Bahia Magdalena
A nearly full moon still hung in the western sky as the early risers boarded the Zodiacs for a sunrise photo shoot on the Isla Magdalena dunes. Streams of silhouetted cormorants flowed across an ochre eastern sky. The serious photographers set up their tripods, fiddled with camera dials and buttons and began to scan the area for scenic potential. They weren’t disappointed.
As the sun slowly climbed above the horizon, the wind created ripples and impressions of animal tracks began to stand out in bold relief. Suddenly there was a flash of sanderlings as they wheeled and turned in unison revealing their lighter colored breasts and underwings. Back and forth they cruised over the dunes alternately showing first their gray backs then cream bellies. And then as suddenly as they had appeared, they vanished.
The photographers scattered like the wind to find his or her own private world to capture on film or pixels. However, as breakfast time neared, everyone managed to drift back to the landing to rejoin our little ship, the Sea Bird.
After breakfast, everyone headed back to dunes for more pictures and also to stroll across Isla Magdalena to the Pacific. Farther back in the dunes, we discovered sand verbena, sea purselane, evening primrose, boxthorn, and locoweed in bloom. Here and there were piles of shells…primarily clams, scallops, and murex snails. The naturalists speculated as to their origin. Were these shells washed up on an ancient beach, which was later uplifted to its present position? Or are these collections prehistoric middens left over from Indian “clam bakes?” The conclusion is probably both.
After lunch, we made our way through La Entrada, out of Bahia Magdalena, and into the Pacific. That Balboa must have been a jokester; the Pacific was not all that tranquil. Scores of stiff-winged shearwaters sailed just above the wave crests, and little phalaropes bobbed in the swell. Soon the rough ride was rewarded with whale spouts, and not just a few. There were dozens of tall bushy blows as we became surrounded by over 20 blue whales, the largest of the great cetaceans. A couple of humpback whales and a secretive Bryde’s whale made brief appearances, too. Shutters clicked away as the magical moment was recorded for posterity.
A nearly full moon still hung in the western sky as the early risers boarded the Zodiacs for a sunrise photo shoot on the Isla Magdalena dunes. Streams of silhouetted cormorants flowed across an ochre eastern sky. The serious photographers set up their tripods, fiddled with camera dials and buttons and began to scan the area for scenic potential. They weren’t disappointed.
As the sun slowly climbed above the horizon, the wind created ripples and impressions of animal tracks began to stand out in bold relief. Suddenly there was a flash of sanderlings as they wheeled and turned in unison revealing their lighter colored breasts and underwings. Back and forth they cruised over the dunes alternately showing first their gray backs then cream bellies. And then as suddenly as they had appeared, they vanished.
The photographers scattered like the wind to find his or her own private world to capture on film or pixels. However, as breakfast time neared, everyone managed to drift back to the landing to rejoin our little ship, the Sea Bird.
After breakfast, everyone headed back to dunes for more pictures and also to stroll across Isla Magdalena to the Pacific. Farther back in the dunes, we discovered sand verbena, sea purselane, evening primrose, boxthorn, and locoweed in bloom. Here and there were piles of shells…primarily clams, scallops, and murex snails. The naturalists speculated as to their origin. Were these shells washed up on an ancient beach, which was later uplifted to its present position? Or are these collections prehistoric middens left over from Indian “clam bakes?” The conclusion is probably both.
After lunch, we made our way through La Entrada, out of Bahia Magdalena, and into the Pacific. That Balboa must have been a jokester; the Pacific was not all that tranquil. Scores of stiff-winged shearwaters sailed just above the wave crests, and little phalaropes bobbed in the swell. Soon the rough ride was rewarded with whale spouts, and not just a few. There were dozens of tall bushy blows as we became surrounded by over 20 blue whales, the largest of the great cetaceans. A couple of humpback whales and a secretive Bryde’s whale made brief appearances, too. Shutters clicked away as the magical moment was recorded for posterity.
