Baja California: Day 8

Day 8:  Bahia Magdelena

We are now officially 8 for 8.  Another beautiful day!  The crew informed us that the previous voyage was basically a wash out due to high winds and waves as well as rain.  Many activities were cancelled (and I’ll bet a lot of guests wished that some that ran, had as well).  Luck is not a bad thing.

First thing this morning we anchored in Magdelena Bay and Zodiaced (not sure if that is a fabricated word-Toby and Marty would probably not let us use it in our Scrabble tournaments) to the nearby mangroves for a morning of kayaking. The sand along the beach was as close to quicksand without actually swallowing you whole. If you didn’t move quickly, you would slowly sink down knee-deep, with potential loss of shoes, and definitely loss of pride.  We made it to our kayak with shoes (and most of our pride) intact. The sun had come out and warmed the morning enough to make paddling in shorts and a tee very pleasant.

The mangroves are a nursery for many forms of wildlife.  We saw small rays swimming along the bottom, and a variety of birdlife including grebes, yellow-crested herons, snowy egrets, and cormorants.  It was nice to get out and kayak in February.

 

We returned to the Venture with plenty of time to work out in the gym (to attempt to reduce the bad news when we get on the scale at home) before lunch (where we defeated the purpose of the gym).  During lunch, the captain moved the ship to another anchorage off a ¼ mile wide sandy spit. We Zodiaced (I think using twice will confirm its usage is correct) to shore and hiked across the spit to the Pacific Ocean side.  

The sand was like superfine sugar and the constant wind created beautiful dunes.  

The landscape was dotted with small wildflowers that gave the dunes a spark of color. 

 On the Pacific side, there were high bluffs to negotiate down to the beach.  The beach was beautiful, about 100yds wide extending as far as the eye could see.  The beach is called Sand Dollar Beach, the reason for which became obvious as soon as we descended from the dunes.  Sand dollars littered the beach, especially at the high-tide line. 

There were also tons of small green wormlike creatures that were slithering around in the shallows.   

We had a nice walk along the beach with our new friends Steve and Lucy. 

 Though Steve and I got our feet wet, we elected not to brave the crashing surf.

 It didn’t really look too healthy, even with our guide, Carlos, playing Baywatch for us.

Coming down the dune was infinitely easier than going up to leave.  Even with Steve’s help, Jeri had a hard time with the last 5 feet but seemed to enjoy rolling in the sand just the same.  

The one child (10 yo Shore) on board seemed to have no trouble (and no lack of energy) scrambling up the dunes multiple times and jumping off the highest ones he could find into nice soft sand. 

Jeri decided that one climb up was enough and elected to pass on flying through the air. 

When we reached the bay side, we had one last Zodiac ride back to the boat on beautiful blue, flat water. A great end to a wonderful, relaxing trip.  Tonight, we pack and leave the ship tomorrow in San Carlos.  From there, we go overland back to the Sea of Cortez side of the Baja California (a 3 ½ hour bus trip) to overnight in La Paz, then the flights home the following day (after another 2 hour bus to Cabo).  Not really looking forward to the busses.

Baja California Day 7

Day 7:  Laguna San Ignacio

What a difference a day makes.  The morning started beautifully with clearing skies and temperatures in the 60’s.  

The seas were calm and the ride to the lagoon for our 3^rdattempt at whale photos. 

 3’s a charm.  Within the first 10 minutes our driver located a group of about 4 whales that were very active. 

 One in particular kept doing a behavior called spy-hopping.  

The whale hauls itself vertically out of the water (like a water polo goalie) and hangs there for a few seconds before slipping back into the water.  No one has a clue as to why they do this.  Our expedition leader’s theory is “because they can”.  It is quite a site, especially when it occurs close to the boat. 

We also had common dolphin playing close to ur boat.

We saw one mother and calf, but they were not terribly interested in playing.

All in all, a much better experience with the gray whales today.  After we returned to the ship, we weighed anchor heading south for our anchorage in Magdelena Bay tomorrow morning.

We had 2 bits of excitement this evening.  First, as the sun went down, I saw and photographed the green flash.  Jeri, unfortunately missed it, looking away for a second at just the wrong time.  The photo is interesting; just before the green flash, there is actually not only green but an entire tiny prism that is visible.  This is a result of atmospheric bending of the light rays of the setting sun. You gotta love physics!

The second bit of excitement was the Pats win in the Super Bowl.  I think there were about 5 of us on board rooting for the Patriots.

TRomorrow is our last full day.  Plans for kayaking in mangroves and later a hike in the desert.

Baja California Day 6

Day 6: Laguna San Ignacio

We arrived in San Agnacio early this morning, and anchored about 3 miles from the lagoon where we will whale watch.  Because these are breeding grounds for the gray whale, the area is tightly restricted. Ships even our size must anchor well outside the lagoon, and we had to then Zodiac to the interior of the lagoon where we were met by locals.  We then had to transfer to Pangas,  small dories owned by  local fishermen.  The fishermen will be our guides today and tomorrow.

The water going out was very rough and we got soaked.  The whales have been slow to return to the lagoon to give birth this year.  Usually by this time there are 200 or so, this year only 30 adults.  We saw one whale early on breach but was able to catch the end only.  We saw several other adults as well as cows with calves, but none were ready to approach close to our boat.

After lunch on board the ship, the afternoon session started with very calm seas for the Zodiac return to the lagoon.  We headed out on the Pangas and what looked like a promising afternoon for photos turned out to be a bust for us.  All the other boats seemed positioned well to have extremely close encounters to the whales while our driver seemed to take us to where the whales weren’t.  We did see several whales, and even had one hit our boat, but the photo ops were few and far between.  We are going to be certain not to have the sane driver tomorrow! The afternoon on the whole was pretty disappointing- we got to watch most of the other boats petting and photographing whales up close.  New friends, Steven and Lucy, had a similar experience on one of the other boats.  We’ll keep our fingers crossed for tomorrow.