A fantastic day begins again. We began our day earlier today, to maximize the time enjoying these marvelous, enormous gray whale females and their calves. The weather was good, and we started off at 7:30. Again, the female whales were interested in us, as we approached them, coming up to us and allowing for some excellent photo opportunities. The young frolicked around us and sprayed us with the water from their blow holes, as everybody screamed in awe!
After the return of the first group, the second group was immediately sent to enjoy them also, after enjoying a morning talk on Tequila! by William.
The second group was equally fortunate, and again the behavior of the animals made everybody extremely happy, and a great number of photos were taken of the cow-calf pairs. By midday, we began to make our way south again, retracing our earlier northbound route, and seeing some more whales along the way up to Colina Coyote. South of this point, whale activity ceased completely, due probably to the shallow waters of the Canal de Magdalena. But the birding was excellent, as the mangroves closed around us in narrow channels.
Eventually, we found ourselves at the wider part of Magdalena Bay, a bay larger than San Francisco Bay. Here we left our pilot Alejandro Camacho and anchored close by. After lunch, we boarded our expedition landing crafts and headed for the eastern shore of Isla Magdalena, and then crossed the island, to Sand Dollar Beach. Echinoderms were very abundant here, and the waves of the open Pacific roared and splashed strongly on the beach. Our guests enjoyed a nice beach stroll, before we were taken back to our ship to enjoy a delicious dinner. What a wonderful day!
