Hull Canal, Magdalena Bay
Surging powerfully skyward, a gray whale breaches above the waters of Hull Canal in Magdalena Bay. Hull Canal is the narrow, northern portion of Magdalena Bay, an important calving and nursing area for gray whale cows and calves. The waters of Hull Canal are protected from the open Pacific Ocean by Magdalena Island, a narrow, 40-mile long barrier island covered by in most places by incredible fields of sand dunes.
This morning the Sea Bird entered Magdalena Bay at La Entrada, a deep water entrance bounded to the south by the precipitous slopes of Isla Margarita and to the north by Isla Magdalena. After traveling a short distance north into the bay, we dropped anchor and took Zodiacs shuttles to the shore of Isla Magdalena. From the lagoon side of the island we enjoyed a short, one quarter mile hike across to Sand Dollar Beach on the Pacific shore. Our hike took not only took us through beautiful sand dunes formed by the relentless Pacific winds, but also around enormous hills of scallop, clam and snail shells that were collected and processed as food items by ancient peoples of this area. At the Pacific shore, we enjoyed a casual stroll along a fantastic beach.
Returning back aboard the ship we continued our northbound voyage up Hull Canal. With every mile we traveled, the channel became increasingly more constricted, but our local pilot, Alejandro Comacho steered us safely through. The narrow channel, however, did provide us with an excellent opportunity to view some of the abundant bird life living in the mangroves fringing Hull Canal. After passing Devil’s Bend near the mid point of Hull Canal we entered into an area teeming with gray whales; a veritable whale soup. Progressing slowly north towards our anchorage near Lopez Mateos we counted an amazing 49 cow/calf pairs and 18 single individuals, giving a grand total of 116 gray whales in only a dozen miles of water. After dinner we retired to our cabins surrounded by the sound of gray whales swimming in the darkness around our ship.
Surging powerfully skyward, a gray whale breaches above the waters of Hull Canal in Magdalena Bay. Hull Canal is the narrow, northern portion of Magdalena Bay, an important calving and nursing area for gray whale cows and calves. The waters of Hull Canal are protected from the open Pacific Ocean by Magdalena Island, a narrow, 40-mile long barrier island covered by in most places by incredible fields of sand dunes.
This morning the Sea Bird entered Magdalena Bay at La Entrada, a deep water entrance bounded to the south by the precipitous slopes of Isla Margarita and to the north by Isla Magdalena. After traveling a short distance north into the bay, we dropped anchor and took Zodiacs shuttles to the shore of Isla Magdalena. From the lagoon side of the island we enjoyed a short, one quarter mile hike across to Sand Dollar Beach on the Pacific shore. Our hike took not only took us through beautiful sand dunes formed by the relentless Pacific winds, but also around enormous hills of scallop, clam and snail shells that were collected and processed as food items by ancient peoples of this area. At the Pacific shore, we enjoyed a casual stroll along a fantastic beach.
Returning back aboard the ship we continued our northbound voyage up Hull Canal. With every mile we traveled, the channel became increasingly more constricted, but our local pilot, Alejandro Comacho steered us safely through. The narrow channel, however, did provide us with an excellent opportunity to view some of the abundant bird life living in the mangroves fringing Hull Canal. After passing Devil’s Bend near the mid point of Hull Canal we entered into an area teeming with gray whales; a veritable whale soup. Progressing slowly north towards our anchorage near Lopez Mateos we counted an amazing 49 cow/calf pairs and 18 single individuals, giving a grand total of 116 gray whales in only a dozen miles of water. After dinner we retired to our cabins surrounded by the sound of gray whales swimming in the darkness around our ship.
