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WhaleWatcherNotes
(c)1998 June Woodward
Baja's wondrous gray whales, the "Friendlies"
Year after year, the story in whale watching circles is always the same. This improbable story says that somewhere there are gigantic whales that eagerly approach boatloads of tourists. The story goes on to claim that these whales in fact allow themselves to be touched by humans. Some of them like to be petted, stroked and scratched! They often even bring their calves right up to the boats to interact with the people. The story says that these contacts can last for hours and then continue the next day! Those same stories also report that the whales truly seem to take great care not to allow their enormous bulk to harm the boats or the people in them.
Myth? Charming fable? Not at all. All the claims are definitely true. Hundreds, indeed maybe thousands of people will enthusiastically testify about their own exhilarating experiences with the remarkable gray whales of Baja California, Mexico. If you go whale watching there, you
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can expect the same superlative welcome from them.
Those whales and that delightful behavior are found exclusively in three rather remote areas along the Pacific coast of Baja Mexico - Laguna Ojo de Liebre, or Scammon's Lagoon, Laguna San Ignacio, and Magdalena Bay. From December to April all of these become the famous "nursery lagoons" of Baja. However, the great majority of actual touching encounters are still reported from Laguna San Ignacio. The whales there are known worldwide as "the friendlies".
Those grays have migrated thousands of miles from the Bering and Arctic seas to mate and to give birth there. Their calves are born in the protected upper lagoon and then mothered a few more months in the highly saline and buoyant waters. This nursery time is crucial. The calves must become strong enough to make the Herculean journey back to the far north, and they must grow and also build enough blubber to maintain their body temperature in those icy regions.
A Gray Whale Calf Seeks Attention
Credit: Celia Condit Taylor, Searcher Natural History Tours |
All three of those very special places are limited by a lack of both facilities and access, so making this journey requires a bit of planning and perhaps the spirit of an adventurer.
You can drive to them in your own or in a rental car. There is also Mexican bus service on the same route. Aero California will fly you to Loreto, La Paz or Cabo San Lucas, but you still face a 2-5 hour journey by taxi or tour bus to get to your destinations, where there are (almost) no hotels. Your auto club or travel agent should be able to advise you of the sobering details.
One thing though, you can't miss your highway -- Baja 1 is the sole highway to run the length of the Baja peninsula, and there is just one other short branch down south. Scammon's is closest to the US, on Highway 1. However, it is still about 400 arduous miles from San Diego. If you get that far, stop in Guerrero Negro and ask at the restaurant or the motel for the gray whale tours.
Fortunately there are whale watching trip vendors that bundle all the details into fascinating cruises or excursions for you. Three that I know of are Oceanic Society Expeditions, San Francisco, and Baja Expeditions and Searcher Natural History Tours, both in San Diego
Interestingly, they take quite different approaches to getting you to San Ignacio, and to lodging you once there. One uses a tent base camp and chartered aircraft to get you to and from the lagoon. One puts their passengers on a boat that leaves from and returns to San Diego. The third cruises down from San Diego but returns by a charter flight. Only small boats supervised by licensed Mexican guides take you out to the actual whale watching and petting.
The expedition operators can supply information by 800 telephone number, and all are on the internet too. These operators also run longer trips in the springtime that sweep around the Baja capes and go into the Sea of Cortez. Those trips let you see, not only the friendlies, but the veritable profusion of whales found then in the Sea of Cortez.
You too, can experience these marvelous whales, but will you get there before something happens to destroy paradise? These are some of the details about where and when gray whales can be seen, and hopefully, touched. But there are other far more intriguing questions yet to be answered. Next time let's try to discover: How this happened, When it started? What do they see in us, and What's the future for these trusting whales?
Email: Woodward@avana.net
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