San Ignacio Lagoon & At Sea
Our panga guides were cleverly lured to the ship early this morning with the promise of a sumptuous shipboard breakfast. This plan succeeded as they arrived early to partake in our morning buffet, and we were able to depart early to return to the gray whale lagoon at San Ignacio.
So off we went to test our luck on our third round with the gray whales. As we passed the breakers at the mouth of the lagoon, we could see the distant puffs of cow and calf pairs. As the morning progressed, we had fantastic whale-watching experiences. Photographers were challenged and rewarded with great views of active whales breaching, spy-hopping, whales circling around and swimming below our Zodiacs, rainbows in their blows. Curious calves swam up to our boats rolling about, showing flukes, acting like playful kids. Swimming among the edge of the sandbar and surf, groups of bottlenose dolphins seemed to catch up to our Zodiac to bow-ride, and occasionally we saw them appear to bow-ride the whales.
After a wonderful morning, we returned to the National Geographic Sea Bird ready to move on to our next adventure. We set sail south and the Photography Basics talk begun two days ago, but interrupted by blue whale sightings, was finished, followed by a hands-on session to familiarize everyone with the workings of their cameras. Later in the afternoon, Carlos Navarro’s talk on the history of Baja gave us a great background for a better understanding and appreciation of the region. Our day was topped off with Flip Nicklin’s presentation on “Whales, Our Changing View,” an incredible recounting of stories of Flip’s life with whales, photographing stories for National Geographic, and milestones in our understanding of whales.
Our panga guides were cleverly lured to the ship early this morning with the promise of a sumptuous shipboard breakfast. This plan succeeded as they arrived early to partake in our morning buffet, and we were able to depart early to return to the gray whale lagoon at San Ignacio.
So off we went to test our luck on our third round with the gray whales. As we passed the breakers at the mouth of the lagoon, we could see the distant puffs of cow and calf pairs. As the morning progressed, we had fantastic whale-watching experiences. Photographers were challenged and rewarded with great views of active whales breaching, spy-hopping, whales circling around and swimming below our Zodiacs, rainbows in their blows. Curious calves swam up to our boats rolling about, showing flukes, acting like playful kids. Swimming among the edge of the sandbar and surf, groups of bottlenose dolphins seemed to catch up to our Zodiac to bow-ride, and occasionally we saw them appear to bow-ride the whales.
After a wonderful morning, we returned to the National Geographic Sea Bird ready to move on to our next adventure. We set sail south and the Photography Basics talk begun two days ago, but interrupted by blue whale sightings, was finished, followed by a hands-on session to familiarize everyone with the workings of their cameras. Later in the afternoon, Carlos Navarro’s talk on the history of Baja gave us a great background for a better understanding and appreciation of the region. Our day was topped off with Flip Nicklin’s presentation on “Whales, Our Changing View,” an incredible recounting of stories of Flip’s life with whales, photographing stories for National Geographic, and milestones in our understanding of whales.
