Magdalena Bay
Travels with Charley (In Search of America)
When I was very young and the urge to be someplace else was on me, I was assured by mature people that maturity would cure this itch. When years described me as mature, the remedy prescribed was middle age. In middle age I was assured that greater age would calm my fever and now that I am fifty-eight perhaps senility will do the job. Nothing has worked…I fear the disease is incurable. I set this matter down not to instruct others but to inform myself.
Once a journey is designed, equipped, and put in process, a new factor enters and takes over. A trip, a safari, as exploration, is an entity, different from all other journeys. It has personality, temperament, individuality, uniqueness. A journey is a person in itself; no two are alike. And all plans, safeguards, policing, and coercion are fruitless… We find after years of struggle that we do not take a trip; a trip takes us… In this a journey is like marriage. The certain way to be wrong is to think you control it. I feel better now, having said this, although only those who have experienced it will understand it. - John Steinbeck
Our day started completely “out of control” as we pitched and rolled in the open Pacific Ocean on our way to the calm waters of Magdalena Bay. Short-beaked Common Dolphins escorted us into the protected waters of the bay, where we immediately encountered Gray Whales frolicking in playful groups all around us! A walk on the isolated shores of Magdalena Island at Sand Dollar Beach completed our mornings’ activities.
Our afternoon was spent in transit of Hull Canal, along the eastern shore of Magdalena Island. An ebbing tide left many sandy flats for a myriad of sea and shorebirds to congregate upon. “Oohs and Aahs” were heard from bird watchers on the bow as each new bird species was sighted and identified.
Late in the afternoon, the exclamations reached a fevered pitch as we encountered eleven Gray Whale mothers with their newborn calves close to La Boca de Soledad. At fourteen feet and 1,500 pounds these diminutive newborns captured our attention as well as our hearts. The excitement on the bow was almost palpable. Tomorrow we will be among these magnificent leviathans in our tiny inflatable Zodiacs. The true personality of this exploration is still yet to be written…
Travels with Charley (In Search of America)
When I was very young and the urge to be someplace else was on me, I was assured by mature people that maturity would cure this itch. When years described me as mature, the remedy prescribed was middle age. In middle age I was assured that greater age would calm my fever and now that I am fifty-eight perhaps senility will do the job. Nothing has worked…I fear the disease is incurable. I set this matter down not to instruct others but to inform myself.
Once a journey is designed, equipped, and put in process, a new factor enters and takes over. A trip, a safari, as exploration, is an entity, different from all other journeys. It has personality, temperament, individuality, uniqueness. A journey is a person in itself; no two are alike. And all plans, safeguards, policing, and coercion are fruitless… We find after years of struggle that we do not take a trip; a trip takes us… In this a journey is like marriage. The certain way to be wrong is to think you control it. I feel better now, having said this, although only those who have experienced it will understand it. - John Steinbeck
Our day started completely “out of control” as we pitched and rolled in the open Pacific Ocean on our way to the calm waters of Magdalena Bay. Short-beaked Common Dolphins escorted us into the protected waters of the bay, where we immediately encountered Gray Whales frolicking in playful groups all around us! A walk on the isolated shores of Magdalena Island at Sand Dollar Beach completed our mornings’ activities.
Our afternoon was spent in transit of Hull Canal, along the eastern shore of Magdalena Island. An ebbing tide left many sandy flats for a myriad of sea and shorebirds to congregate upon. “Oohs and Aahs” were heard from bird watchers on the bow as each new bird species was sighted and identified.
Late in the afternoon, the exclamations reached a fevered pitch as we encountered eleven Gray Whale mothers with their newborn calves close to La Boca de Soledad. At fourteen feet and 1,500 pounds these diminutive newborns captured our attention as well as our hearts. The excitement on the bow was almost palpable. Tomorrow we will be among these magnificent leviathans in our tiny inflatable Zodiacs. The true personality of this exploration is still yet to be written…
