“La palmita,” Bahía Magdalena
Following good old “early bird” advice, we brave expeditionaries scan the waters shortly after breakfast while looking for whales’ blows. Nothing disturbed the glassy surface before our Zodiacs and expectations ran high as we enter the area where local guides know the gentle giants like to hang out early in the morning. Groups of Neotropical cormorants fly in formation past the boat, whereas brown pelicans effortlessly glide inches from the water and frigate birds are still perched on the mangroves around the canal; pirates don’t need to wake up early. Suddenly a bushy blow, some 12 feet tall, adds excitement to our lives: a gray whale is in front of us! Then a second blow follows almost immediately, as tall as the first, indicating that two adults are traveling together. By slowly following the pair, we are able to see one more time their grace and beauty. Are they a male and female couple looking for the appropriate moment to mate or just two friends, companions during the largest mammal migration on earth, sharing some quality time together? There is no way we could tell, and I am glad for that, as the mysteries that surrounds so many aspects of a whale’s life just adds to its beauty.
After several shallow dives, the pair decides to initiate a series of deeper immersions; one of them is a real “fluker,” raising its tail above the surface and showing us its flukes before each dive. Wow, what a sight! With convex trailing edges and heavily marked by white scars and spots, the flukes before us seem to paralyze time: such are the kind of sights that we will remember as long as memory lasts. As we continue following the pair and admire the same behavior many more times, we reflect on how beauty may combine with effectiveness in nature, as the same tail that effortlessly submerges ahead of us could also maim or kill a killer whale while defending a calf. So mesmerizing is the sight of the whale’s flukes that many of us forget about the cameras in our hands; fortunately, some of us didn’t, like Jessie Hall, age 12, who kept hands and mind together and caught that timeless image. Thanks, Jessie!
Later in the day, shortly before sunset while on its way out of the Bay, the Sea Bird approached a big group of adult gray whales at the Bay’s mouth, between Isla Magdalena and Isla Santa Margarita. Swimming alone, in pairs or even trios, numerous whales surrounded the ship, many of them showing us their flukes before diving in those deeper waters. Such scenes of awe and grace were now highlighted by the beautiful sunset over the Pacific, turning both water and sky into a palette of gold, pink and red tones. All in all, a whale of a day!
Following good old “early bird” advice, we brave expeditionaries scan the waters shortly after breakfast while looking for whales’ blows. Nothing disturbed the glassy surface before our Zodiacs and expectations ran high as we enter the area where local guides know the gentle giants like to hang out early in the morning. Groups of Neotropical cormorants fly in formation past the boat, whereas brown pelicans effortlessly glide inches from the water and frigate birds are still perched on the mangroves around the canal; pirates don’t need to wake up early. Suddenly a bushy blow, some 12 feet tall, adds excitement to our lives: a gray whale is in front of us! Then a second blow follows almost immediately, as tall as the first, indicating that two adults are traveling together. By slowly following the pair, we are able to see one more time their grace and beauty. Are they a male and female couple looking for the appropriate moment to mate or just two friends, companions during the largest mammal migration on earth, sharing some quality time together? There is no way we could tell, and I am glad for that, as the mysteries that surrounds so many aspects of a whale’s life just adds to its beauty.
After several shallow dives, the pair decides to initiate a series of deeper immersions; one of them is a real “fluker,” raising its tail above the surface and showing us its flukes before each dive. Wow, what a sight! With convex trailing edges and heavily marked by white scars and spots, the flukes before us seem to paralyze time: such are the kind of sights that we will remember as long as memory lasts. As we continue following the pair and admire the same behavior many more times, we reflect on how beauty may combine with effectiveness in nature, as the same tail that effortlessly submerges ahead of us could also maim or kill a killer whale while defending a calf. So mesmerizing is the sight of the whale’s flukes that many of us forget about the cameras in our hands; fortunately, some of us didn’t, like Jessie Hall, age 12, who kept hands and mind together and caught that timeless image. Thanks, Jessie!
Later in the day, shortly before sunset while on its way out of the Bay, the Sea Bird approached a big group of adult gray whales at the Bay’s mouth, between Isla Magdalena and Isla Santa Margarita. Swimming alone, in pairs or even trios, numerous whales surrounded the ship, many of them showing us their flukes before diving in those deeper waters. Such scenes of awe and grace were now highlighted by the beautiful sunset over the Pacific, turning both water and sky into a palette of gold, pink and red tones. All in all, a whale of a day!
