Magdalena Bay, Hull Canal & La Entrada
“The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious.” Albert Einstein
“Early bird” and “civilized” excursions were our last official gray whale watching opportunities available before leaving Magdalena Bay early this overcast morning.
Later, over steaming mugs of java and chai, stories were exchanged as photos were downloaded amid smiles from the excitement of being up close, among the great whales and numerous playful dolphins.
One of the most prevalent and exuberant experiences both yesterday, late afternoon and this morning, were two separate and very interactive baby whales! Not unlike an overly active one year old from our own species, he or she was eager and willing to show and tell us just what it was able to do! And perhaps it knew we were a captive audience in the Zodiacs, zipping in and around us like hide and seek! Of course we were limited to what we could see just above the great sea world of water that they call home, but it was enough to keep us entertained and engaged. Both sessions were filled with various behaviors we call spy-hopping, head lunging, rolling and frolicking on its side and generally very frisky between all Zodiacs for most of our time there. Occasionally it would head lunge with mouth open displaying shiny new baleen with water filtering out. A neither overly concerned nor protective mom seemed to give it a long rein, with the baby occasionally “checking in” and rolling over her huge body, only to go out again and “perform” for us!
They are a mystery to us in many ways as we must be to them when they surface and look at us from their element with those soulful eyes—what do they think seeing us observing them? These oldest living mammals on Earth who make the longest migration of any mammal in the world, who have nearly been hunted to extinction by our hands but seem to now seek us out and occasionally even allow touch—thus given the name, the friendlies! Though studied intensely, indeed still a mystery with so many unanswered questions. Perhaps we reflect them, for what is a human but a mammal that evolved out of the sea, that sea which is their home. Perhaps this is where the wondering lies and our connection—at this cellular level, that makes us want to seek them out-- to touch them-- and thus a part of our own distant past.
We say goodbye to these beautiful molted creatures, so graceful in their hugeness, truly a wondrous site and now a memory we will carry with us leaving Magdalena Bay. More spouting blows as we enter the “singles bar” near Point Entrada, as numerous gulls circle overhead bidding us adieu as old sol slips into the ocean and a crescent moon rises overhead.
“The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious.” Albert Einstein
“Early bird” and “civilized” excursions were our last official gray whale watching opportunities available before leaving Magdalena Bay early this overcast morning.
Later, over steaming mugs of java and chai, stories were exchanged as photos were downloaded amid smiles from the excitement of being up close, among the great whales and numerous playful dolphins.
One of the most prevalent and exuberant experiences both yesterday, late afternoon and this morning, were two separate and very interactive baby whales! Not unlike an overly active one year old from our own species, he or she was eager and willing to show and tell us just what it was able to do! And perhaps it knew we were a captive audience in the Zodiacs, zipping in and around us like hide and seek! Of course we were limited to what we could see just above the great sea world of water that they call home, but it was enough to keep us entertained and engaged. Both sessions were filled with various behaviors we call spy-hopping, head lunging, rolling and frolicking on its side and generally very frisky between all Zodiacs for most of our time there. Occasionally it would head lunge with mouth open displaying shiny new baleen with water filtering out. A neither overly concerned nor protective mom seemed to give it a long rein, with the baby occasionally “checking in” and rolling over her huge body, only to go out again and “perform” for us!
They are a mystery to us in many ways as we must be to them when they surface and look at us from their element with those soulful eyes—what do they think seeing us observing them? These oldest living mammals on Earth who make the longest migration of any mammal in the world, who have nearly been hunted to extinction by our hands but seem to now seek us out and occasionally even allow touch—thus given the name, the friendlies! Though studied intensely, indeed still a mystery with so many unanswered questions. Perhaps we reflect them, for what is a human but a mammal that evolved out of the sea, that sea which is their home. Perhaps this is where the wondering lies and our connection—at this cellular level, that makes us want to seek them out-- to touch them-- and thus a part of our own distant past.
We say goodbye to these beautiful molted creatures, so graceful in their hugeness, truly a wondrous site and now a memory we will carry with us leaving Magdalena Bay. More spouting blows as we enter the “singles bar” near Point Entrada, as numerous gulls circle overhead bidding us adieu as old sol slips into the ocean and a crescent moon rises overhead.
