Bahia Magdalena, Baja California Sur, Mexico
From the early moments of the morning we were already watching these marvelous giants: the gray whales. After a hurried breakfast, we loaded into the Zodiacs, and off we went in search of these quite common whales in Bahia Magdalena. Soon we were in their presence and, as they approached our boats, cameras started whirring and clicking! The young approached within a few meters, and even pushed our Zodiacs slowly around. On occasions, mothers would also come up for a pat or a short face rubbing. Enormous 45-ton animals, slowly and carefully approaching our Zodiacs so carefully!
At the same time that we were enjoying these activities, half of the group was on land, on Isla Magdalena, walking and searching for interesting birds. Many cormorants and great blue herons nest among the mangroves.
The morning stretched on, and by midday, we started our trip back south to the lower reaches of Bahia Magdalena. After lunch we were already in the wider part of the Hull Canal, where we stopped and lowered our kayaks (there is no other boat traffic in this area, where we enjoyed kayaking among the mangroves.)
The desert here is composed of sand dune after sand dune, some of good heights, of a light brown color. Some of us enjoyed hiking among the sand dunes, where we could observe small clumps of plants with their own dunes! Visible also were layers of shells, deposited there by the Guaycura natives that lived on these islands in centuries past. In some places the shell layers are very thick.
By late afternoon we were all aboard our ship, the MV Sea Lion, and started our way to Puerto San Carlos.
From the early moments of the morning we were already watching these marvelous giants: the gray whales. After a hurried breakfast, we loaded into the Zodiacs, and off we went in search of these quite common whales in Bahia Magdalena. Soon we were in their presence and, as they approached our boats, cameras started whirring and clicking! The young approached within a few meters, and even pushed our Zodiacs slowly around. On occasions, mothers would also come up for a pat or a short face rubbing. Enormous 45-ton animals, slowly and carefully approaching our Zodiacs so carefully!
At the same time that we were enjoying these activities, half of the group was on land, on Isla Magdalena, walking and searching for interesting birds. Many cormorants and great blue herons nest among the mangroves.
The morning stretched on, and by midday, we started our trip back south to the lower reaches of Bahia Magdalena. After lunch we were already in the wider part of the Hull Canal, where we stopped and lowered our kayaks (there is no other boat traffic in this area, where we enjoyed kayaking among the mangroves.)
The desert here is composed of sand dune after sand dune, some of good heights, of a light brown color. Some of us enjoyed hiking among the sand dunes, where we could observe small clumps of plants with their own dunes! Visible also were layers of shells, deposited there by the Guaycura natives that lived on these islands in centuries past. In some places the shell layers are very thick.
By late afternoon we were all aboard our ship, the MV Sea Lion, and started our way to Puerto San Carlos.
