Fog! Fog! Early morning fog made us worry about the possibility of seeing the gray whales we have been seeking. But after a very short breakfast, we boarded our DIBs with our pangueros (fishermen driving pangas), and headed out to look for these huge, remarkably gentle giants in Magdalena Bay. The area around Los Titeres (the puppets) was special for us, as this is where most whales congregate at this time of year. It was a very successful morning, the whales were doing their thing, mothers swimming slowly along with their calves playing and rolling around them. Cameras clicked successfully, and the shouts of glee made the now thinner fog reverberate. Wow! Back on board we had a better breakfast, and enjoyed a talk by William about tequila, the national drink of Mexico. Immediately afterwards, the second group took off in the DIBs to enjoy the antics of the whales. Everybody on both cruises was happy and satisfied with the encounters.
Immediately upon our return from the whales, the ship’s engines were fired up, and Alejandro Camacho, our pilot, took the helm to lead us through the 50-mile long cruise down Magdalena Bay. Once there, he and his son boarded their panga and returned to their home, Puerto Adolfo Lopez-Mateos. En route we enjoyed the views of several bottle-nose dolphins, as well as many water birds, among the mangroves and in the air.
Our ride south was interesting for the amount of different birds that we saw, and pretty soon we were already in the wider part of the bay, in the vicinity of Puerto San Carlos.
Onward we sailed, and promptly we were out of the bay, in the open Pacific, searching for gray whale pairs and other wildlife. We then turned south, to commence our longer trip south along the coast of Baja California, to arrive on the morrow at Cabo San Lucas, and Finisterra, the END OF LAND.
