San Ignacio Lagoon
We awake on a flat calm sea. It’s hard to imagine that we are in the Pacific Ocean and not on a lake somewhere. It is our second morning anchored outside San Ignacio Lagoon. Again, we are surrounded by fog, yet this morning our pangeros appear out of the mists before breakfast and our plans proceed on schedule.
The fog graciously lightens and the sea allows us to make a speedy run in our Zodiac’s for a final morning set of visits to the gray whale calving grounds of San Ignacio Lagoon. Like yesterday, there are many cow/calf pairs to be seen. The pangeros and naturalists slowly guide our boats towards the blows and flukes and spy hopping ahead of us. After a while, we find ourselves quite literally surrounded by cow/calf pairs. At one point we observe as many as sixteen whales around us. It is awesome to watch these incredibly gentle animals swim around us, coming ever closer.
As the morning unfolds, we find ourselves with not one, but two friendly cow calf pairs. The babies roll over their mothers’ backs, looking quite directly at us, then, they swim closer, bumping, rubbing, and pushing against the Zodiacs. The interest is mutual as we watch them. The mothers and calves appear to remain in constant contact. We could look down and see multiple whales hanging just below our Zodiac, occasionally lifting the boat slightly beneath our feet, sometimes surprising, always gentle. There are more bubble blasts and tail splashing, and eager observers are often met with a strong blast of moist whale breath. Our naturalist likened the experience to playing with puppies – romping around and returning to us over and over for a rub on the head.
So what does it feel like to touch a gray whale? Something like a cold, wet, ripe eggplant. With isolated stiff hairs, barnacles and whale lice to break up the smooth, cool surface. As they roll around against the Zodiacs we are able to see and touch the slits of their throat pleats and run our hands along their backs. Wow!
Everyone was delighted. Laughing and shouting could be heard from other Zodiacs. Any trace of fog had lifted as our spirits soared.
As one of our guests later said, “It’s mind boggling that these creatures want to have human contact and that they come to meet us. To see the mothers lift their calves up to us. They live in a completely different world than us, a world we could never understand, and the only place we can meet is at the surface. It’s unlike any other wild animal.”
Now we head south on fair seas to the tip of the Baja peninsula. But tonight, we will dream of our amazing day with the whales.
We awake on a flat calm sea. It’s hard to imagine that we are in the Pacific Ocean and not on a lake somewhere. It is our second morning anchored outside San Ignacio Lagoon. Again, we are surrounded by fog, yet this morning our pangeros appear out of the mists before breakfast and our plans proceed on schedule.
The fog graciously lightens and the sea allows us to make a speedy run in our Zodiac’s for a final morning set of visits to the gray whale calving grounds of San Ignacio Lagoon. Like yesterday, there are many cow/calf pairs to be seen. The pangeros and naturalists slowly guide our boats towards the blows and flukes and spy hopping ahead of us. After a while, we find ourselves quite literally surrounded by cow/calf pairs. At one point we observe as many as sixteen whales around us. It is awesome to watch these incredibly gentle animals swim around us, coming ever closer.
As the morning unfolds, we find ourselves with not one, but two friendly cow calf pairs. The babies roll over their mothers’ backs, looking quite directly at us, then, they swim closer, bumping, rubbing, and pushing against the Zodiacs. The interest is mutual as we watch them. The mothers and calves appear to remain in constant contact. We could look down and see multiple whales hanging just below our Zodiac, occasionally lifting the boat slightly beneath our feet, sometimes surprising, always gentle. There are more bubble blasts and tail splashing, and eager observers are often met with a strong blast of moist whale breath. Our naturalist likened the experience to playing with puppies – romping around and returning to us over and over for a rub on the head.
So what does it feel like to touch a gray whale? Something like a cold, wet, ripe eggplant. With isolated stiff hairs, barnacles and whale lice to break up the smooth, cool surface. As they roll around against the Zodiacs we are able to see and touch the slits of their throat pleats and run our hands along their backs. Wow!
Everyone was delighted. Laughing and shouting could be heard from other Zodiacs. Any trace of fog had lifted as our spirits soared.
As one of our guests later said, “It’s mind boggling that these creatures want to have human contact and that they come to meet us. To see the mothers lift their calves up to us. They live in a completely different world than us, a world we could never understand, and the only place we can meet is at the surface. It’s unlike any other wild animal.”
Now we head south on fair seas to the tip of the Baja peninsula. But tonight, we will dream of our amazing day with the whales.
