to the Sea Bird, the fog covered the whole entrance for half an hour, making a phantasmagoric ocean and land scenery.
During the second round more adults and a few cow and calf pairs were also observed, as well as a number of bottle-nose dolphins and bird species. Among them, a red phalarope, in its whitish winter plumage, stole our attention from the whales. A great amount of double-crested cormorants, brown pelicans, terns, Heerman’s gulls and the rare white pelicans or “borregones” (as they are called by the local fishermen), were also present.
As the morning progressed, we pulled up anchor, picked up our local pilot Alejandro and started our way down to San Carlos throughout the Hull Canal. Of course, more birds were encountered flying or perched at the top of the mangroves: such as ospreys, godwits, whimbrels, great blue herons and others. By the afternoon, it was decided to send our kayaks ashore as the weather conditions were perfect to do so: calm wind, bright sun, quiet sea and extensive mangroves to explore. Many of us kayaked, but probably almost everybody looked at the interesting beach at the lowest tide. There, tons of Pacific calico scallops were found alive or dead, making a bit difficult to walk on the beach. They opened the shell and threw water pretending to escape from the gatherers’ hands. Also, a good number of tube worms, moon snails, sand dollars and one or two pen shells were present to satisfy our curiosity and the almost genetic impulses of the naturalist to say everything they could about them.
Finally, as if it were saying goodbye, the sandy shore gifted us with thousands of webbed footprints and delicate feathered tail tracks from flocks of brown pelicans, cormorants and terns that were there before we arrived. Our naturalists interpreted what happened there by observing the size, shape, direction, texture, depth and other characteristics of those tracks. The last Zodiac left the beach with everybody observing how the tracks were reclaimed forever by the sea...
