Whale Watching Part 8- The Finale

After leaving the San Ignacio Lagoon we returned to our hotel in the town of San Ignacio about 50 miles away, spent the night,  and flew out the next day. But before we head out, I want to show you some more of the town.......
As I mentioned in a previous Whale Watching blog, San Ignacio sits in an oasis out in the middle of nowhere in a truly menacing desert....check out the pics in Whale Watching Part 4 & 5 .....anyways, the town is small, small, small with not much going on but it's still pretty cool.....cmon' lets take a tour....

Looking out the door of our room across the courtyard of our hotel..

Veranda leading from our room to the bar...we walked this way alot!!

Turn left at the fountain for a cervaza frio....cold beer

An example of native art down the way from our room...

The town square was about a 30 minute walk from the hotel...

Nice and cool here- we sat on the benches for awhile people watching.....

The town square is dominated by the Mission San Ignacio Kadakaaman..... founded in 1728 by the Jesuit missionaries on the site of the an aboriginal oasis named Kadakaaman.....

Beautiful wouldn't you say? ..built by the local Indians and Jesuit missionaries in the early 1700's.....

The church is always open....can you imagine what would happen to all these historical artifacts if this church was in the States and always left unlocked?  They would be gone the first night!!!

Did you ever wonder what lay behind the walls of the enclosed homes you see in these Mexican towns? .....this is typical of what you see from the street ....not much. San Ignacio has a permanent population of around 650 people. As it turns out, the lady who 

owns this place has an open invitation to any visitors in the town 

to come and visit with her and she will show you around the 

place. Its pretty neat.....lets go....

First view as you walk in.......

Pretty sweet.....huh???

This irrigation ditch was built on this site by the aboriginal Indians who knows how many hundreds of years ago? It still works!!!!! 

Our last view of the place as we were leaving.... we assured the wonderful lady who owns the place that we would come back for a visit when we return to whale watch in 2016......

We walked up the street a block or two and saw a little restaurant which from the street didn't look like much but it was 1pm in Houston so  I was ready for a cervaza frio....

Hello! another beautiful garden spot.....its just beginning here folks so don't leave....

Una Tecate rojo por favor.......

This is a restaurant in a town with 650 people....look whats coming next.....

Life size art work.......

 The artist used sheet metal for the sculptures.....

Incredible.....right??

The waves are calling me....naw man just kiddin' its  hodad Rich

This is where we ended up for dinner....great Italian food....sorry no pics.....I'll get some for ya next year when we come back...

Next morning we arrived at the airport early....

Nothing much has changed since our arrival.....

EXCEPT.......

They started construction on a new International Terminal

Checked through customs and waiting in the terminal for our plane..

Tana is ready to roll.................

da plane da plane...........

Lets fill this puppy up and roll baby roll!!!!

"Our Father who art in Heaven................"

Home sweet home...........

"Our Father who art in Heaven..............."

Well, guys what a trip! Hope you enjoyed going with us. We're home OK and already planning the 2016 trip. Next year we plan on camping at the lagoon for a few days and going out to be the whales two or three times a day....how long we camp out there depends on how much cervaza the panguereos can bring in!!

Until we meet again, as my boyhood hero Roy Rogers used to say at the end of every episode....

Happy Trails to You

Peace to you

Whale Watching Part 7- Thar She Blows

When we last met, all of us were loading into the panga to head out to the bay where the momma whales like to show off their new babies to the small strange looking mammal things that stand on two appendages and reach out to caress them with one of the other two appendages hanging off their upper torso. 
"Strange creatures these" the whales must think "but kind and loving." 

The first momma whale coming close to check us out....

