Sunday, January 28, 2007

Las Ballenas Gris (The Grey Whales)

Thursday we rolled into Guerrero Negro, which is on the west coast in northern Baja California Sur. After having a quick lunch, we drove out to Laguna Ojo de Liebre, which is down a 20 mile dirt road.

Laguna Ojo de Liebre is a protected area and a World Heritage site, and each year several thousand Grey Whales make their way down from Alaska to calve and mate.

One of the biggest surprises throughout the trip is the lack of tourists in most of the places we’ve visited on the peninsula. Ojo de Liebre was no exception. At the edge of the lagoon sits a nice little restaurant with an outdoor dining area facing the water. Though there was seating for probably 100 people, there were only five or six visitors when we arrived. Since there were so few people, we were able to charter a panga for just the two of us and a guide. Except at the very end of the boat ride, we were the only people on the entire lagoon.

The tide was out when we set off in the boat, so the first part of the trip involved wading out about 50 feet to the panga. The water was fairly warm but probably a bit too chilly for swimming in.

As we rode the boat to the primary whale-watching area, we passed some sea lions and a school of porpoises. The porpoises were beautiful, playful, and larger than I expected. One rode our bow wake for a little while.

Porpoises

We picked a perfect day to go out, as the weather was cool but not cold, and the air was so still that much of the lagoon looked like a sheet of glass.

Very soon after we started spotting whale spouts on the horizon we were actually among them. Most of the whales we saw had a calf with them. Apparently the pregnant females arrive earlier than the other whales. I guess that most of the calves we saw were only a few weeks old.

Blow

The whales were incredibly tolerant of the boat, especially considering they were caring for newborns. There were a few times we felt guilty as it became obvious that we were badgering a single whale for to long. Overall though our guide was very respectful of the whales and didn’t do anything that would be considered too aggressive or inflammatory.

Tail

Sometimes the whales definitely showed a curiosity about us. You could see them peering at us through the murky water as they swam by, and sometimes they would roll on the surface and stare at us. There was also some spy-hopping going on, which seemed pretty incredible to me considering their vast size and the shallowness of the lagoon.

Spyhopping

Spyhopping

The highlight of the day was when a mother and calf swam directly below the bow of the boat, just a few feet below us. Most of the pictures didn’t really come out well since I was jumping around in excitement. Apparently Robin and I both had the urge to jump in with the whales at that point.

Fly-by

Fly-by

More photos can be seen here.

These words and pictures don’t do the experience justice. It was simply incredible. It’s a tragedy that these whales are still being hunted in certain parts of the world.

3 Comments:

Blogger CndnKimmie said...

Oh my gosh...I would be totally freaked to be this close but then again this is what its all about eh? I should really sign my name envy!
Keep em comin...safe journeys you two!

February 3, 2007 at 9:43 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Oh my goodness. That is just incredible.

April 20, 2007 at 7:21 PM  
Blogger Glenn Ingersoll said...

I'm in the process of booking a few days at a tent camp (Kuyima) at San Ignacio Lagoon. But we may stop at Ojo de Liebre also. This will be next March. We will fly into Loreto, I think, and rent a car. Still thinking & planning. Lovely pics! (I followed a Thorn Tree post here.)

October 24, 2007 at 1:13 PM  

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