Unfortunately, it was blankie's last trip - left on the van in San Ignacio.
Saturday, March 28, 2009
San Ignacio Lagoon Whale Watching
From Guererro Negro its another 90 miles to San Ignacio, a beautiful oasis. We stayed at Ignacio Springs Bed & Breakfast.
Then a 2 hour bumpy dirt road to the lagoon.
We stayed at 3 nights at Kuyimita Ecotourism resort, which was a fascinating and wonderful learning experience in leaving no traces while visiting nature.
The kids got amazingly close to whales, including touching them.
Katrina getting visted up close - wow!!!
The camp is in the background in this pic, and the camp director, Sextos, is conducting a tour of their "museum" complete with a whale skeleton.
A common area in camp for dining (great meals!), happy hour, games, and songs.
The kids got amazingly close to whales, including touching them.
Great bonding time!
Katrina getting visted up close - wow!!!
The camp is in the background in this pic, and the camp director, Sextos, is conducting a tour of their "museum" complete with a whale skeleton.
A common area in camp for dining (great meals!), happy hour, games, and songs.
By the end of our stay, we were all experts on gray whales.
Guererro Negro - Laguna Ojo de Liebre
Located in central Baja Mexico, Laguna Ojo de Liebre is the northern most lagoon where many gray whales give birth, starting to arrive in December and leaving by April. The males leave first, so for our mid-March visit we got to see 1 or 2 month old calves with their moms.
On the bumpy 1 hour drive, we passed a salt mine and got a pic of the kids with one of the trucks - wow!
For our first whale watching trip, we got a boat to ourselves - the four of us and the pangaro (boat captain).
On the bumpy 1 hour drive, we passed a salt mine and got a pic of the kids with one of the trucks - wow!
For our first whale watching trip, we got a boat to ourselves - the four of us and the pangaro (boat captain).
Up to three boats can approach a friendly whale. The pangaros work together so that all have a good time. A friendly whale has come up to this boat, while we wait our turn.
Below is a video of a whale approaching our boat. Some whales were friendly and sought out boats for interaction - others simply kept on their way - this one was friendly. Getting to interact and petting whales is legal in Mexico. There are rules in place for boats and people, such as number allowed into the lagoon at one time, parts of the lagoon that allowed boats/interaction, no chasing the whales, no boxing the whales in with multiple boats, etc. Boat captains are trained, but are typically fisherman in the off-whale-watching season.
Below is a video of a whale approaching our boat. Some whales were friendly and sought out boats for interaction - others simply kept on their way - this one was friendly. Getting to interact and petting whales is legal in Mexico. There are rules in place for boats and people, such as number allowed into the lagoon at one time, parts of the lagoon that allowed boats/interaction, no chasing the whales, no boxing the whales in with multiple boats, etc. Boat captains are trained, but are typically fisherman in the off-whale-watching season.
First Night in San Quintin
We stopped the first night in San Quintin, and in the morning enjoyed the beach with so many seashells and sand dollars.
In Mexico, trash burning is common, you can see a fire in the background of this next picture. Below Katrina and Torger is the sand face Tom made using sea shells.
The beach had neat sand dunes and lots of interesting items, including glass and a bone - Torger was fascinated!
Getting There
We had about 12 hours of driving each way, about 500 miles. Much of it was either right on the Pacific ocean or through a beautiful desert in bloom.
Katrina and Torger kept journals of the trip as part of a homework to get class credit while away from school.
Katrina and Torger kept journals of the trip as part of a homework to get class credit while away from school.
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