We woke up at our anchorage in Magdalena Bay and our day was filled with the magic of gray whale mothers and their calves. During our morning round of whale watching in the Zodiacs we had many curious baby whales with tolerant mothers who came close to our boats. Some of us were lucky enough to have a hands-on encounter with one of these curious baby whales. At least one of us was lucky enough to kiss one of these majestic creatures! Being eye to eye with a gray whale is a deeply moving experience. Some of our young explorers were kind enough to share some of their thoughts about this amazing day:
“My favorite part of the day was, by far, seeing and touching a mama whale and her calf. The first time we went out on the Zodiacs I saw many whales. At one point, a calf was just barely too deep to touch. Overall though, it was a great ride. The second ride started out a bit slow. We had to go way far out even to see one. At the very end of our ride one of the Zodiacs called our guide, Bette Lu, with the walkie talkie and informed us that there was a friendly whale where they were. So we went over there and a calf and her mother were being friendly. After a few minutes we were surrounded by three or possibly four couples of whales. The friendly couple was up near our boat and they were coming up and diving a lot. At one point when they were near us I managed to feel the calf’s back. It was smooth but also a bit squishy and soft. It felt kind of like a giant worm. That pair of whales stayed near our Zodiac until we had to go back to the boat. This experience was life changing and I hope to come back to Baja some day!”
Callie Cho, guest, age 13
Act like a whale
Come up to breathe.
And you might meet
people you’ve never
seen before.
Holly Helvey, guest, age 10
