Date:         Sun, 17 Mar 2013 05:28:09 -0700
Reply-To:     mark drillock <mdrillock@COX.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         mark drillock <mdrillock@COX.NET>
Subject:      Re: Baja Whale 2013 trip report, 10 vans... part 3...Thar be
              Whales!
In-Reply-To:  <51446DF7.3050708@cox.net>
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http://images.thesamba.com/vw/gallery/pix/1035869.jpg

The 2nd morning at the Bay of LA was just as splendid as the first. I
was tempted to announce we would be staying another day but this was a
whale trip and on to the whale lagoons it must be. After the beautiful
dawn we packed up quickly and hit the road early once more. Back out at
the main highway we turned south, stretched out, and regrouped at a gas
stop where some of us bought tamales from a small cafe. Next we crossed
the state line into South Baja. Here we had an agricultural inspection
and an immigration inspection of our visa documents. All was in order
and it didn't take long. We reached the turnoff for the first whale
lagoon but kept on going by. We were aiming for the place we had gone
the prior years, the eco-tourism whale watching camp known as Kuyima out
at Laguna San Ignacio.

We turned off at the quaint town of the same name and people strolled
the town square while I stopped at small office there to let them know
we had a bunch of vans wanting to camp at their 'resort' and 17 people
who wanted to go whale watching in the morning. We would need 3 boats
and I wanted them to have plenty of time to arrange for captains. I
gathered the herd and off we went through the town to the road that goes
out to the lagoon. It was once hours of rough dirt but has been getting
paved about 5 miles per year, done about half the way so far. We drove
about a half hour of fine pavement followed by an hour of washboard and
sand. Everyone kept their speed up through the one really deep sandy
stretch so no problem.

Out at Kuyima the smaller campsites were occupied so we were directed to
a large area at one end of their facility, still right on the edge of
the lagoon with a nice view. The sun was getting low over the water so I
could see whale spouts back-lit in the distance. Yep, the whales were
here all right. They asked us if anyone would be wanting dinner in the
cafe and we all said yes, selecting from chicken or fish as the 2
offering available. Dinner was pleasant and we sacked out early. During
the night the wind gusted and soon the sounds of crashing waves became
prominent. Anne and I lie there awakened, speculating about whether we
would be able to go out in the small boats in the morning.

In the morning the wind seemed even worse. Whitecaps covered the area of
the lagoon we could see and the wind was blowing spray off the tops.
Enthusiasm for getting in the small boats was very low. The boat
captains stood around in a small shack, with the jefe sitting outside
looking at his clipboard. Anne went to the main office to speak with the
woman leader in there about our concerns. Both came out and spoke with
the jefe. Anne came and told me they thought we could still go out but
would wait a little while in hopes the wind would die down some. It
didn't, and it seemed we would perhaps not see whales close up that day.
I walked over to the jefe and he assured me things would be fine but
that he had a plan anyway. They would load us into their camp shuttle
vans and take us close to the whale viewing area to meet up with our 3
boats. Then we could climb into the boats for a short trip to the whale
area and avoid a long rough boat ride. The whale viewing zone was in an
area of the lagoon with better protection from wind swells so it would
be fine in there. We would still have to ride the boats back to camp but
he thought things would be calm by then. Boy was he right, it turned
into a fantastic day.

After gathering for the orientation lecture and choosing our
life-jackets, we piled into their vans and went for a wild ride at
double a safe speed out to meet the boats. The tide was out so we had to
walk a ways out to climb into them. The water was calmer there as
promised and whale spouts were evident around us. We soon reached the
start of the viewing zone and the boat motors were idled to let us drift
among the whales. Some of the whales steered away from us while others
came right over to say hi. The calves were quite large at this point in
the season and not all that shy. The mothers even pushed some of them
over to us and up to the surface where we could reach out and touch
them. I'm not kidding. See these photos. Thanks go to Jason for sharing
his camera skills.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/happyexposure/sets/72157632963371755/

Mark

>
> mark drillock wrote:
>> As advertised here a few months ago, the 4th annual Vanagon Baja Whale
>> trip took place last week. This year there were 10 vans from 6 states.
>> Harold and Faye Teer get the long distance award, coming from Virgina.
>> Other vans were from Washington, Oklahoma, Oregon, Arizona, and several
>> from California. I never dreamed that this many vans would join a trip
>> like this but they did and we had a great time.
>>
>>
>