Bottlenose Dolphin, Bahia Magdalena, Baja California, Mexico
If you fly over the tremendous deserts of Baja California, you will inevitably think to yourself, “There is no life down there!” But as we traveled up Bahia Magdalena aboard the Sea Bird, this idea was soon dissipated. We passed by lush mangroves, beautiful dunes and innumerable shore birds. Criss-crossing the fine sand were tracks of a good variety of land mammals such as coyotes, jackrabbits and desert wood rats. You see, we began our adventure today by traversing a narrow sandbar and enjoying the morning at Sand dollar Beach where we happened upon the skulls of the common dolphin, the bottlenose dolphin, and the California Sea Lion. Great numbers of seashells and bones of birds and fish were encountered, as well as many salt-resistant plants, such as evening primrose, spurge, iodine bush and sand verbena.
Immediately after lunch we set out north along the Hull Canal bound for the heart of Magdalena Bay. Here we encountered bottlenose dolphins, seabirds and wading birds, as well as our first gray whales, most of them cows with calves. Throughout the afternoon, we sailed north toward the town of Puerto Adolfo Lopez-Mateos and beyond to the northern end of Isla Magdalena—the barrier island that forms Magdalena Bay. Here we anchored in eager anticipation of the next day when another adventure would begin—our first chance to see the gray whales from our Zodiacs!
If you fly over the tremendous deserts of Baja California, you will inevitably think to yourself, “There is no life down there!” But as we traveled up Bahia Magdalena aboard the Sea Bird, this idea was soon dissipated. We passed by lush mangroves, beautiful dunes and innumerable shore birds. Criss-crossing the fine sand were tracks of a good variety of land mammals such as coyotes, jackrabbits and desert wood rats. You see, we began our adventure today by traversing a narrow sandbar and enjoying the morning at Sand dollar Beach where we happened upon the skulls of the common dolphin, the bottlenose dolphin, and the California Sea Lion. Great numbers of seashells and bones of birds and fish were encountered, as well as many salt-resistant plants, such as evening primrose, spurge, iodine bush and sand verbena.
Immediately after lunch we set out north along the Hull Canal bound for the heart of Magdalena Bay. Here we encountered bottlenose dolphins, seabirds and wading birds, as well as our first gray whales, most of them cows with calves. Throughout the afternoon, we sailed north toward the town of Puerto Adolfo Lopez-Mateos and beyond to the northern end of Isla Magdalena—the barrier island that forms Magdalena Bay. Here we anchored in eager anticipation of the next day when another adventure would begin—our first chance to see the gray whales from our Zodiacs!
