Carl Safina’s program on Laguna San Ignacio’s gray whales and the sustainable fishing and ecotourism community there. The program is titled “Destination Baja” just like our passengers!
http://video.pbs.org/video/2286020756/
The total was 46 gray whales and 15 of those were cow/calf pairs. That means 16 adults are there as well.
Hi Celia: Thank you very much for recommending Kuyima. Bryce and I just got back from a week in Baja. We surfed the points and bocanas about 50 to 125 miles south of South Ignacio. We stopped by Kuyima on our way home. We introduced ourselves “Somos amigos del Art and Celia desde el barco Searcher.” They smiled and gave us a big “Bueno, bueno, bueno.” We were the only tourists there and were concerned that they might not want to go out with just two people. They said no problem. Then two nice guys from the Netherlands showed up and we all went out. Within 15 minutes of leaving the beach, two whales came to the boat and played for 20 minutes. Great way to end our trip. It’s an experience that Bryce will never forget. He’s on a plane back to Flagstaff tomorrow where the high is 45 and the low 18.
Thanks again for the recommendation.
Doug Vickery
The folks in LA counting the southbound migration have seen their first gray whale calf, swimming alongside its mom, of course. The total number of whales is now 220 counted from shore, including one baby calf!
The December 1-31, 2012 count is in…182 gray whales counted from the shoreside station!
The LA-based shore census station (sponsored by American Cetacean Society, LA chapter) has counted a total of 69 southbound gray whales so far this month. They haven’t noted any calves yet, but the San Diego-based whalewatch boat did see one earlier this week. We would expect that most of these whales so far are near-term pregnant females, on their way to the calving lagoons in Baja California. And we’ll be right behind them!
December 26 update: They’ve counted 126 whales so far (southbound)!
Our dear friends and colleagues at Kuyima report that their first gray whale sighting was on Dec 10. And on Dec 17, they saw threedifferent whales in the lagoon!
Curently our 2013 tours are all full, though we always recommend getting on the waitlist in case of cancellations. Please note our 2014 tours are open for booking–plan ahead and book now!
(Thanks to Rich Crossen for this photo. We never know what will show up off the bow of Searcher! In this case, it’s a school of mobula rays.)
