Baja California Day 4-5

A key day on the trip as we turned into San Ignatio Lagoon, home to a group of "friendly" whales. The grey whales (mothers and calves at this time of the year) are protected from predators such as Orcas by the shallow sand bar at the entrance to the lagoon. They wait until the calves have grown enough to risk the hazardous journey north to their feeding grounds. In the mean time they seem to enjoy interacting with small boats and actively seek them out. They then enjoy being scratched, splashed and serenaded by entranced whale watchers. It is an amazing experience and one which after years of study seems to be beneficial for the population of whales not a disturbance. It does of course provide an income for many of the local fisherman who carefully protect the population.

Why the whales choose to interact this way is unknown. In truth, there is actually very little to keep the mothers and calves occupied in the lagoon while the calves grow while feeding on their mother's milk. The desire to be splashed and stroked may simply be to alleviate the boredom. So while in most cases in the world, human-wildlife interactions are actively discouraged, here the contact appears to benefit the whales and those humans fortunate enough to spend time with them.

We spent a couple of blissful days in the lagoon heading out twice a day and each time encountered "friendlies" who interacted with the boats to varying degrees.