With a series of low, bushy blows softly lit by golden morning light a collective sigh of relief could be felt throughout the ship this morning. The whales are here. The shallow, protected waters of Magdalena Bay still harbor a classic whale and a classic landscape. We’re reaching the end of this whale’s breeding cycle and many have left the shelter of Baja California’s sandy lagoons and began their long, arduous journey against the California Current, north through busy shipping lanes, past killer whale ambushes and fisherman’s nets to their Arctic feeding grounds. Today we have been extremely fortunate to share a sunny day with the friendly whales of Baja California.
Having the benefit of local whale guides from nearby Puerto Adolfo Lopez Mateos in our Zodiacs, they directed us to the best locations to view Baja California gray whales doing a variety of behaviors. We witnessed repeated spy hopping, a potentially misleading term for a whale sticking its head straight out of the water, especially since their eye doesn’t always break the surface. During one encounter, an adult whale repeatedly spy hopped with silty, sandy water streaming from its mouth. Gray whales are bottom-feeding whales, the only species of whale to feed this way. Every bit of literature will posit that gray whales do not eat while in their breeding grounds. Was this whale gobbling sand out of frustration? Is it starving and waiting until the last possible second to start the journey north? Is there a viable, short-term food source at the entrance to Magdalena Bay? We don’t know. No one knows. Maybe it’s the mystery surrounding whales that makes them so intriguing.
Or could it be that the gray whales of Baja California are occasionally friendly? These behemoth mammals, some over 40 feet long, sometimes seek out contact with humans. However, they don’t just come over, shyly for a look. They put their heads on the side of the Zodiac, look you in the eye and silently scream, “Touch me!” It doesn’t always happen and we never promise this sort of interaction, but it did today.
