The California gray whale, by any name…Eschrichtius robustus. Ballena Gris. Scrag whale. Mussel digger. Devilfish. Hardhead. “The gray swimmer along rocky shores” “The being with an itchy face”.
In the crepuscular dawning light of morning the Sea Bird untethered from port at San Carlos soon to encounter the slow rising rostrums of spyhopping gray whales. Abstract memories lingered of last evening’s carnival, fireworks and crowning of a queen at the town’s seventh annual Gray Whale Festival. The sun smeared the sky cyamid-orange as we motored toward a rendezvous with a local pilot to navigate our ship through the shallow mangrove-dune maze of Magdalena Bay’s inner canals.
As we picked our way north to a more intimate gray whale habitat, we spied a plethora of wading and water birds. Binoculared birders observed rafts of marbled godwits, calling terns, hook-billed ibises and mangrove isles of nesting pelicaniformes and herons among other avian delights. Groups of bottlenose dolphins continuously made cameo appearances during our transit of the canal.
Past the prominent banks of Colina Coyote, vaporous plumes and dark blips broke the shiny smooth surface of the lagoon. One-ton infant whales surfaced beside their behemoth mottled-gray mothers. We passed more than a dozen new calves in a small stretch of protected water deep in these remote recesses of the lagoon network. As we approached anchorage near “The Boca”, we viewed a slide presentation on the natural history and successful recovery of the California gray whale.
Hikers stretched their legs after lunch, exploring a kaleidoscope of shells, mangrove stands and views as they walked the beachfront. Some were serenaded by the howls of coyotes. Afternoon Zodiac tours explored the waters near Boca de Soledad, the only break in the protective barrier sand dunes and access to the Pacific for fifty miles. Sea Bird guests enjoyed close, low-to-the-water, whale’s eye views of several new gray calves near this watery crossroads. The little whalelings faithfully popped up alongside their mamas and exhibited curiosity with close pass-bys of our boats.
As a finale to our day’s whalewatching, a muddle of bottlenose dolphins interspersed with several converging whale pairs under the rising nearly-full moon. Four mothers traveled slowly together and most seemingly, and incredibly, nursed simultaneously, evidenced by ninety-degree sideway rolls and exposed flippers and flukes while their calves remained submerged. The next generation of the California gray whale was in strong evidence today as we discovered this curious animal and its beautiful lagoon and dune winter habitat.
