Boca de Soledad to La Entrada, Magdalena Bay
At anchor near Boca de Soledad, in the northern reaches of the Magdalena Bay area, the National Geographic Sea Bird woke up to a new day; double-crested cormorants and magnificent frigatebirds stretched and slowly took off into the air, while gray whales awaited us.
We boarded the Zodiacs and pretty soon were able to watch and follow many of them. Many baby whales followed their mothers, whereas some of the older and more adventurous ones swam around them, performing all kinds of antics. However, the all-time favorite game among the younger cetacean population continued to be “roll-over-mom’s back,” an activity they never seem to tire of, and which is common to youngsters of all species – human babies, African lion cubs or baby gray whales.
Other whales engaged in different activities and some individuals were seen breaching and spy-hopping. One single whale, possibly still pregnant, was seen swimming slowly and coming up to the surface at regular intervals, breathing a bit differently than the other whales; after a long and lively discussion among several experienced ladies on board the Zodiac, including our ship’s doctor (who is also a mother of four), we thought that she may be in labor. Unfortunately we needed to go back to our floating home and couldn’t stay with her to see if a new baby whale arrived at the lagoon.
We left Boca de Soledad and sailed south through the Hull Canal, getting the chance to see many more gray whales around us. We also saw many birds along both shores including Caspian terns, Brant, red-headed ducks and many kinds of egrets and herons.
Eventually we arrived at La Entrada, as the gap between Magdalena and Santa Margarita islands is known, and exited Magdalena Bay. La Entrada is the very same place where gray whale hunting started in the winter of 1845-46 when two American whaling ships from Connecticut, the Hybernia and the United States, discovered a bounty of whales there. They killed many whales that winter and the word spread; three years later 50 whaling ships arrived and the rest is history. Thank goodness, the relationship between humans and gray whales is completely different now, as we were able to experience during the last few days.
