San Ignacio Lagoon
Let’s begin with a few words from our guests: A perfect day, I loved every minute! I really didn’t understand the wonder of these whales until I witnessed one swim up to my boat… just because she wanted to. I could hardly believe it.
Today we made a remarkable overland expedition to San Ignacio lagoon and the entire day was filled with the sights and scenes of this spectacular part of the Baja California Peninsula. Early this morning, our fleet of vans traveled from Santa Rosalia up the steep curvy roads to the red lava fields dotted with elephant trees near the Tres Virgenes mountains. Last September’s rains have precipitated a beautiful bloom of desert wildflowers, and magenta spikes of desert lupine lined the road. After a stop in the charming shady square of the mission town San Ignacio, we proceeded westward through cardon cactus forest and salt flats to the sandy shores of San Ignacio lagoon. This lagoon is in the middle of the three breeding and calving lagoons that the California gray whales frequent during their yearly migrations from their arctic feeding grounds to the Pacific coast of Baja California.
After a briefing at the Kuyima camp, we traded the fleet of vans for a fleet of swift and sturdy pangas, those wonderful and ubiquitous boats used by the fishermen in this part of Mexico. Our skilled pangeros brought us swiftly past mudflats strewn with feeding Brants and shorebirds far out into the lagoon, where against the backdrop of Pacific Ocean breakers, we began to see spouts and backs and heads and tails of gray whales. To our delight, some of the mother whales allowed their curious now nearly two-month old youngsters to swim right up to the boats, and for many, the special experience of touching the whales. The joy and mystery of this friendly interaction with a species so different than our own lends some tangible magic to this very splendid day.
Let’s begin with a few words from our guests: A perfect day, I loved every minute! I really didn’t understand the wonder of these whales until I witnessed one swim up to my boat… just because she wanted to. I could hardly believe it.
Today we made a remarkable overland expedition to San Ignacio lagoon and the entire day was filled with the sights and scenes of this spectacular part of the Baja California Peninsula. Early this morning, our fleet of vans traveled from Santa Rosalia up the steep curvy roads to the red lava fields dotted with elephant trees near the Tres Virgenes mountains. Last September’s rains have precipitated a beautiful bloom of desert wildflowers, and magenta spikes of desert lupine lined the road. After a stop in the charming shady square of the mission town San Ignacio, we proceeded westward through cardon cactus forest and salt flats to the sandy shores of San Ignacio lagoon. This lagoon is in the middle of the three breeding and calving lagoons that the California gray whales frequent during their yearly migrations from their arctic feeding grounds to the Pacific coast of Baja California.
After a briefing at the Kuyima camp, we traded the fleet of vans for a fleet of swift and sturdy pangas, those wonderful and ubiquitous boats used by the fishermen in this part of Mexico. Our skilled pangeros brought us swiftly past mudflats strewn with feeding Brants and shorebirds far out into the lagoon, where against the backdrop of Pacific Ocean breakers, we began to see spouts and backs and heads and tails of gray whales. To our delight, some of the mother whales allowed their curious now nearly two-month old youngsters to swim right up to the boats, and for many, the special experience of touching the whales. The joy and mystery of this friendly interaction with a species so different than our own lends some tangible magic to this very splendid day.
