B r i e fcas e E x c u r sions
It Really Is a
Whale of a
ale
Pam Ellis and Peggy Edwards
S
hortly after our aborted first attempt to
land on the dirt airstrip, coming to a stop
at the hut functioning as a terminal, the
pilot said, “Welcome to nowhere.” We
looked around and agreed with his assessment. Desert stretched as far as we could
see and the dirt road where the ancient
school bus waited looked to be maintained by the same
crew with the same frequency.
So where was the ocean? We’d flown on the small plane
to visit San Ignacio Lagoon, one of three such bodies of
water in Baja California used as “nurseries” by Pacific gray
whales. After many years of watching the annual migration off the Pacific coasts of Canada, the United States,
and Mexico, we were in search of what was promised to
56 Summer 2013
be a chance to kiss a whale. Really? Kissing a forty-to-fiftyfoot, thirty-to-forty-ton leviathan with a calf in tow? And,
even if true, how safe was it even to touch such a creature
from a small boat? Guess we’d find out.
Off the beaten track is an understatement for San Ignacio
Lagoon, two hours from the nearest town with pavement
covering only half the distance. This lagoon is part of El
Vizcaíno Biosphere Reserve, Latin America’s largest wildlife sanctuary. This is the last undeveloped nursery and
breeding ground in the world for the Pacific gray whale.
Operative word here is undeveloped.
However, thirty minutes after leaving the airstrip, when
our little yellow school bus pulled into Baja Ecotours’
Campo Cortez, we were pleasantly surprised. A solar-
and wind-powered settlement at the edge of an estuary
leading to the lagoon, it was clear that these two natural
“fuels” were plentiful. Fourteen small cabins lined the
water’s edge, along with a large dining building, kitchen,
and, located in a spot quite removed from camp, four marine-style latrines with flushing toilets. Dozens of shorebirds and a nesting pair of ospreys greeted us.
And then it was time to head to San Ignacio Lagoon
and the whales. Bundling up against the cold wind,
we grabbed life jackets and headed to the pangas, small
boats used by the locals who guide visitors during the
January to April whale season and fish the remainder of
the year. After ten minutes skimming across the waves, we
reached the ten-square-mile “observation area,” the only
part of the lagoon where people are allowed to interact
with the whales.
The whale census is taken in the lagoon on calm days,
and while it is not an exact science, the relative numbers
reflect the birth and mating cycle. In early January 2013,
73 adults and 40 calves were counted, in the middle of
February 2013 the count was 224 mothers and calves
with 108 solo whales, and in early March, census takers counted 244 mothers and calves and 168 solo whales
in the observation area. As late as mid-April, more than
After a two-hour flight on a chartered aircraft, travelers arrive at the remote
San Ignacio Lagoon on the Baja Ecotours’ bus.
100 whales were still in the lagoon. Pregnant females
arrive earliest and depart with their calves much later in
the season.
During our stay at the lagoon, we had the opportunity to
visit the observation area six times, each for ninety minutes. The trips were completely different—the weather,
the sea, and the contact with the whales. So, did we kiss a
whale? Yes. We also scrubbed the barnacles off the heads
and backs of the mother whales and rubbed the undersides and mouths of the calves when they opened up to
show us baleen and tongues.
How could this be? These huge creatures seem so impervious to whale watchers during the annual 9,000 to 14,000
mile round-trip, believed to be the longest migration of
any mammal. They are on a mission to get from the feeding grounds of the northern Pacific and Bering Sea in
time to give birth in the warm, safe, shallow waters of
Baja California. On the return trip, they show the same
focus as they steer their calves north avoiding orcas and
the dangers imposed by humans.
Once in the lagoon, many of the mother and calf pairs
approach the pangas to interact. The locals call these the
“friendlies.” The guides do not chase the whales, but spotThe cabins at the solar eco-lodge overlook the San Ignacio Lagoon.
All photos by Pam Ellis
THE BAR ASSOCIATION OF SAN FRANCISCO SAN FRANCISCO ATTORNEY 57
ting a pair, the boats stop to see if the whales will approach. If they do, it becomes, as one guide said, “a water
sport.” Campo Cortez sends out a packing list with rain
pants and jackets listed as highly recommended. Once
there, we quickly figured out this attire was not for the
weather but to keep semidry when being showered over
and over by salt water sprayed through the blowholes of a
huge gray whale.
The toys for this play are simple. A plastic jug cut open
to scoop up water is used to attract the whales and then
to splash them. The return move by the whale is usually a
large exhale of air and water or a splash from a pectoral fin
or fluke. Another toy is the bush end of a broom. These
are used to scrub the barnacles that attach to the older
whales. The next move from mom is often to come under
the boat and use the bottom of the panga to scratch off
more of these barnacles. This is only scary when you see
it happen to another boat as it is lifted quite out of the
Travelers enjoy twice-daily whale watching trips with local guides.
58 Summer 2013
water. When you are on the back of a whale, it’s more like
a theme park ride.
The whales choose the level of interaction with people in
the lagoon. They may engage for a period and then leave
or they may stay and play until the humans are exhausted
or time runs out. At one point, our panga was surrounded
by four mother and calf pairs – eight whales surrounding
us! But the adults were just as gentle with our twenty-twofoot skiff as they were with their calves.
These play times are on the clock. Interaction with the
whales in this lagoon is tightly regulated. The nine camps
in this lagoon are allowed two ninety-minute trips to the
observation area each day and only sixteen pangas are allowed in that area at any one time. The guides themselves
have set tighter regulations governing their work than the
government has imposed.
The lagoon offers unique opportunities to interact with the gray whales that use the lagoon as a nursery. Visitors play with and clean barnacles off the whales—in
return the whales move close enough for an occasional kiss.
In this Baja lagoon, the whales seem to understand that
they are safe from humans, but this playful behavior serves
a purpose. The mothers and their calves remain long after
the males and single females have departed to head north.
During these months, calves are nursing, gaining seventyfive pounds each day, and learning to jump, splash, dive,
turn sharply, blow bubble blasts of air—all skills that may
save them later from orcas. But, for now, it serves as play.
For humans, it is pure play. It is almost as much fun to
watch the people interacting with the whales as it is to
watch the whales themselves. It is breathtaking to catch
the looks of unbridled joy and awe when people stop to
realize that they are playing with a forty-ton whale and
her calf. The people that come to this isolated spot are
travelers, not tourists. They are here to experience, not to
observe. This is a very different style of whale watching.
Footnote from Peggy:
As I write this, some weeks later, sitting on a balcony overlooking the Pacific, I spot the distant telltale blows of Pacific gray whales. Do I know them?
Business partners Pam Ellis and Peggy Edwards developed
Briefcase Excursions after too many airport to hotel to conference center to hotel to airport trips. They decided to break the
cycle and add a day or two of exploring for their mental and
physical well being.
THE BAR ASSOCIATION OF SAN FRANCISCO SAN FRANCISCO ATTORNEY 59