A WHALE Of A TALE

Old Feb 5th, 2016, 08:26 AM
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A WHALE Of A TALE

I thought I’d write a trip report, in hopes my experience on this whale adventure inspires someone else to go to see these amazing creatures.
I give some contact details (at the end) for one location to interact with gray whales, Puerto Adolfo Lopez Mateos.

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Among the highlights:
I spent a lot of time playing with a friendly whale named Olivia and her baby.
I saw a newly born baby, whose tail had not yet straightened out from the birth.
I got some amazing video and photos to remember my experience!
I met some other international whale “fans”.
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Prequel:

I dream of whales. Usually we go on a whale watch on Stellwagen Bank off New England every summer. The boats are big, and although the whales may come close if you are lucky, and perform some amazing jumps and tails flips, you are still a deck’s height away from them. Somewhere along the line, I saw pictures of people in small boats touching the whales right next to them, and my imagination was captured.
I began to think more on this vague idea last year. But it was this year I had time in the right season to do the trip, and asked for your help, as well as doing a lot of research on my own. Not a lot of info online, though, except for high-priced package tours. Baja is not the backyard of those who are not on the west coast of the US, so there were still a lot of unknowns, especially for an older woman traveling solo, with little Spanish (but good Portuguese, which is similar enough with some patience on the other side) and so I only had the loosest of plans. I also had a limited time to spend, and almost had my flight cancelled because of a big snow storm
I had some overnight layover time to look around a bit of Mexico City on each end of the trip, spent one day in very U.S-like Loreto, and also spent a day snorkeling with whale sharks in LaPaz on the return.
The exchange rate was U$1= about 17+ pesos at the time.
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Whales in Baja

The “friendly” whales are some of the gray whales that migrate from Alaska to three locations in Baja Sur, Mexico. Those are:
1) Scammon’s Lagoon/Laguna Ojo de Liebre ;
2) San Ignacio; and
3) Magdalena Bay, the furthest south, with two places from which to view whales, San Carlos and Puerto Adolfo Lopez Mateos.

They stay, having their babies and mating, for January, February and March, before returning to the Bering Sea to feed.

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Getting there and first days

I flew into LaPaz, Baja, picked up a rental car, had lunch on the pleasant town malecon, and got on the road, driving north, with a plan of exploring a couple of these places. A locally-born woman visiting family in LaPaz, at the car rental office, mentioned having been Puerto Adolfo Lopez Mateos, so that’s where I resolved to head first. (In the end, I realized I didn’t have time to go to the other whale locations, mostly because of driving conditions making the driving time longer than I had planned for, and after driving over to Loreto on a narrow Hwy 1 along a cliff, also too exhausted to think of doing so.)

More than three hours, and some very twisty stretches through mountains, on the narrow one-lane-each-way, no shoulder Highway 1 (not anything like driving in the Yucatan ;-) through the desert, I arrived in Puerto Adolfo Lopez Mateos. It’s a modest little fishing village, mostly with unpaved streets, although the 60km to the coast from Hwy 1 are paved. A local fisherman at a boat ramp helped me find the one place with basic rooms and restaurant I had seen on the net.

A group of Canadian expats living further south had been brought to the place I stayed, on a tour. I joined them for dinner and for a foggy, cool early morning boat ride on Magdalena Bay before they left, with not many whales sighted. I wondered if that was the extent of the viewing. A bit disappointing, but very picturesque.

There were quite a few French tourists in the village for some reason. Otherwise, mostly Mexican tourists, and a few US/Canadians. I was there in the few days leading up to the village’s weekend “XXI Festival of the Gray Whales”, which included a small ‘carnival’ with a few rides, and a lot of music, and some busloads of Mexican tourists expected, the quiet village filling up and getting pretty lively.

Besides the driving conditions, another thing I was not prepared for was how big the temperature range was throughout a day, how cool it could be at night and then how it warmed up at mid-day. I probably brought too many clothes, but was able to be comfortable in all those temperatures.
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Why Magdalena Bay and specifically Puerto Adolfo Lopez Mateos

Magdalena Bay near the village is fairly narrow, with mangrove on one side and dunes on the ocean side; this is a big advantage for finding whales (for example, in comparison to San Carlos on the same bay, but at the wider mouth of the Pacific). The sun got pretty strong at mid-day, and the water was pretty calm, making that a good time to go whale watching. There are lots of birds, dolphins, and fish to observe/photograph. In the evening, you can stand on the dock and see whales spouting, and there is a bit of sand to go shell collecting on. Spectacular sunsets too.
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The whales

On that first afternoon, I returned to the little port to go out again for an afternoon whale watch. I got to touch a whale! I was SO happy. The whale played under and next to the boat for almost an hour, all this within sight of the dock. It was amazing! But it got even better in the next few days, with hours beside the whales, sometimes surrounded by several in every direction, and even seeing a newly born whale with its tail still squiggly bent from the womb.

