Sand Dollar Beach & Hull Canal
The first day of our expedition started with pastel colors and soft tones, as the sun slowly rose over Magdalena Bay. Located along the western coast of the Baja California peninsula, Magdalena Bay is a very large and complex body of water with huge wetlands, sand dunes and a handful of fishing communities. It is also the third and southernmost of the main gray whale calving lagoons in the peninsula.
Numerous shorebirds and other aquatic birds were easily spotted from the ship long before breakfast; once on shore, we got a closer look at willets, marbled godwits, sandpipers, whimbrels, American oystercatchers and many more bird species. Even a peregrine falcon was discovered perching on top of a large shell midden. We soon discovered the reason for such a large avian gathering: incredible numbers of pelagic red crabs that washed ashore. At about two to two-and-a-half inches long, the pelagic red crab is an interesting crustacean more closely related to the hermit and mole crabs than to the “true” crabs such as the blue crab. During part of its life it lives in the pelagic realm, meaning the open waters, swimming by contracting its small tail. “Langostillas,” as they are called in Spanish, are particularly abundant off Magdalena Bay and constitute a most important prey species for such creatures like loggerhead turtles, Humboldt’s squid, Pacific white-sided dolphins and blue whales.
During lunch-time the National Geographic Sea Bird sailed through the Hull Canal into the northern reaches of the bay. With sand dunes and stands of red, white and black mangroves along its sides, the canal offers some very nice bird-watching; groups of bottlenose dolphins joined us and rode the pressure wave formed at the bow of the moving ship. We even spotted a few gray whale blows!
Late in the afternoon we anchored near Boca de Soledad, the area where most of the gray whales congregate; tomorrow we will go whale-watching there but, as the day came to an end, we realized how lucky we are to have enjoyed a beautiful day in Baja California.
