Baja California Kayak and Whale Watching Vacation, Feb. 3-10, 2008

You can see the beach reflected in the window behind Steve. Lovely Mexico colors here.

Here's a mother <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gray_Whale">California Gray Whale</a>, the star of our vacation. Her baby is nearby; our guide, Eli, is splashing the water here, making bubbles in the hope that the baby will be enticed over to the boat.

Yankee whalers used to call this species &quot;devil-fish", because they were fiercely protective of their young and dangerous to hunt. But, decades after the whaling stopped, something interesting started happening with Gray Whales...they started showing curiosity in humans, even allowing themselves to be touched. Eli said he spent some time with Pancho, the son of the first Baja fisherman to have a friendly whale encounter here, and Pancho recommended making bubbles with our hands whenever the whales were near. We didn't notice any baby whales being interested in this ourselves, but we did see a mother whale do some interesting blowing/bubble making underwater...some say they do this for the babies to play in.

We had a fantastic time whale watching. Steve has even better photos of our close encounters.

Steve always looks so dapper in his water gear. It's not difficult to imagine that he has some kind of seafaring ancestry.

Whale camp on Magdelena Bay...we paddled our kayaks to the camp which had already been established for the season on an island in the bay. These are the two geodesic domes used at camp; the one on the left is a group meeting area, and the one on the right is a kitchen (staffed with a cook!). The domes are a great place to get out of the wind or sun, eat meals, read books, and drink tequila.

Steve and I stayed in the tent at the far left.

There would often be several pangas in the bay for whale watching. It's interesting to consider all of the positive aspects of eco-tourism with the potentially negative affects it could have. It wouldn't surprise me if whale watching became more regulated here, and I don't think that would necessarily be a bad thing. Still, I left feeling that our presence was mostly positive.

This is coming back from the most amazing experience we had with the whales. A mother and calf showed some interest in us and stayed near our boat, doing lots of &quot;spy hopping" -- putting their heads out of the water to look around at us. Amazing to see their faces. A couple of times the mother whale blew right next to our boat, delighting us as the mist drifted over us. "Whale snot!" we cried cheerily, while the panga driver turned away to avoid the spray in disgust.

Lala, our cook, and our guides Erin and Eli. It was a wonderful luxury to have someone cooking all of our meals for us at camp.

After three nights on the island, we packed up our gear and sent it ahead on a panga, then had a beautiful paddle back through the mangroves. After arriving on shore, we were shuttled back to the Sea of Cortez side of the peninsula for the second half of our vacation.

We had an exceptionally fun group of people on this trip; it was us plus five other women.

We were incredibly lucky with the weather. Our first day at whale camp was rainy and overcast, but that was ok with me because I was sick in the tent the whole time with round two of the flu.

These two were really smooth paddlers; they just glided along with easy synchronized strokes, making it look easy.

You can see here how the desert meets ocean in Baja. It's a wonderful combination.

The <a href="http://www.bashanfoundation.org/mangrove/iecosys.html">mangroves of Baja California Sur</a> are shorter and denser than I'd imagined. We paddled through channels that the water makes through the mangrove habitat. I got lots of great new life birds here, mostly herons and waders.

I was thrilled to see <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crested_Caracara">Crested Caracaras</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harris's_Hawk">Harris Hawks</a> here...both new life birds for me on this trip. Steve will have much better photos. On our drive from whale camp to the eco-retreat, our driver stopped here where there were lots of Caracaras and a couple of Harris Hawks just sitting around on the catcus. It was awesome. It's especially exciting to see new raptor species for the first time. The others in our group were amused and happy for us; I don't think they'd seen me this excited on the trip before. Even the driver seemed happy to be part of our excitement over these birds.

That's it for the first half of our trip. Photos from the second half later!

(geotagging on these baja photos is all approximate!)

After three days at whale camp, we were thrilled with the showers and composting toilets at El Santuario Eco-Retreat.

Water is heated by propane in a holding tank next to the shower; when you're ready to take a shower, you open a valve and fill a large water bottle that hangs above the shower, then use that water to shower with. It's an interesting setup.

It seems sort of silly to take photos of the facilities like this, but people are always curious.

El Santuario has a nice fire ring, enclosed from the wind and decorated with replicas of the local cave paintings.

Mojito was the resident dog at El Santuario.

The yurt has fabulous whale bone decorations outside. Inside is a library, meditation cushions, and lots of space for groups to meet and hang out.

The kitchen at El Santuario. Cooks made all our meals on a regular schedule and ring the bell when it's ready. It was a nice luxury to have all the meal planning, prep, decisions, and cleanup out of our hands!

The kitchen at El Santuario Eco-retreat.

The kitchen looks out over the beach at Esenada Blanca. It's a lovely place to sit and enjoy the surroundings.

<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porcupinefish">Porcupine Pufferfish</a> are a common fish in the area.

On this day we traveled by panga to a beach about ten miles away. The attraction here is a hot springs that's revealed as the tide goes out. We had to wait for the water in the springs to heat up a little, then we had a luxurious soak. Eventually, near low tide, the water in the pool becomes too hot.

When the tide goes out, the area with the rocks is connected to shore. The hot springs is in this area.

As a bonus, there are osprey nesting on the top of this big rock.

Eli brought a packed lunch and table so we could enjoy a whole day at the beach.

Snorkeling was a popular pastime here while we waited for the hot springs to be ready.

Soaking in the hot springs

Here's what it looks like as the tide goes out and the hot springs is revealed.

We liked these camp chairs for hanging out at the beach. Here Steve demonstrates another posture for lounging.

Our panga ride back from the beach was very fast and bumpy. Better than Great America!

On Saturday, we kayaked to Danzante Island, about two miles away from El Santuario.

We finally decided that this might be a dolphin.

The spine that sticks out at the top is the &quot;trigger". Eli explained that this fish's escape strategy is to go into a protected rocky area, leaving the spine exposed to thwart predators.

Eli lead us on a short hike, explaining the plants we were seeing along the way. This was one of the things I really liked about being on a guided trip.

These are very similar to the Saguaro cacti of the Sonora desert. After many years, they grow arms on the side.

It's a very lively desert!

We spent our last evening in the yurt with our companions. There were many toasts, and yes, the bongos did get played.

On our last morning, we hiked through the surrounding desert to a wonderful ocean overlook.

Looking back over the route we hiked.

Each casita has its own outhouse; a real luxury compared to whale camp!

You can see the back of our casita here.

At El Santuario, we stayed in casitas...small one-room thatched adobe huts. They were quite charming.

The view upon waking up in the morning.

Our last goodbyes before leaving for the airport. Yes, I cried.