I went out several more times over the next few days, with the experiences near the whales getting better and better, longer times alongside the whales and more behaviors. Nothing is a certainty, but it’s important to ask for a captain who knows the whales’ habits, and will put the skill and effort and gasoline into trying to find a friendly one.

It is a very emotional experience to be next to a creature of that enormous size, patting it with firm and reassuring strokes, and having it respond. The mother whale encourages the baby to interact with the people in the boat. The baby comes up to have its nose patted. It rolls on its side so that its eye has a good view of the creatures in the boat. Both swim under the boat, the mother even bumping it from below. The mother may be nose to the boat ---–I got soaked when the mother spouted spray -----or have her body next to the boat to see her whole bulk. She may swim under the boat, even bumping it with her back. Or roll over to wave her flipper. Or lift her tail. You can see it all on video online, but you have to be there to feel the true depth of emotion of the experience. Words can’t adequately describe the feeling.
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How to arrange a panga trip in Puerto Adolfo Lopez Mateos

There are several little buildings near the dock, centers of organizations of boat captains, who choose one of the maybe 40 pangas tied up at the dock to take visitors out. At the time of this writing, they ask about 1000 pesos per hour, divided among however many people want to go out. I paid between 335 and 660 pesos on various two hour trips; I think this is the least expensive option by far that I came across on the net for any of the whale locations in Baja. Although Magdalena Bay is fairly narrow near the village, one hour is not really enough to look for and spend time petting a friendly whale; two hours is better. Three or four people is the ideal for maximum time with hands on a whale, but a few more gives time to take close-up videos/photos. Your boat may take turns with another boat at getting close to the friendly whale, good for getting the longer shot photos/videos.

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Contact details

Over four days of playing with whales, I became friendly with the guys from the Union de Lancheros Turisticas De Lopez Mateos, Fernando Romero, president.
(See their Facebook and internet pages;
email: [email protected] or [email protected];
or call Fernando, who speaks English at 01 613 13 1 51 14 or cell 613 13 7 03 35.)

They went out of their way, using all their considerable skill, to find friendly whales for me to pet. They made my trip! And made my dream of spending time next to a whale come true! Way beyond my imagination. And still playing in my nightly dreams.

Luis Miguel Romero (good English speaker, can arrange tours, pickups from LaPaz and further south, contact phone: 613 117 0085 or [email protected] or Facebook) and Jose (with a reasonable amount of English) were particularly skillful at finding the friendly mother whales and their babies, and talking about the whales’ habits.

Housing/food
The one place on the internet, with basic rooms and restaurant (El Camaron Feliz, room 400 pesos, dinners at about 160-250 pesos, breakfast 65 pesos)
I eventually saw one even more modest place (Refugio, 350 pesos), and one that looked a bit fancier. There are a couple of other restaurants around the village and several good tented ones at the port.
The food (seafood of course) was great!
______

I hope this info inspires you to think about a trip to interact with the whales!
SambaChula is offline  
Old Feb 5th, 2016, 11:03 AM
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We did this a few years back. So wonderful. Thank you for the very detailed report. I hope this helps someone else experience this.
MichelleY is offline  
Old Jan 3rd, 2017, 05:12 PM
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SambaChula,
Thanks SO much for your detailed and very encouraging report about Puerto Adolpho Lopez Mateos. We are going to Loreto in February and hope to drive there to experience the whales. We have read that it's only 1-2 hours from Loreto. I will use your information to locate a panga captain who can help us.
Lynne
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Old Jan 4th, 2017, 08:23 AM
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The 2 1/2 drive from Loreto is on a narrow, twisty road with no shoulder. In the direction south, the lane is at the base of the cliff. On the return, it is at the edge of the cliff, which I found stressful.
On arrival, find the port/dock. There are several little huts of fishermen's cooperatives that can arrange to take you out to see the whales.
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