San Ignacio Lagoon
It was a beautiful night in Baja California, as it was still dark and starry when Sue gently woke us up for an adventure filled day. The gray whales of San Ignacio Lagoon on the Pacific side of the Baja California peninsula awaited our arrival and we had some traveling to do to see them. Our first stop of the morning was the beautiful oasis town of San Ignacio. Surrounded by lush date palms, brilliant bougainvilleas, and humongous fig trees we enjoyed a morning snack of coffee and locally made empanadas. The cool morning air belied we were in the middle of a parched land. Westward we continued our morning travels and soon the calm waters of San Ignacio Lagoon were in sight.
We loaded into our pangas in anticipation of seeing our ninth marine mammal species of our voyage (and it’s only Wednesday!). Soon there were spouts all around us and the mottled grey backs of cow and calf pairs of Gray whales were sprinkled all about the lagoon. These playful babies seemed to know just how long the human arm can, as well as cannot, reach. Some whales stayed a teasing distance away, while others seemed to charge the boats insisting on a little rub on the rostrum.
A variety of bird life flitted about the lagoon as well, including a western gull that momentarily landed on the back of one of the mother gray whales. Terns circled the sky and crashed beak-first into the waters, sometimes coming up with a small fishy morsel. Brant geese bobbed around in small groups, pecking absentmindedly at bits of eel grass floating out with the tide. At one point a baby gray whale plowed through a line of eel grass in the water, smacking its jaws together and mouthing the grass in its gleaming white baleen.
Watching everyone walk up to the palapa for lunch it was obvious the outing had been special. Everyone wore smiles that stretched from ear to ear and slightly beyond. An animated chatter filled the room as stories of cavorting baby whales, soakings with whale snot and whales playing hide-and-seek with the pangas were told and re-told.
The day was long, but the whales of San Ignacio were a highlight we will not soon forget.
To view video footage from today's expedition, click here.