Let me tell you whats going on here......Every October the eastern Pacific Gray Whales start their migration from the frigid Bearing Sea in Alaska to the warm-water lagoons of Baja California. This is supposed to be the longest annual migration of any mammal on the planet earth! The round trip is about 10,000-14,000 miles depending on the exact starting point of the whale. They travel at about 5 miles per hour and average about 75 miles per day. By January the pregnant momma whales have reached the warm lagoons of Baja to have their babies. By February-March the bulk of the population have reached the Baja lagoons and soon they become filled with mother whales and nursing calves, female whales looking for mates, and male whales looking for....well, you know! Around the end of March the females without calves and the males leave and head north to Alaska. Nursing moms and pregnant females are the last to leave around April and sometimes May. 
During this late March-April window many people visit the lagoons and are taken out by specially licensed pangueros, boat operators, to the new moms and their babies.  What happens next is magic. We go out to where the whales are and turn the motor off and just sit....soon a mother whale will come up and start checking us out. They will swim around the boat and turn on their side to look at you with a huge eye. They will come straight up out of the water and look you over. They will swim up to the boat and nudge it. Then they disappear into the depths. I guess if you meet the mother whales criteria whatever that is in a few minutes she will bring her baby right up to the boat and push it close so everyone can see it and touch it and love on it. It's incredible!!! If you stop and think about it. What new mother does not like to show off her new baby?
After all whales and humans are both mammals....although whales have larger brains....

 Swimming up to the boat for a better look-see.....

Coming in closer.....

Closer still.......

Whaddduuuuupppp!!! folks?

Mmmmm.....you guys look OK to me......

Mommas tail as she swam away under the boat......

She swam off  a little ways then came up again seemingly to say goodbye......

Next thing you know the momma brought us her baby to see.

Baby Gray Whales are 14 feet long when they are born. This little one was probably 20 feet...!!

Their skin is rubbery like a neoprene wet suit and is covered with fine hair. This little one is loving the attention. He/she would roll up to the boat and close his/her eyes and let everyone rub him/her. This little one loved the attention.

They are almost in the boat with you....it's like they want to seek out our companionship once it is established that there is nothing to fear with us.....

Look close ....you can see the little hairs coming out of the white spots.....

Incredible isn't it???

Good morning little one......

Howdy folks.....

If you look hard...you'll notice that the baby is resting on its mothers back....I told you that this would be incredible....would I lie to you??????

That's it for this visit....I'll have the finale up and posted in a couple days.....take care my friends... 

So ends another fantastic day in Mexico...

until we meet again

peace to you all my friends

Whale Watching - Loading the boat

Sorry my friends that its been so long to get this current whale watching blog posted.....there has been alot going on here and an unexpected trip back to the states has really screwed up our time lines....we're back to normal now......or as normal as we can get....OK folks here we go............................

Coming into the panguereo camp.....Pretty desolate place....

One of those buildings is the communal bathroom.....

All the amenities.......

Huge Osprey having lunch....

This place is totally off the grid...water is periodically brought out here by government trucks.....

Nice little restaurant..... two things on the menu....fried fish or broiled fish....if you don't like fish......well, you know!!!

Getting our PFD's on ....getting ready to go out....the whales are in a smaller bay about 30 minutes away.

A little Laguna San Ignacio hottie....

The orientation poster that we all go over with the guide before disembarking.....the reference points on the drawing of the whale are areas that you DO NOT TOUCH when they come up to the boat.....

a. aletas are fins

b. gibas means do not touch, bother, or annoy

c. espiracules is the whales blow hole

d. surcos gulares are the folds and furrows around the whales mouth

e. 14 mts. long equals about 46 feet

f. 31.5 metric tons equals about 69,500 pounds

g. the whales migrate from the Bering Sea to Mexico to have their babies each year in the spring.....16,000 km is 9941 miles....the travel time is 5 - 8 semanas (weeks)

Tana and two of our boat mates......Sunshine in the middle and Moonglow on the right

Walking out to the pangas.....remember to shuffle your feet to scare the sting rays away.....actually the water was very clear and you could hopefully see them before stepping on one!!! I hoped..

We'd have about a 30 minute boat ride out to the whales....its a beautiful calm day on the water so far...!

OK guys....next time we will finally see some awesome whales...the next blog WILL be up and posted in a couple days...

until then

stay cool, hug the ones you love, and don't drink cheap beer..

Peace to you all my friends..