Laguna San Ignacio, Baja California
We boarded the buses at sunrise in the small town of Santa Rosalia and headed off to cross the peninsula to spend the day at Laguna San Ignacio. As we wove our way through fields of cardons and organ pipe cactus, we passed the active volcanoes of Las Tres Virgenes. We entered the pueblo of San Ignacio and this is where the journey got interesting. After a quick coffee and pastry break, we boarded local vans to travel the bumpy but scenic sixty kilometer journey down to the lagoon of the gray whales.
San Ignacio Lagoon is one of the major gray whale breeding areas, and after boarding our local “panga” boats, we were quickly in amongst the whales. Even though it is fairly late in the season, we were surrounded by cow-calf pairs. It was amazing to see the close bond between mom and calf and to get close up and personal views of their interactions. “Friendly whales” were first documented in the mid-1970’s in San Ignacio lagoon, and most of us were able to experience this phenomenon personally. As we floated along with the ebbing tide, young whales approached our pangas and even came within touching distance. Many lifted their heads out of the water and allowed themselves to be scratched by the ever-willing whale watchers. Human and “ballena” were eye to eye, and we would even have to duck as the whales exhaled so as not to get blasted by the condensation. We observed the barnacles and whale “lice” on the grays, and they seemed to enjoy a good scratching at some of the areas most plagued with these parasites. Some of us even scratched at the throat pleats on the underside of the jaw, and were rewarded with the whales expanding these for further access. This is interesting behavior we had just discussed with a feeding Bryde’s whale seen the day before, and gray whales would usually only do it on their feeding grounds in the arctic.
Some of the pangas continued to drift out with the current and were treated to an unreal acrobatic display. Some calves “breached,” or leapt clear out of the water, while one group put on a repeated display of spy-hopping. This is when the whales “stand” on their flukes and lift a large portion of their heads out of the water. Two adults did this time after time, and were joined by a few calves for a twenty minute display of whale antics. It was sensory overload as action was all around us and we were happy and lucky observers to this display.
We boarded the buses at sunrise in the small town of Santa Rosalia and headed off to cross the peninsula to spend the day at Laguna San Ignacio. As we wove our way through fields of cardons and organ pipe cactus, we passed the active volcanoes of Las Tres Virgenes. We entered the pueblo of San Ignacio and this is where the journey got interesting. After a quick coffee and pastry break, we boarded local vans to travel the bumpy but scenic sixty kilometer journey down to the lagoon of the gray whales.
San Ignacio Lagoon is one of the major gray whale breeding areas, and after boarding our local “panga” boats, we were quickly in amongst the whales. Even though it is fairly late in the season, we were surrounded by cow-calf pairs. It was amazing to see the close bond between mom and calf and to get close up and personal views of their interactions. “Friendly whales” were first documented in the mid-1970’s in San Ignacio lagoon, and most of us were able to experience this phenomenon personally. As we floated along with the ebbing tide, young whales approached our pangas and even came within touching distance. Many lifted their heads out of the water and allowed themselves to be scratched by the ever-willing whale watchers. Human and “ballena” were eye to eye, and we would even have to duck as the whales exhaled so as not to get blasted by the condensation. We observed the barnacles and whale “lice” on the grays, and they seemed to enjoy a good scratching at some of the areas most plagued with these parasites. Some of us even scratched at the throat pleats on the underside of the jaw, and were rewarded with the whales expanding these for further access. This is interesting behavior we had just discussed with a feeding Bryde’s whale seen the day before, and gray whales would usually only do it on their feeding grounds in the arctic.
Some of the pangas continued to drift out with the current and were treated to an unreal acrobatic display. Some calves “breached,” or leapt clear out of the water, while one group put on a repeated display of spy-hopping. This is when the whales “stand” on their flukes and lift a large portion of their heads out of the water. Two adults did this time after time, and were joined by a few calves for a twenty minute display of whale antics. It was sensory overload as action was all around us and we were happy and lucky observers to this display.
