Magdalena Bay
After a very smooth overnight ride north from Cabo San Lucas, early morning found us approaching the entrance to Magdalena Bay. Common dolphins accompanied us as we made our approach. A huge feeding frenzy of birds, and dolphins whirled above a school of bait fish in the early morning light. A few gray whales were spotted as we entered the bay between the barrier islands of Isla Santa Margarita and Isla Magdalena. Magdalena Bay is a huge bay comparable in size to San Francisco Bay with a number of settlements along its shores.
Our first stop was on one of the beautiful beaches on Isla Magdalena. We hiked across the sand dunes to the Pacific Ocean and a beach we have called Sand Dollar after the thousands of sand dollar shells found washed up on the beach. The dunes were carpeted with flowers after the recent rains and the beach was littered with treasures from the sea. Lovely sea shells, bones of various animals, driftwood, mangrove seeds and numerous other things attracted out attention. After all too brief a visit we returned across the dunes to the ship and continued our journey north into Magdalena Bay accompanied by our local pilot Alejandro.
The channel was very winding and narrow, lined with mangroves and fine beaches. Birding was the order of the day as we identified dozens of species on the shoreline and perched in the branches of the mangroves. In the late afternoon we entered the part of the bay where the gray whales come to bear their young and we soon spotted a few mother whales with their babies.
Magdalena Bay is one of three important lagoons on the west coast of Baja California where the gray whales come each year to have their young. Being well protected from the rough water of the open Pacific, and free of predators, it is an ideal setting for the birthing process. Most of the young are born in January of the year and remain in the lagoons with their mothers until March.
As the sun set we anchored near the entrance used by the whales to enter and exit the lagoon. All of our thoughts were on the anticipated whale watching activities scheduled for the following day.
After a very smooth overnight ride north from Cabo San Lucas, early morning found us approaching the entrance to Magdalena Bay. Common dolphins accompanied us as we made our approach. A huge feeding frenzy of birds, and dolphins whirled above a school of bait fish in the early morning light. A few gray whales were spotted as we entered the bay between the barrier islands of Isla Santa Margarita and Isla Magdalena. Magdalena Bay is a huge bay comparable in size to San Francisco Bay with a number of settlements along its shores.
Our first stop was on one of the beautiful beaches on Isla Magdalena. We hiked across the sand dunes to the Pacific Ocean and a beach we have called Sand Dollar after the thousands of sand dollar shells found washed up on the beach. The dunes were carpeted with flowers after the recent rains and the beach was littered with treasures from the sea. Lovely sea shells, bones of various animals, driftwood, mangrove seeds and numerous other things attracted out attention. After all too brief a visit we returned across the dunes to the ship and continued our journey north into Magdalena Bay accompanied by our local pilot Alejandro.
The channel was very winding and narrow, lined with mangroves and fine beaches. Birding was the order of the day as we identified dozens of species on the shoreline and perched in the branches of the mangroves. In the late afternoon we entered the part of the bay where the gray whales come to bear their young and we soon spotted a few mother whales with their babies.
Magdalena Bay is one of three important lagoons on the west coast of Baja California where the gray whales come each year to have their young. Being well protected from the rough water of the open Pacific, and free of predators, it is an ideal setting for the birthing process. Most of the young are born in January of the year and remain in the lagoons with their mothers until March.
As the sun set we anchored near the entrance used by the whales to enter and exit the lagoon. All of our thoughts were on the anticipated whale watching activities scheduled for the following day.
