“Pic of the Week”. January 18, 2013. Gray Whales, Magdalena Bay, Mexico

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Gray whales are well known to those living near the west coast of North America.  Every spring they migrate 7,000 kilometers north to the plankton rich waters off Alaska where they feast and put on a thick layer of blubber.  This sustains them during their 2 month fall migration south to several bays off Mexico’s Baja Peninsula, including Magdalena Bay at the southern most point of their journey.  In these waters they mate and the following year females give birth in the same bays.  A few months after arriving in Baja they begin their migration back to Alaska, somehow knowing the ice has receded and their food source will again be plentiful.   The last to join this migration are …

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Baja California: The Gray Whales of Magdalena Bay

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The journey there…..

After wrapping up a relaxing and fun-filled stay on Isla Espiritu Santo, we drive from La Paz north and west up the Baja peninsula towards the Pacific Ocean.  The countryside is desert and the vegetation not unlike what you’d find in Arizona or parts of Southern California.  Within 4 hours we reach the shores of Magdalena Bay; our crew loads the skiffs and we make our way across the bay to its northeast shore.  The area teams with bird life, especially pelicans and gulls.  The Bay is huge, 50 km long, with a distant outlet to the Pacific, and its waters are fairly calm, sheltered by two large islands; it’s clear why Magdalena Bay would …

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In John Steinbeck’s wake: My Blog from the Sea of Cortez.

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As a lad I enjoyed exploring the world through the pages of a good book.  Arthur C. Clarke lead me on diving adventures off Ceylon and Australia, as well as on a Space Odyssey.  Ray Bradbury chronicled life on Mars, and John Steinbeck guided me down Cannery Row.  Steinbeck also chronicled a visit to the Gulf of California in his book, “The Log from the Sea of Cortez“, which summarized a 6 week journey of leisurely exploration and specimen collection he and his buddy, marine biologist Ed Ricketts (“Doc”), undertook in 1940s.  Steinbeck did not publish the book until after Rickett’s untimely death in a traffic accident, probably motivated to do so as a tribute to his dear friend.  Being scientifically inclined, even when quite young, I was …

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Baja California: La Paz — John Steinbeck’s “The Pearl”

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The Sea of Cortez was once pearl-rich, but for unknown reasons there’s been a dramatic decline in its pearl-producing clams during the past half century.  Some postulate it’s because of over-harvesting; some say it’s because the Colorado River no longer drains enough water into the Sea of Cortez, altering it’s chemical composition; some say it’s part of a normal cycle — nobody knows why.

Just as he introduced me to the Sea of Cortez, John Steinbeck also introduced me to La Paz.  When John Steinbeck and his pal, Ed Ricketts, were exploring the Sea of Cortez, they visited La Paz which at that time was a small city but still a major pearl harvesting port.  Here they heard …

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