What a Whale of a Time!!

I did know about whales; actually, everyone knows about whales from childhood stories like Moby Dick and Star Trek IV. Growing up in Chicago, I could only see them in books, on TV, or in a museum  Living here in Rosarito Beach, I heard about not just seeing the whales up to close, but getting really close,  actually touching one.  This year, 2025, will be the second time I go south on the peninsula of Baja California to visit these magnificent creatures.

Last year, it took 10 hours by bus to go south to the area called Guerro Negro, in the western part of Baja California Sur.  This year, we had an extra night at Catavina, but first, we

stopped at Mamá Espinoza Restaurante like last year. This is a very unique and famous restaurant here in El Rosario.  That restaurant was started decades ago and was a stop for travelers and more importantly, the off road vehicle community.  You can see hundreds and hundreds of stickers of car, motorcycles, off road, other celebrities  over the years on the walls.  There is a unique museum where you can buy off road clothing, onyx sculptures and others oddities like an old style diving suit. Not the one with a tank, it's like the big brass helmet.  And the food there is excellent. After lunch we continued down south, passing   local farms and then to the cacti, shrubbery, different vegetation.  We got back into civilization in San Quintin and saw the fruit farms for the local juice company, Los Pinos.  Then a few hours later we saw the mountains afar, cactus, and the flying hawks.

 We stopped for the night at Catavina which is in between the Pacific ocean and the Sea of Cortez.  The term, isolation, has a new meaning there.  You see numerous rock and boulders with tall cactus.  There is a small and quaint motel and that was our refuge that night.  I ordered a hamburger, which was very tasty and went to sleep. 

The next morning there was breakfast and then I took photos of some really big cactus. And the only place you can get gas is  from  big plastic containers.  I remember it from last year and took a couple of photos of that while some motorcyclists filled there tank.  I saw a Pemex gas station last year but it was still not working this year.  After that, there was cave painting time.  The Cochimi Indians resided there some time ago. We learned about them a bit with the location vegetation. We climbed  up to find the cave painting and had to crawl down to see the artwork on the ceiling.  Word is that the paintings were before the Cochimi and was created in the 12,000 to 15,000 years ago.  Yes, I have photos.

Then we entered our bus and went the final stretch of 4 hours or so to see the landscape to enter Guerrero Negro.  Finding our motel room and then pizza, we went to sleep early to get ready to meet the whales.

 We woke up early to a bright and chilly morning and went to  the orientation for the whales.  The whales usually arrive in December, have their babies in  January and then go back north in March.  Guerrero Negro is well known for the whales at that time of year and a lot of travelers visit at that time.  Some whales stay at Guerrero Negro while others go down south.  We learned of what they eat like  krill, plankton and more.  Next we got out shuttle bus and went through the small town, went by the Salt Mines, and that was interesting but I didn't attend again this year.  After we stopped at the small harbor, got our life jackets on, we got on our small boats or pangas in Spanish, and then went west.  We saw a couple barges of salt, getting ready to be shipped somewhere overseas, most probably to Japan that needs the salt for numerous industries there.

It was a bumpy and windy ride, but I was used to it and was sitting in the front, looking at the rest of the boat people, protecting their hats from the intense winds of the boat. In the 3 hours and more, we searched for whales. At first we saw the spouts, the glimpse of a tail or a wing.  Soon we found them, or did they find us?  We knew that whales were interested in us so we cautiously went to them.  We cannot chase the whales but if they meet us, then the  fun starts.  The weather was warm, sunny and calm.  We even tried to sing a bit.  Soon we saw them and they greeted us, but not as like last year.  I saw an infant, nearly the length of our small boat, looking at all of us, see what new creatures we were.  The infant followed us and under us.  It's parents were there, making sure that us humans were being kind to their new baby.  There were several whales around us, looking at us.  After that they decided it was time to go back home north. But  the baby smiled to me so I could take it's photo. Some of us in the boat had experience and even touched a whale.  It was a magical moment to touch such a mythical creature.  To see the eye of a whale is beyond words.  This year we were not able to touch, but just be close by and greet them.  Maybe we will see them next year.

Then we went on our magical ride with the ospreys nearby looking over us, the immense salt barges and landed at the harbor.

I have been to several places in Baja California peninsula, on the Pacific and the Sea of Cortez, La Paz to San Felipe, Tijuana to Ensenada.  Thinking about the stories of  Jacques-Yves Cousteau and  John Steinbeck, and remembering the cave painting, the immense cactus, the winding roads of the Baja peninsula, there is so much to explore in life.