Southbound in the Pacific from Magdalena Bay
A gentle roll rocks the ship and her sleepy cargo of happy guests. Our Pacific coast lagoon adventure is over and without a doubt many dreams tonight are beginning with the image of barnacle encrusted gray whales, rising to the surface and diving back under the green water.
We have been three days exploring land and sea of the moist cool side of the Baja peninsula. Watching more than a dozen coyotes appear alone and in small groups in the sand dune landscape we know it has been a special visit. Hundreds of shorebirds are staging along these beaches, loading up on a rich diet of invertebrates for migration, some heading as far as the arctic coast of Alaska in the next two months for breeding in the vast rich arctic tundra. But what lies just under the sea has been the main focus of our attention: these champions of mammalian migration on the planet, the gray whales.
Like an abstract painting, the random pattern of white pigment and grays paints these giant creatures. This image is the one we will carry in our minds’ eyes for days, and probably years to come. We know we are privileged to have so intimately shared these days with the whales. And in the simple words of one of us caught on videotape, it has “been just wonderful.”
As if a little dessert were needed for such a rich day, after a sunset of multiple green flashes, and a sky streaked with pink, a school of as many as a thousand common dolphins surrounded the Sea Bird. Bow riding and streaking into the air at both rails, showing off an enviable oceanic aptitude, the dolphins lead us south, and now, back to our dreams and memories of fine Baja California days.
A gentle roll rocks the ship and her sleepy cargo of happy guests. Our Pacific coast lagoon adventure is over and without a doubt many dreams tonight are beginning with the image of barnacle encrusted gray whales, rising to the surface and diving back under the green water.
We have been three days exploring land and sea of the moist cool side of the Baja peninsula. Watching more than a dozen coyotes appear alone and in small groups in the sand dune landscape we know it has been a special visit. Hundreds of shorebirds are staging along these beaches, loading up on a rich diet of invertebrates for migration, some heading as far as the arctic coast of Alaska in the next two months for breeding in the vast rich arctic tundra. But what lies just under the sea has been the main focus of our attention: these champions of mammalian migration on the planet, the gray whales.
Like an abstract painting, the random pattern of white pigment and grays paints these giant creatures. This image is the one we will carry in our minds’ eyes for days, and probably years to come. We know we are privileged to have so intimately shared these days with the whales. And in the simple words of one of us caught on videotape, it has “been just wonderful.”
As if a little dessert were needed for such a rich day, after a sunset of multiple green flashes, and a sky streaked with pink, a school of as many as a thousand common dolphins surrounded the Sea Bird. Bow riding and streaking into the air at both rails, showing off an enviable oceanic aptitude, the dolphins lead us south, and now, back to our dreams and memories of fine Baja California days.
