Early morning clouds blanketed the sky while an orange band of light began to illuminate the eastern horizon. The overcast soon dissipated, and Isla Santa Margarita came into view to the east as we sailed north. Several humpbacks surfaced as we passed, and a small group of common dolphins joined the ship to be pushed along by the bow’s pressure wave.
This nearby island, and Isla Magdalena found north of here, form a barrier to Pacific swells. Currents flowing from the western United States carry sand along the coastline that washes ashore during winter storms. The resulting beaches connect two rocky parts of Magdalena Island and form Magdalena Bay. This protected place offers protection for gray whales to mate, give birth and raise their young, and a location for us to watch part of this process.
By mid-day we passed between the two islands and into calm water. Soon thick fog enveloped us. The sound of the ship’s fog horn didn’t last long enough to drive everyone off the bow. It cleared in time to see a gray whale blow in the distance. We passed close enough to one animal to get good looks at the body’s blotchy pattern of greys, to see the crusty looking barnacles and observe the other field marks. Later in the morning bottlenose dolphins approached our ship and rode our bow wave long enough to be studied by all that peered down at them in the relatively clear water.
During lunch, a high-speed navy pursuit boat used for catching drug smugglers passed close by us. It was going at 40 mph or so, made a fast U-turn and pulled up to our stern. To say we all noticed the maneuver would be quite the understatement. After a quick conversation with our Spanish speaking hotel manager and natural history staff, we found out they were just wondering if we needed help with anything. That was a very funny statement considering our concern. Their departure was reminiscent of a small rocket being fired.
We continued toward our whale watching area through a narrow mangrove-lined channel called the Hull Canal. It was low tide, so we had great views of the mudflats close to the ship on both sides. Five kinds of herons and egrets, at least six types of shorebirds, caracaras, cormorants, red-breasted mergansers, and many other birds were seen along the way. We counted seven coyotes that foraged among the shallow depressions in the freshly exposed mud and poked their noses into tangles of mangrove roots.
Once we reached our destination, inflatable boats whisked us to seemingly untouched dunes. These 20-foot-high sand sculptures beckoned to us to race up their sides, jump off their steep faces, and explore their tantalizing complexity. As the sun began to set, we watched gray whale cows and their calves ply back and forth near the ship. Soon we left this wild shoreline for our floating home, cocktails, conversation, and a great meal.
