Whale of a time

This spring we returned to Baja for the spring whale watching season. If they were birds we'd say birding, but whaling has connotations of the whale killing industry. Here's the most interesting part of this story. We were in one of the bays that was red with the blood of whales for many square miles. This went on into the middle of the last century. Now the whales come to our boats and bring their babies to be touched by humans! Probably these are not any of the mothers of that earlier era, but they do live long enough to bridge the gap and likely have the memory to go with it. We met the man who had the first "friendly" whale experience, a fisherman spooked by the approaching whales once know as devil fish for their known ability to flip the whalers' boats. He discovered the whales were approaching with no menacing behavior and soon he was taking others to see the whales that approached his fishing boat. A new industry spawned in the 1970s and now thousands of people travel to the lagoons to see the whales where they birth and nurture their young before the long arduous trip north to Alaskan waters.

Before you start looking for my pictures of the whales, let me stop you right here! The camera we took ran out of battery before we made it to the lagoon! Isn't there electricity in Mexico? Well, there is and we had lovely, electrified rooms with lights and everything including plugs in 110V, but the charger was left home. On a previous sojourn to Baja, I tried taking photos and found my camera was too slow. The other problem is we ...were...too ...close! Whales are large and when they are rubbing the side of the boat with their snout it's difficult to take a photo that looks like much. Maybe a wet leather couch? No, not quite. The whiskers would be a give away! A shot of the blow hole, that might be nice? Have you seen the sea lice in there? Now a spy hopping whale would make a terrific photo, and with a fast shutter release time, fast shutter speed and a camera pointed the right way on a steady platform with the light correct for the contrast of sun, water, and dark whale and you have your super memory photo of your trip! Remember, I failed back there with the battery step. The rest is simply out of my league.

We had a day with more whales at out boats than the guide could remember in the last 15 years. Our boat had I think 6 cow/calf pairs at the boat at once, all of them eager to be touched, petted and kissed. While I didn't do any kissing, I did see an animal-neutral person calling most eagerly to whales and kissing them (my sister). Whale mist from the blow hole did cross my face several times and among the initiated, this is considered the whale version of a kiss. It was lovely and given the option of being kissed by whale lips I suppose it is superior.

Was this worth a repeat trip? Absolutely! Many more whales came to our boats and they stayed longer. One pair seemed loathe to leave us before we had to return to shore. I am still puzzled beyond understanding when I consider their behavior. "Friendly" is the word used in the industry, and maybe that explains it. This is simply a most unusual experience to have a 40 ton mother bring or allow her young to approach our boats. In several cases the mothers nudged or pushed their offspring up to and over to our boats. Sometimes the mothers were comfortable getting attention on one side while the young was on the other. Imagine that with any other large mammal in the wild! Maybe a grizzly? NOT! Simple formula for suicide.

Our fellow travelers were eager to learn and fun to share experiences with. We went with friends and family and had our own party of 6 in a total group of 38. Leaving San Diego, we spent 5 nights and 6 days on the peninsula sight seeing the 600 miles down and back; an agreeable way to travel in a tourist bus. The beach photo is from the Inn where we stayed the first night and the Mission is from San Ignacio at the bottom of our drop down the peninsula. Safety issues were non-existant and especially in the village of San Ignacio we felt welcomed where we watched the local high school troop performing area dances from a broad range of localities in Mexico.

We had one morning for birding that produced one I hadn't even heard of, a reddish egret. I have the photo here, but you likely have to take my word on it. The beak is a little pink, the neck IS reddish and the body is about the color of a blue heron. Cool!



Let me invite you to read on to the blog below about my writing and publishing pursuit that is a big deal for me this spring!