Oct 22, 2016

Whale watching in Mexico…such a magical experience!

I had attempted whale watching many times over the years at various hotspot locations around the world but failed to catch one glimpse of these huge but elusive mammals until my visit to San Ignacio in Mexico.

This bay is a UNESCO World Heritage Site where gray whales come to that have travelled thousands of miles from the Bering Sea in Alaska down the Pacific coastline to the Baja peninsula of Mexico (and who can blame them for trying to find warmer places to hang out!).  This is where they mate, give birth and relax with their calves in the San Ignacio Lagoon just chilling in the warm water and sunshine.

A few gray whale facts and figures…

When fully grown the gray whale can over 50 ft long, however, their average size is around 40 ft – the females being bigger than the males – and weigh up to 40 tons! Considering they have a thick insulated blubber coating up to 10 inches thick to keep them warm then it is no wonder they are so heavy.

They communicate using loud moans which can be heard for miles and also via visual displays such as breaching (jumping up out of the water).

Gray whales have no teeth as they are baleen whales which means they filter their food through baleen plates in their mouth. Their primary food is whatever crustaceans they can suck up from the sea floor – like underwater vacuum cleaners.

The San Ignacio whale watching experience

The vessels we were provided alarmed me somewhat considering the size of the gray whales as these were tiny fibreglass boats that could fit around six or seven people. Now if you do the math…female whale 40 ft in length and weighing 40 tons versus little fibreglass boat with seven people who collectively weigh, say, 500 kilograms and there are 907 kilograms in one US ton that makes the whale 35,730 kilograms heavier – can you tell I work in financial services?!  Only when I’m not travelling or writing books!

The whale kiss…

Out on the water it was a dream come true. The friendly whales and their calves sidled up to our boat, gently bumping the tiny vessel. We could reach out and touch the whales. When a guy next to me on the boat said “why don’t you kiss the whale?” my initial reaction was to think “what a stupid question”.  But before I knew it I had decided it was a wonderful idea as I hung over the boat and planted a kiss on the whale’s back. Now perhaps I should have have read up more on gray whales before performing this act as I now know that these mammals are covered in parasites and other organisms causing their skin to be covered in crusty looking barnacles – and crawling along them are whale lice!!! Yuck!!

The amazing breach

Unbelievably one of the whales breached right in front of our boat! It just popped up out of the ocean and threw it’s gigantic body into the air – as I fumbled with my camera Laura, the American girl I was travelling with, had already whipped out her phone and very nearly caught the moment the whale had reached high into the sky showing off her flippers as if waving at us and welcoming us to her playground.

To be up close and personal with wild grey whales was one of the most exciting and exhilarating experiences of my life.

Photo taken very quickly by Laura Ormsby on her mobile phone

Whale watching around the world

I am so glad I didn’t give up on trying to see these wonderful mammals. My previous attempts did leave me very disappointed and sceptical.  I did not think that anyone could ever even see a whale never mind experience a close encounter with one. In Kaikoura, New Zealand the whale watching boats didn’t even leave the harbour due to stormy weather and choppy seas which left me saddened but with a new hairdo at the local hairdressers and a fun night out with said hairdresser and her friends. Next it was Argentina, the Peninsular Valdez and the small town of Puerto Madryn which was inundated with penguins and seals…but no whales. Hermanus in South Africa which claims to have the world’s best land-based, boat or air whale watching…but for me…not a whale in sight.

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Whale tail, Coffs Harbour, Australia

Then after San Ignacio I saw whales everywhere! Todos Santos, Mexico was the next place and years later, on a whale watching boat in Coffs Harbour, Australia I saw loads of humpback whales splashing and playing in the ocean.

Conclusion…

I’ve come to the conclusion that whales are very much like buses…you wait for ages…then three come at once!

Links:

See more things to do in San Ignacio here

Find a good travel book on Mexico here

Explore the restaurants and top hotels in San Ignacio

For more humorous stories you may enjoy reading the bizarre world on top of Mount Roraima and trekking the Overland Track in Tasmania – awesome but gruelling

 

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Humpback whales, Coffs Harbour, Australia

 

Photo taken while on the beach in Todos Santos, Mexico

 

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