Whale Watching
I am not risking the car on any more wild roads for now so need to experience some other options to keep myself amused if I can’t surf as much as I would like to.
Guerrero Negro is one of the best places in the world to see the migration of thousands of Grey Whales who travel south from the Baring Sea to give birth in the warm waters of Baja’s Laguna Oja de Liebre. The dark patches in this picture are the areas the females and young travel through, which they do safely because the older whales guard the entrance to the lagoon keeping the orcas or killer whales at bay, who are waiting outside to attack the young as they emmerge.
Being from Wales and having worn a whale tail shaped pendant around my neck for years it seemed appropriate that I should investigate further.
Even though I have already seen a few whales from the road and beaches on my way down, I was told this experience is pretty special so having stayed an extra night I decide to check it out and am up at 7am to go out to sea in a small boat organised by Mario’s Tours(www.mariostours.com) It is actually an hour earlier than I thought having travelled forward through a time zone, without realising for a day.
The pictures speak from this three hour trip speak for themselves, but having gone to sea in a fibreglass vessel little bigger than a rowing boat I’m immediately thinking the immortal line from Jaws “We’re going to need a bigger boat!” when the first of the 17 metre long 45 ton adult leviathans pops up next to us.
Despite Grey Whales almost being hunted to extinction, (Somebody actually claimed to have caught the last one in 1933, and was the reason for the establishment of the international whaling commission) the whales are not threatened by our boats. I have the GoPro which is straight over the side as soon as they come close. I would have got better shots if I could but wasn’t allowed to jump in with them.
They stay even longer when women and children are on board because they are as curious about us as we are about them. Something else I noticed is that they actually have nostrils as opposed to blowhole like a dolphin, which I never knew. They also have whiskers like a sea lion.
The one you see poking out the water here is a newborn who was so curious that while it’s mother looked on it stuck its head up alongside the litle boat and actually allowed me and everybody else on the boat to stroke his nose.
How cool was that! Amazing morning which lifted my spirits after a trying few days
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