Bahia Magdalena
Our ship surged north through the waves last night, leaving Los Cabos behind and giving us all a sense of nautical adventure. We awoke at La Entrada, entering Magdalena Bay. Anchoring along Isla Magdalena, we ferried ashore in the Zodiacs to the white dunes. Stretching up over our heads was this cerulean sky, spread delicately with mare’s tails of clouds.
There were options: sitting on the beach and watching over the serene waters of the bay, or hiking through the dunes to the Pacific shore. Just as riding the ship north gave echoes from the nautical adventures of the past, hiking over the pristine hills of the dunes gives a sense of new exploration and adventure, no matter how much one knows that the area has been traversed before. Evidence lay on the sand of those who had been there before, including shell middens from distant previous inhabitants and the delicate tracks just laid down by small beetles. Naturalists pointed out all these traces: the skeletons of dolphins, pelicans and turtles; the shells shed by crabs in their molts; the tracks from jackrabbits, coyotes and mice.
The long crescent of Sand Dollar Beach welcomed us, curving for miles in both directions around Bahia Santa Maria with not another soul to be seen outside of our group. We explored, played in the surf and threw Frisbees, then gathered around the naturalists as together we examined our found treasures. Discussions ranged from how turtles form their shells from ribs, the growth of teeth in dolphins and what delicious lunch was awaiting us back on the Sea Bird. We hiked back across the dunes to find out.
Tomorrow: Adventures among the gray whales!
Our ship surged north through the waves last night, leaving Los Cabos behind and giving us all a sense of nautical adventure. We awoke at La Entrada, entering Magdalena Bay. Anchoring along Isla Magdalena, we ferried ashore in the Zodiacs to the white dunes. Stretching up over our heads was this cerulean sky, spread delicately with mare’s tails of clouds.
There were options: sitting on the beach and watching over the serene waters of the bay, or hiking through the dunes to the Pacific shore. Just as riding the ship north gave echoes from the nautical adventures of the past, hiking over the pristine hills of the dunes gives a sense of new exploration and adventure, no matter how much one knows that the area has been traversed before. Evidence lay on the sand of those who had been there before, including shell middens from distant previous inhabitants and the delicate tracks just laid down by small beetles. Naturalists pointed out all these traces: the skeletons of dolphins, pelicans and turtles; the shells shed by crabs in their molts; the tracks from jackrabbits, coyotes and mice.
The long crescent of Sand Dollar Beach welcomed us, curving for miles in both directions around Bahia Santa Maria with not another soul to be seen outside of our group. We explored, played in the surf and threw Frisbees, then gathered around the naturalists as together we examined our found treasures. Discussions ranged from how turtles form their shells from ribs, the growth of teeth in dolphins and what delicious lunch was awaiting us back on the Sea Bird. We hiked back across the dunes to find out.
Tomorrow: Adventures among the gray whales!
