La Entrada, Magdalena Bay
After some time of a bit-wild nocturnal reckoning in the ocean, in the challenge of getting to the breeding lagoons of the Gray Whale, the weather finally was indulgent to us and allowed for a good sleep.
This morning, the clouds, and miraculous rain in the distance, met us again (remember Cabo?) as we navigated along the scarped western shoreline of the colorful Isla Santa Margarita, on the Pacific side of the Baja California peninsula. Then, close to La Entrada, or southern entrance of Magdalena Bay, we literally were received by a plethora of species, both diving and swimming in the ocean or flying in the air: gray whale blows here and there, “flocks“ of jumping needlefishes, solitary sea lions, thousands of Brandt’s cormorants in their typical concentration for feeding frenzy, Northern fulmars, phalaropes, black-vented shearwaters, loons and some other interesting creatures that restlessly moved in all directions. We also enjoyed the magnificent topography of Santa Margarita Island and received information from our Naturalists.
Once into the lagoon, we observed the fishing activities of the local people that, for decades or even centuries, have been performing in the same manner and far away from the city commodities. As these people are part of the whole “gray whale habitat,” we found no other option but to admire the hard and simple way in which they live their lives in order to fill our tables.
Later, a place for anchoring and then hiking was selected. As we were unloaded from our Zodiacs to the shore, we penetrated into the Moon-looking world of the sand dunes (see photo). During the hikes we learned how the dunes are formed, and the type of wildlife that lives there, including coyotes (we found many tracks), scorpions, deer mice, jackrabbits, lizards and other. There were many patches of vegetation on the top of dunes, like sand verbena, sea purslane, boxthorn, rattleweed and milkweed in various stages of development (showing flowers, see pods, etc.). As we know, the various species of milkweed are important for the Monarch butterfly because they constitute food for its caterpillars. Also, we observed huge numbers of shells belonging to marine species such as murex snail, Moon snail, clams and other. On the Pacific side, thousands of huge sand dollars, pen shells (or Callos de Hacha, in Mexican Spanish), Venus shells, among others, were “waiting” for us as the big and wild waves broke against the beautiful bay of Santa Maria. The intense birders hiked along the beach and around the mangroves, and revealed a good variety of shore birds (about 15 species) including the American and Black Oystercatchers claming shoulder to shoulder.
After dinner we went back to the shore to contemplate the stars and talk about the constellations.
After some time of a bit-wild nocturnal reckoning in the ocean, in the challenge of getting to the breeding lagoons of the Gray Whale, the weather finally was indulgent to us and allowed for a good sleep.
This morning, the clouds, and miraculous rain in the distance, met us again (remember Cabo?) as we navigated along the scarped western shoreline of the colorful Isla Santa Margarita, on the Pacific side of the Baja California peninsula. Then, close to La Entrada, or southern entrance of Magdalena Bay, we literally were received by a plethora of species, both diving and swimming in the ocean or flying in the air: gray whale blows here and there, “flocks“ of jumping needlefishes, solitary sea lions, thousands of Brandt’s cormorants in their typical concentration for feeding frenzy, Northern fulmars, phalaropes, black-vented shearwaters, loons and some other interesting creatures that restlessly moved in all directions. We also enjoyed the magnificent topography of Santa Margarita Island and received information from our Naturalists.
Once into the lagoon, we observed the fishing activities of the local people that, for decades or even centuries, have been performing in the same manner and far away from the city commodities. As these people are part of the whole “gray whale habitat,” we found no other option but to admire the hard and simple way in which they live their lives in order to fill our tables.
Later, a place for anchoring and then hiking was selected. As we were unloaded from our Zodiacs to the shore, we penetrated into the Moon-looking world of the sand dunes (see photo). During the hikes we learned how the dunes are formed, and the type of wildlife that lives there, including coyotes (we found many tracks), scorpions, deer mice, jackrabbits, lizards and other. There were many patches of vegetation on the top of dunes, like sand verbena, sea purslane, boxthorn, rattleweed and milkweed in various stages of development (showing flowers, see pods, etc.). As we know, the various species of milkweed are important for the Monarch butterfly because they constitute food for its caterpillars. Also, we observed huge numbers of shells belonging to marine species such as murex snail, Moon snail, clams and other. On the Pacific side, thousands of huge sand dollars, pen shells (or Callos de Hacha, in Mexican Spanish), Venus shells, among others, were “waiting” for us as the big and wild waves broke against the beautiful bay of Santa Maria. The intense birders hiked along the beach and around the mangroves, and revealed a good variety of shore birds (about 15 species) including the American and Black Oystercatchers claming shoulder to shoulder.
After dinner we went back to the shore to contemplate the stars and talk about the constellations.
