April 11: Laguna San Ignacio

posted 4/11/2009

Hello whalewatchers,

Wow! What a day! We had planned to enter Laguna San Ignacio early this morning with great weather and high anticipation to visit the gray whales. One of the passengers said "There is a baleen whale off the bow," and since we were only 3 miles from the entrance, I thought it was a gray whale. Suprisingly enough it was a blue whale and after a few minutes there was another blue whale, then another, and then another. There were a total of 6 blue whales within 3 miles of the entrance of the lagoon and in shallow water. We delayed our entry time into the lagoon by 2 hours and spent that time with the blue whales. It was fabulous, with great looks up close.

After entering the lagoon we had good weather and everyone had a close encounter with a gray whale mother and calf. The wind came up in the afternoon and so the afternoon trip wasn't as productive. There are still about 30 pairs of whales in the lagoon so there will plenty of opportunity to see gray whales tomorrow.

More then,
Capt Art

p.s. Richard and Ann Clarke send love to their kids and grandkids. They stroked a whale today and had a wild ride in a panga!