Magdalena Bay and Hull Canal
The last day of whale watching aboard our Zodiac boats was very pleasant and intense. At first instance, the water of the lagoon was calmed with a refreshing breeze and sunshine early this morning. Then the gray whales came into scene. Several cow and calf pairs were seen around, and it was hard to decide which one each boat should follow. Despite that, almost everybody had the opportunity to observe how protective the females were, as well as playful with the tiny babies. Sometimes, the mothers were seen really forcing the calves to hold the breath under the surface and then dive away from other more active adult whales passing by. This is important since adults in courtship can provoke the separation of calves from their moms or even hurt them with the big flukes.
Also, at different times bottle-nosed dolphins joined the pairs of mothers and calves and played around. Our local friends from Lopez Mateos explained that sometimes the dolphins imitate the calves’ behavior and gently hit the females’ bellies to make them expelling the milk. Then the dolphins take a little of that milk. Frequently the females respond aggressively against this piracy, and deliver strong hits with the flukes to scare the dolphins, but basically they seem to tolerate them. The adults’ activity was also passionate: collective chasing, breeching and spy-hoping were just some of the events observed. What most called our attention was a kind of “underwater ballet” performed by some animals in a very picturesque way, like rolling over the axis of the body, spy hoping, surfacing on their sides, and fluking many times. The peaks of this show were every time that the whales, after taking the whole head perfectly vertical out of the water, slowly slipped down over theirs backs or the mate’s back.
In the late morning, we sailed though the Hull Canal while having lunch at deck. We anchored at a very nice location for our last kayaking and Zodiac exploration into the channels formed by dense patches of mangroves. At the end, everyone had gotten a piece of Baja into our hearts and minds.
The last day of whale watching aboard our Zodiac boats was very pleasant and intense. At first instance, the water of the lagoon was calmed with a refreshing breeze and sunshine early this morning. Then the gray whales came into scene. Several cow and calf pairs were seen around, and it was hard to decide which one each boat should follow. Despite that, almost everybody had the opportunity to observe how protective the females were, as well as playful with the tiny babies. Sometimes, the mothers were seen really forcing the calves to hold the breath under the surface and then dive away from other more active adult whales passing by. This is important since adults in courtship can provoke the separation of calves from their moms or even hurt them with the big flukes.
Also, at different times bottle-nosed dolphins joined the pairs of mothers and calves and played around. Our local friends from Lopez Mateos explained that sometimes the dolphins imitate the calves’ behavior and gently hit the females’ bellies to make them expelling the milk. Then the dolphins take a little of that milk. Frequently the females respond aggressively against this piracy, and deliver strong hits with the flukes to scare the dolphins, but basically they seem to tolerate them. The adults’ activity was also passionate: collective chasing, breeching and spy-hoping were just some of the events observed. What most called our attention was a kind of “underwater ballet” performed by some animals in a very picturesque way, like rolling over the axis of the body, spy hoping, surfacing on their sides, and fluking many times. The peaks of this show were every time that the whales, after taking the whole head perfectly vertical out of the water, slowly slipped down over theirs backs or the mate’s back.
In the late morning, we sailed though the Hull Canal while having lunch at deck. We anchored at a very nice location for our last kayaking and Zodiac exploration into the channels formed by dense patches of mangroves. At the end, everyone had gotten a piece of Baja into our hearts and minds.
