Re: Stories of your leisurely travels
This is a blog I wrote after our visit to Baja. Very long I am afraid.
On the 8th of April 2009 my son and I arrived in San Diego on a proposed whale watching trip aboard a fishing boat called “The Spirit of Adventure”. We arrived the day before the trip in order to be sure that our luggage came with us on the trip and was not lost in transit. The thought of two weeks at sea with no clean pants was just not acceptable.
As we had a day to spare we bought tickets for the Trolley Bus tour of the city which enabled us to see the whole of San Diego, hopping on and off wherever we felt like it. This was a great relaxing way to see the city after a long flight from the UK.
Our group was to led by Mark Carwardine, an eminent Zoologist and expert on cetaceans, and broadcaster, with whom my son had been to Antartcia previously. He has been going to Baja for the last twenty five years and is still as thrilled as the rest of us with all our wildlife encounters, his enthusiasm is extremely infectious and he is a very unassuming and approachable individual. It is certainly thanks to him that the trip was so very enjoyable and informative
his enthusiasm is extremely infectious and he is a very unassuming and approachable individual. It is certainly thanks to him that the trip was so very enjoyable and informative.
The final night saw the most marvellous sunset of the whole trip, and Dean served us up a wonderful Prime Rib Roast accompanied with jugs of Margaritas. What more could anyone want. Good company, good food and a trip of a lifetime?
The following day we met our fellow travellers for brunch in a quayside restaurant, then spent a few hours again sightseeing before boarding the fishing boat at 6 p.m. ready for the 10 p.m. sailing on the tide. There were just 14 extremely tiny cabins, one could only stand side by side by the bunks, so we then realised why we had been told not to bring suitcases… However, we managed to stow away our clothes into the two small drawers under the bottom bunk (or should I call it, my coffin, because that was what it seemed like?). The engine was so noisy that conversation in the cabin was totally impossible, how on earth would we manage to sleep for the next two weeks?
We had been warned that the first 2-3 days might be a little rough and this worried me considerably before we set off. Oh boy, they were not wrong. It was very rough indeed, for about four days and for the first couple of days the numbers of our party sitting down for meals was less than half (about ten of us). However, despite my worries I consumed all meals, kept them down, and became very adept at pouring coffee whilst at an alarming angle and conquered walking like an old sea-dog. I can’t say I saw much of my son during that time (he must take after his father), ha ha, the old gal is a born sailor!! It was a challenge trying to have a shower one handed, whilst hanging on for dear life with the other, as was trying to stand on one leg to put on one’s pants whilst being thrown about!!
The food was prepared in a tiny galley by Dean who served up some wonderful meals, all freshly cooked three times a day, and the most scrumptious hot muffins mid morning. Shock, horror, I put on half a stone thanks to his wonderful cooking. He was a culinary genius, with a great sense of humour, forever laughing despite working such long hours.
We sailed down the Pacific Coast of Baja California, Mexico, seeing Harbour and Elephant Seal colonies on the way until we reached the San Ignacio Lagoon, which is one of the main breeding grounds for Gray Whales where we spent three days. Three local fishermen came out in their pangas (22 ft fishing boats with outboard motors) which held eight people. Several trips were taken in skiffs to uninhabited islands . On one, there appeared to be clam shells laying on the rocks but in actual fact they were 5 million year old fossils. They looked so fresh one would have thought you could bend down and pick them up.
We experienced three absolutely incredible days with the female grays and their calves all around us. The males had already begun their migration to the Arctic. The females were actually pushing their young up to our boats and bumping the boats as they swam underneath and rubbed their backs on the hull. The young poked their heads out of the water to be scratched and rolled over to have their stomachs rubbed. The harder you rubbed them the more they liked it, we even put our hands in their mouths to feel the baleen (instead of teeth). It was amazing that such enormous mammals should actually seek our attention. If we saw whales in the distance all we had to do was lean over the side of the boat and slap the water vigorously they would then head in our direction. Now I really can say that I am “an old slapper”. It is a sad thought that these female greys and their young are due to start their migration north any time at all and have to run the gauntlet of Orcas off the Californian coast who prey on the young calves, many of whom never make it.
After this wonderful experience we travelled to Magdalena Bay to encounter Blue and fin whales with their calves – the largest creatures on the planet.
The weather continued to be very rough, so Mike our skipper found a quiet bay for those who wanted to swim and snorkel and we anchored up for a night of gentle rocking and a little less engine noise, bliss.
One evening we experienced the magical sight of luminescence of the sea when it seemed like we were sailing through milk and despite being a black black night we could see the multitude of fish glowing in the water as they swam around the boat. Numerous brown pelicans were taking advantage of all of these visual fish.
At the southern tip of Baja on the Gorda Bank, we came across about a dozen hump back whales and spent a magical nine and a half hours with them. It transpired that it was one female being pursued by males. They just accepted our boat as one of “their gang” and when a large group of pilot whales appeared on the scene near the boat, the hump backs chased them away. We constantly were sprayed with ‘spit’ from their blow holes and the noise they made was just like elephants trumpeting, such a roar.
We saw hundreds of dolphins, long-beaked, short-beaked, common, Risso’s, bottlenose and Pacific white-sided. These spent many hours bow-riding or wake riding our boat. It was wonderful to see dolphins coming from all directions, just to join in the fun. Oh boy, could they motor!
The snorkelers in the group saw wonderfully coloured fish and swam with Guadalupe fur seals, which in 1954 were thought to be extinct due to decimation for the fur trade. However, the colony is gradually increasing through conservation by the Mexican government, although still on the endangered list. On the rocks above we saw Magnificent Frigate Birds and Blue Footed Boobies and hundreds of brown Pelicans.
The final evening really was show time, we were surrounded by literally thousands of Mobula (a type of ray) which it would appear have ambitions to evolve into birds. They would suddenly leap out of the sea, flap furiously half a dozen times and then hit the water with an almighty slap. These creatures were grey above and white underneath – although why they weren’t red from all the belly-flops is a mystery. They were impossible to photograph because of the sheer numbers and one could never guess where they would erupt out of the water, so I was never quick enough on the trigger to capture one on camera.
The final night saw the most marvellous sunset of the whole trip, and Dean served us up a wonderful Prime Rib Roast accompanied with jugs of Margaritas. What more could anyone want. Good company, good food and a trip of a lifetime?
We disembarked from the Sprit of Adventure at Cabot St Lucas, Mexico for our flight back to San Diego. Those of us who were not leaving there until the following day met up for a final lovely Italian meal in the evening sunshine before heading back to UK reality.