The calm waters of “Magdalena Bay Norte” made for a very tranquil morning as guests and crew alike enjoyed the sunrise over Mexico. The last stretch class of the trip prepared participants for a final morning of gray whale watching. Local boats, or pangas, arrived at 0830, and guests set off to find the mothers and calves that occupy the protected waters of one of Baja’s most productive breeding lagoons. The slick, dark back of a week-old calf was spotted within inches of the much larger mother. The morning was a productive one as all boats found their quarries along with some cooperative bottlenose dolphins and a plethora of wonderful birds. The pangas returned to the ship for lunch, and National Geographic Sea Bird repositioned to a nearby anchorage that allowed access to Sand Dollar Beach. This strip of shore earned its name from the many sand dollars that litter its wave-beaten beach. Guests explored dunes and breakers as staff members helped identify plants, insects, and birds.
3/9/2023
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National Geographic Sea Bird
Puerto Adolfo Lopez Mateos, Baja California Sur
We started the morning with a magnificent full moon. According to a pre-Hispanic legend, one day Priestess Coatlicue (Maternal Earth deity) was sweeping her shrine when a ball of hummingbird feathers fell from the sky. She snatched them up, placed them at her waist, and became pregnant with the Aztec god Huitzilopochtli. Her pregnancy embarrassed her other children, including her eldest daughter, Coyolxauhqui, who decided to kill Coatlicue with her brothers, the Centzon Huitzinahuas. Miraculously, when Coatlicue gave birth to Huitzilopochtli, he was grown and armed. He beheaded Coyolxauhqui and tossed her head in the sky. Her head became the moon, and her brothers became the stars. After a beautiful sunrise, we went in search of gray whales near Puerto Adolfo Lopez Mateos, a quite village to the north of Magdalena Bay. We encountered cows training their calves to migrate to their feeding grounds in Alaska. The 9,000-mile voyage will last at least two months. On the way to Boca de la Soledad, we visited a marsh where magnificent frigatebirds nest among other species. We concluded our day with cocktails and dinner by the gorgeous dunes of Magdalena Island.