Bahia Magdalena and Hull Canal
Since embarkation was after dark last evening, the pink and yellow sunrise colors that slowly unveiled this morning’s new and surprising landscape were especially entrancing. The backdrop of dark aubergine mountains standing sentry at the entrance to the Pacific Ocean, shadowy desert sand dunes and an unexpected bright green foreground of mangroves brought the realization that we were indeed in a remote and very special place.
Bahia Magdalena is the southernmost of the three California gray whale calving lagoons located on the Pacific coast of the Baja California peninsula. The bay is larger than San Francisco Bay and provides feeding and nesting habitat for many, many species of seabirds and shorebirds as well as clams, shrimp and a juvenile fish habitat for several small fishing villages.
This morning our Zodiacs brought us into the midst of the mangrove ecosystem with its swift tidal currents supplying cold clean ocean water to the root systems of these highly adapted plants. Small fishes and rays scuttled along the mucky bottom strewn with colorful leaf litter. Black and yellow-crowned night herons peered out sleepily from dense greenery, while white ibis and brown pelicans perched on the few available bare branches. These mangroves are responsible for much of the area’s productivity, providing nutrients and protection for juvenile fish and creating the mudflats that small crustaceans and thus the shorebirds need.
Our afternoon journey northward through the narrow mangrove-lined Hull Canal brought continuous sightings of feeding and nesting shorebirds and seabirds. Several times curious bottlenose dolphins swam near the Sea Bird and along the shore a wily coyote was sighted. At last, as we neared the tip of Isla Magdalena, the first blows of a California gray whale and her young calf were just ahead. Just a few minutes further north we witnessed a strange apparition- the head of a huge whale sticking straight out of the water- an activity called a spyhop that was repeated several times!
There is much excitement and anticipation aboard the ship tonight as tomorrow we’ll head out in our Zodiacs just after sunrise to spend our entire day among these unusual mammals.
Since embarkation was after dark last evening, the pink and yellow sunrise colors that slowly unveiled this morning’s new and surprising landscape were especially entrancing. The backdrop of dark aubergine mountains standing sentry at the entrance to the Pacific Ocean, shadowy desert sand dunes and an unexpected bright green foreground of mangroves brought the realization that we were indeed in a remote and very special place.
Bahia Magdalena is the southernmost of the three California gray whale calving lagoons located on the Pacific coast of the Baja California peninsula. The bay is larger than San Francisco Bay and provides feeding and nesting habitat for many, many species of seabirds and shorebirds as well as clams, shrimp and a juvenile fish habitat for several small fishing villages.
This morning our Zodiacs brought us into the midst of the mangrove ecosystem with its swift tidal currents supplying cold clean ocean water to the root systems of these highly adapted plants. Small fishes and rays scuttled along the mucky bottom strewn with colorful leaf litter. Black and yellow-crowned night herons peered out sleepily from dense greenery, while white ibis and brown pelicans perched on the few available bare branches. These mangroves are responsible for much of the area’s productivity, providing nutrients and protection for juvenile fish and creating the mudflats that small crustaceans and thus the shorebirds need.
Our afternoon journey northward through the narrow mangrove-lined Hull Canal brought continuous sightings of feeding and nesting shorebirds and seabirds. Several times curious bottlenose dolphins swam near the Sea Bird and along the shore a wily coyote was sighted. At last, as we neared the tip of Isla Magdalena, the first blows of a California gray whale and her young calf were just ahead. Just a few minutes further north we witnessed a strange apparition- the head of a huge whale sticking straight out of the water- an activity called a spyhop that was repeated several times!
There is much excitement and anticipation aboard the ship tonight as tomorrow we’ll head out in our Zodiacs just after sunrise to spend our entire day among these unusual mammals.
