Canal de Ballenas
The pre-dawn sea was liquid gold, a perfectly placid mirror of the shades of sunrise. We floated east in quiet expectation. A flash of green so electrifying as to almost crackle announced the sun’s arrival above the horizon and the beginning of an extraordinary day.
We turned north and had little wait before the first blow was sighted. Two whales glided so leisurely that they appeared to hang at the surface. To our surprise they were fin whales breathing and diving in apparent slow motion. We thought perhaps they were slumbering but when we realized there were three whales and when one surfaced on its side, we began to wonder whether we were seeing a breeding trio. Before long we had four whales closely associated in mysterious long, slow surfacing.
We decided to try to investigate them more closely. In an experiment never-before-attempted on this ship, a Zodiac was dispatched to give our undersea specialist, Iliana Ortega, and National Geographic guest lecturer, Soames Summerhays, a chance to get close to the fin whales and attempt to film them underwater. And though they managed to swim within a few feet of the whales, the water was too murky to allow any filming.
But back at the ship, two other fin whales surfaced right alongside, exhibiting the same, slow and leisurely behavior. They circled the ship and turned to dive right outside the dining room windows during breakfast.
This brought everyone back on deck just in time to hear them surface alongside the bow. The water was so clear that we could see them dive down and glide underwater. Their subtle white markings were clearly turquoise to our view and slowly, slowly, they rose toward the surface, becoming ever more clear until finally, up the whales rose to blow. Then down they went again so close to the ship that we could see them fully underwater, their complete lengths undulating with the slightest movement of tail flukes.
So breathtaking was the view that we were silent on the bow. The stillness of the water and the effortless grace of the whales seemed to entrance us with peacefulness.
Finally, after several hours, we pulled slowly away and headed south. Fin whale blows skirted the horizon but we steadily made our way until a surge of small blows suddenly appeared at the surface. We had to steer around two fin whales to near a group of short-finned pilot whales steaming in our direction.
We soon realized that this pod of small and dark toothed whales was interested in the fin whales. They swam right by us, rapidly breathing and diving while ahead of us the fin whales picked up their speed. A small group of the pilot whales approached the fin whales closely and then remarkably, all of the animals dove and the surface became quiet.
We cruised watchfully until the pilot whales began to come to the surface, each of the few dozen animals blowing suddenly like popcorn popping around us. The fin whales surfaced in equally spectacular fashion, surging powerfully and blowing explosively. They seemed on the defensive, which was quite unexpected. Was it possible that pilot whales would hunt such prey? There is no record of any such behavior.
We followed attentively, looking for clues about what might be going on beneath the surface. Repeatedly, the whales all dove and the fin whales came up explosively, one even slapped its tail fluke on the water in a warning blow. At times, the pilot whales came up all around us – so close to the bow that we could see them in clear detail.
The whales displayed no answers for us and eventually the chase ended. The fin whales swam off and the pilot whales turned away. It, whatever it was, was over and we were left to wonder.
We cruised south through the Canal de Ballenas as the prevailing northwesterlies began to pick up. With the wind mostly at our back, we had an easy ride as Jack Swenson gave us a talk about whales, which included a digital photo album of the morning’s whale watching.
Afternoon found us at Bahia Alacran, a white sandy beach where we went ashore to stretch our legs and have a look at what the peninsula had to offer. There we walked the territory where ocotillo of the north meets its cousin, Palo Adan of the south. We also spied a red diamond rattlesnake, saw a scree slope draped with elephant trees, and walked on a fossil-laden Pleistocene seabed.
As the sun began to set upon this magnificent place where the desert meets the sea, we completed our full day of the best that Baja has to offer.
