Santa Rosalia and San Ignacio Lagoon
This morning we had a wake up call from Ralph at 5:45am. We were already docked at the town called Santa Rosalia, famous for copper mining. Leaving the ship at 7:00am our adventure started as we boarded two buses that would take us to the town of San Ignacio. Once we arrived in town we would transfer to vans that would transport us on a two-hour ride on a dirt road to “Kuyima” the name of the whale watching camp. Kuyima is a native Indian name for gray whales which means “dancers on the clouds” and this is the place where our day’s highlight activity would start.
It is hard not to mention that the ride on the washboard road was quite a challenge, but once we were out there on the pangas amidst the gray whales those thoughts had vanished. It is just such an amazing and magnificent experience to see these wild, huge animals behaving so friendly and being so gentle. There were at least 50 pairs of moms and calves in the lagoon and many of them wanted to make contact with us. We all had incredibly close looks at them as they kept coming closer to the boats. We watched them swimming under the pangas and sticking their heads out of the water to have a better view of what is going on around them, a behavior known as spyhopping. Some of the babies seemed so happy that they were leaping out of the water. Being in a place like San Ignacio Lagoon surrounded by gray whales is a magical thing!
This morning we had a wake up call from Ralph at 5:45am. We were already docked at the town called Santa Rosalia, famous for copper mining. Leaving the ship at 7:00am our adventure started as we boarded two buses that would take us to the town of San Ignacio. Once we arrived in town we would transfer to vans that would transport us on a two-hour ride on a dirt road to “Kuyima” the name of the whale watching camp. Kuyima is a native Indian name for gray whales which means “dancers on the clouds” and this is the place where our day’s highlight activity would start.
It is hard not to mention that the ride on the washboard road was quite a challenge, but once we were out there on the pangas amidst the gray whales those thoughts had vanished. It is just such an amazing and magnificent experience to see these wild, huge animals behaving so friendly and being so gentle. There were at least 50 pairs of moms and calves in the lagoon and many of them wanted to make contact with us. We all had incredibly close looks at them as they kept coming closer to the boats. We watched them swimming under the pangas and sticking their heads out of the water to have a better view of what is going on around them, a behavior known as spyhopping. Some of the babies seemed so happy that they were leaping out of the water. Being in a place like San Ignacio Lagoon surrounded by gray whales is a magical thing!
