Bahia Magdalena. Baja California Sur, Mexico
In the morning we had one final opportunity to spend time with the gray whales. We could see some different behaviors like spy hopping and breaching. We also saw some cow calf pairs swimming against the current, the mother whales train and exercise their young by swimming towards “La Boca”, which is one of the entrances of the bay, in order for them to be in good shape for their long migration to the northern seas. These cetaceans make the longest mammal migration of the world, traveling about 5,000 miles from Baja California to the Bering and Chukchi Seas.
Our local “panguero”, from the town of Lopez Mateos, told us that the last count of whales was made last week, and that 76 single whales and 30 cow calf pairs were seen. He also told us that we were lucky a friendly whale approached the Zodiacs to play with us.
Everyone had a great experience this morning, and after the whale watching was over, we started to navigate through the Hull Canal. Well equipped with our binoculars, telescope and identification guides, we enjoyed a great bird watching experience. Magnificent frigate birds, belted kingfishers, great blue herons, great egrets, tricolored herons, ospreys, brants, brown pelicans and eared grebes are only a few examples of the bird diversity that we could see. Even at lunchtime! As we were having a lunch BBQ on the aft deck, sailing southbound through the channel towards the Pacific Ocean.
The picture above shows a very particular marking on the side of a gray whale’s blowhole, the “P” shaped scar…or, could that be a “d”? Anyway, a very particular marking that could help to identify this whale in the future. Notice the blowholes that are closed, and there is whale lice surrounding them. We can also appreciate the barnacles in front of the blowholes; these two ectoparasite species are specific for gray whales and obviously travel along with them through their long migration.
In the morning we had one final opportunity to spend time with the gray whales. We could see some different behaviors like spy hopping and breaching. We also saw some cow calf pairs swimming against the current, the mother whales train and exercise their young by swimming towards “La Boca”, which is one of the entrances of the bay, in order for them to be in good shape for their long migration to the northern seas. These cetaceans make the longest mammal migration of the world, traveling about 5,000 miles from Baja California to the Bering and Chukchi Seas.
Our local “panguero”, from the town of Lopez Mateos, told us that the last count of whales was made last week, and that 76 single whales and 30 cow calf pairs were seen. He also told us that we were lucky a friendly whale approached the Zodiacs to play with us.
Everyone had a great experience this morning, and after the whale watching was over, we started to navigate through the Hull Canal. Well equipped with our binoculars, telescope and identification guides, we enjoyed a great bird watching experience. Magnificent frigate birds, belted kingfishers, great blue herons, great egrets, tricolored herons, ospreys, brants, brown pelicans and eared grebes are only a few examples of the bird diversity that we could see. Even at lunchtime! As we were having a lunch BBQ on the aft deck, sailing southbound through the channel towards the Pacific Ocean.
The picture above shows a very particular marking on the side of a gray whale’s blowhole, the “P” shaped scar…or, could that be a “d”? Anyway, a very particular marking that could help to identify this whale in the future. Notice the blowholes that are closed, and there is whale lice surrounding them. We can also appreciate the barnacles in front of the blowholes; these two ectoparasite species are specific for gray whales and obviously travel along with them through their long migration.
