The wind blew all night at our anchorage but the morning brought decreasing winds and clearing skies for our transit from Magdalena Bay to Boca de Solidad via Hull Canal. This channel winds for many miles through rich mangrove wetlands and along seemingly endless sand dunes. Hull Canal pilot Alejandro, an old friend of Lindblad Expeditions, navigated the Sea Lion through the unmarked waterway that in some places leaves only a few feet below the keel and a few feet on either side of the ship. Even though gray whales could certainly navigate the Canal, they stay clear of this passageway and enter upper Magdalena Bay only across the bar and through the rough waters of Boca de Soledad. However, bottlenose dolphins came to ride on our bow and we had time to do some serious birding. Early in the transit we came upon a mangrove island with over 20 spectacularly beautiful white ibis roosting among the greenery. Our bird list for the day included 23 other species, some as conspicuous as the great blue heron and some as tiny as the least sandpiper. Even our novice birders got excited about magnificent frigatebirds, great and snowy egrets, tricolored herons and flocks of brant geese. From the time we exited Hull Canal and dropped anchor at Boca de Soledad, we kept a close look out for gray whales and the "Great Gray Whale Count" came up with 6 cow/calf pairs and 8 single whales. Between seeing our first gray whales of the trip and the wonderful birds, we all agreed that this was an auspicious beginning to our expedition Among the Great Whales.