San Ignacio Lagoon
First Contact! Today we had the amazing privilege of touching gray whales. For almost all of us it was our first encounter with the "friendly" whales of San Ignacio Lagoon on the Pacific Ocean side of the Baja Peninsula. Adult female gray whales with their month-old calves nuzzled up to our boats appearing to want to be touched. And we complied! All hands overboard, we patted and gently slid our hands along their suprisingly smooth skin. Some of us thought their skin felt like rubber, partially inflated innertubes to be exact. As the whales became more curious they rolled on their side and peered up at us. All the while excited cries were heard in the boats: "Look, there it is, under the boat, on the other side, its coming up!", "It just blew in my face", "Oh my gosh, the calf just breathed on me and I felt its warm breath!", "I can't believe how huge the mom is!", "Instead of binoculars for this whale watching we needed reading glasses", "I am overwhelmed with how much the mother trusts to allow her baby to approach us so closely". Indeed today we touched gray whales but more importantly they touched us.
First Contact! Today we had the amazing privilege of touching gray whales. For almost all of us it was our first encounter with the "friendly" whales of San Ignacio Lagoon on the Pacific Ocean side of the Baja Peninsula. Adult female gray whales with their month-old calves nuzzled up to our boats appearing to want to be touched. And we complied! All hands overboard, we patted and gently slid our hands along their suprisingly smooth skin. Some of us thought their skin felt like rubber, partially inflated innertubes to be exact. As the whales became more curious they rolled on their side and peered up at us. All the while excited cries were heard in the boats: "Look, there it is, under the boat, on the other side, its coming up!", "It just blew in my face", "Oh my gosh, the calf just breathed on me and I felt its warm breath!", "I can't believe how huge the mom is!", "Instead of binoculars for this whale watching we needed reading glasses", "I am overwhelmed with how much the mother trusts to allow her baby to approach us so closely". Indeed today we touched gray whales but more importantly they touched us.
