San Ignacio Lagoon, Baja California: A Touch of Gray
For many of us on board the National Geographic Sea Bird a touch of gray has crept into our living as the years have become filled with life’s experiences. There is no way around it, with time gray finds its way into our physical as well as mental state. No need to fight or admonish the inevitable, just hone your sense of humor, keep your mind open to the possibilities, and roll with the punches.
Every now and then an experience in life offers up the chance to return to child-like exuberance, softening the lines between stoic adulthood and the giddy wonder and amazement of youth. Today was just such an opportunity, and who among us could resist a return to yesteryear while being so close to Baja California gray whales? A close up encounter with an animal so much larger than ourselves has that effect on all of us.
Mother gray whales surrounded our Zodiacs, literally lifting this year’s calves on their enormous bodies so that they could closely inspect the raucous creatures inhabiting those strange, black floating objects above them. An experience with an animal in the wild is always a privilege, but to be the abject source of a young whale’s total attention is indescribable. Looking into the eye of a whale and seeing intense curiosity mirrored back leaves no doubt in any of our minds that these baby gray whales are just as interested in us as we are in them. Just who is watching whom here in San Ignacio Lagoon?
Today, each of us in our own way experienced our own touch of gray, and we will long cherish and remember the impact in our living. Gray whales have twice been brought to the brink of extinction in recent times at the hands of human whalers, but continue to reach out now to bridge the gap between species. A touch of gray is not only a gift, but also a lesson and a responsibility to pay forward.
