We all aboard the National Geographic Sea Bird woke up this morning in the middle of Magdalena Bay, the southernmost calving lagoon for the gray whale in the Pacific side of the peninsula of Baja California. From the anchorage, the expedition landing craft took our guests and naturalists to the first outing in the magnificent sand dunes of Magdalena, a long, narrow, 60-mile long barrier Island. One of the objectives was to reach Sand Dollar Beach, located on the open ocean side. Once there, all the hiking explorers discovered life, or signs of life, on the shore: thousands of seeds from different mangrove species, plus seagrass, seaweed, crabs, insects, seabirds and shells from mollusks, including pen shells, diverse scallops, clams, fig and moon snails, and even dead birds, sea turtles and skulls of California sea lions and dolphins. The second task was to observe birds among the mangroves that patchily abound in the area, and over the dunes, party led by bird expert Michel O’Brien. We later left the location and moved northwards through the canal to reach the gray whale calving area. The narrow and shallow canal was flanked by mangroves (principally red), and ornamented with hundreds of flocks or solitary individual birds of all sorts, some flying, perched of fishing. From the ship, we observed the first whales in the afternoon, as well as bottle-nosed dolphins close or bow riding several times. At night, after dinner, Carlos Navarro, our Undersea Specialist, presented a very informative talk about the gray whales. We went to bed with the happy thought that we will see these gentle giants tomorrow.
2/25/2022
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National Geographic Venture
Port Lopez Mateos
This morning, National Geographic Venture docked at the interesting port, San Carlos. From the 1940s to the 1990s, the port was used for loading agricultural products and fertilizers from the nearby Santo Domingo Valley. Nowadays, San Carlos is basically a place for loading sardines from a local cannery. It is also an important tourist base for whale-watching, principally mating gray whales. At the port, all guests and staff boarded buses to Lopez Mateos, a town located near the northernmost tip of Magdalena Island. The buses traveled across Magdalena Plain, a section of the Sonoran Desert that receives a lot of moisture in the form of dense fog from the Pacific Ocean. Lichens and orchillas, a type of flowering plant, give the desert a phantasmagoric appearance. Guests and staff enjoyed spotting numerous birds, including crested caracaras and kestrels. Once in Lopez Mateos, we boarded local pangas for whale-watching. During two rounds of whale-watching, we encountered several whales close to our pangas. However, most of the whales were preoccupied with traveling, searching for mates, or just finishing their time of reproduction and thus exiting the lagoon. In reality, the whales were not interested in interacting with the boats and their excited cargo, but we had many opportunities to observe the behavior of these magnificent animals. In town, we all delighted in a delicious fish lunch, ‘pescado zarandeado.’ We enjoyed exploring the local dock with its many colorful shops and crafts, and we admired the wonderful sculpture of a cow-calf pair of gray whales.
