Isla Magdalena and Hull Canal
Our first stop of the voyage took us to one of the wonders of Baja California Sur: Isla Magdalena (Magdalena Island). Located on the Pacific Ocean side of the Baja California peninsula, this 50 mile-long barrier island is in large part responsible for our very presence in this area. Isla Magdalena provides a critical yet geologically ephemeral barrier between the largest body of water on earth, the Pacific Ocean, and the shallow and narrow northern portion of Bahia Magdalena (Magdalena Bay) known as Hull Canal. Hull Canal, in turn, is the winter home to migrating gray whales that have traveled 5,000 miles from their summer feeding grounds in the Bering and Chuckchi seas to mate and calve in these relatively warm and protected waters.
This morning we went ashore on the bay side of Isla Magdalena to explore Sand Dollar Beach, located on the Pacific side of the island. Like a scene out of Lawrence of Arabia, our band traversed a quarter-mile of slowly migrating sand dunes in order to reach our destination. Arriving at Sand Dollar Beach we took in a breath-taking panoramic view of a broad and uninhabited sandy strand named after the thousands of flat, spineless sea urchins relatives that line the beach in every direction. Having lived out its life in the sandy sea floor, this particular sand dollar later became a home for pink, encrusting barnacles.
Our first stop of the voyage took us to one of the wonders of Baja California Sur: Isla Magdalena (Magdalena Island). Located on the Pacific Ocean side of the Baja California peninsula, this 50 mile-long barrier island is in large part responsible for our very presence in this area. Isla Magdalena provides a critical yet geologically ephemeral barrier between the largest body of water on earth, the Pacific Ocean, and the shallow and narrow northern portion of Bahia Magdalena (Magdalena Bay) known as Hull Canal. Hull Canal, in turn, is the winter home to migrating gray whales that have traveled 5,000 miles from their summer feeding grounds in the Bering and Chuckchi seas to mate and calve in these relatively warm and protected waters.
This morning we went ashore on the bay side of Isla Magdalena to explore Sand Dollar Beach, located on the Pacific side of the island. Like a scene out of Lawrence of Arabia, our band traversed a quarter-mile of slowly migrating sand dunes in order to reach our destination. Arriving at Sand Dollar Beach we took in a breath-taking panoramic view of a broad and uninhabited sandy strand named after the thousands of flat, spineless sea urchins relatives that line the beach in every direction. Having lived out its life in the sandy sea floor, this particular sand dollar later became a home for pink, encrusting barnacles.
