still dark, but the Margaritas of yesterday sat heavily on both our
stomachs and we were restless most of the night so it was not too
difficult to wake up to the smell of warming coffee. We also were not
100% sure of the time here - hearing that we had gone back to Mountain
time again. Frank was right on that one - we got to the meeting point
for the whale tour this morning at the right time. And off we headed
for the Laguna Oja de Liebre. This is the lagoon at Guerrero Negro
where the Gray whales mate and give birth to their young and this is
the time of year that the birthing happens. The lagoon has so much
history, much of it very sad, especially for the whales. The ship,
Black Warrior, came here many years ago to hunt and kill all the
whales. Apparently at one time the lagoon was called, or nicknamed,
the "eye of the jackrabbit" because it was so red with whale blood
that it looked like the eye of a jackrabbit. The Black Warrior sank
in the lagoon and this is how the name of this place stuck.........
Black Warrior = Guerrero Negro. The wheel and anchor of the ship
hangs on the walls of the restaurant in this campground, surrounded
with an incredible array of glass floats, other floats of different
colors, old wooden floats, life rings, lanterns and just about
anything one can think of.
Anyway, this area is also home to the biggest salt mine in the world
and 60% of the salt is sold elsewhere outside of Mexico. It is a huge
operation with salt flats and huge barges filled with salt, triple
trucks trundling down the salt roads taking it from one place to
another before being shipped out...... And so we drove through this
area to get to the start of the whale watching tour. To be honest, I
was not sure where the salt started and the sand dunes began, they all
blended into one amazing white scene........with a lone coyote
trotting across it.
I was struck by the small boats we were going out in, but as soon as
we got going, we could feel that they were very capable, big enough
and the motor strong enough to deal with whatever was out there.......
and off we screamed, 8 of us per boat, after putting on lifejackets
and bright yellow rain jackets to protect us from the spray. We
screamed across the bay at a rapid rate of knots for a good while
until seeing our first whale spout... And then another and another
and another! They were all over the lagoon..... what a feeling.
Almost immediately a calf came up to play around the boat and although
I did not get to touch it, I came within inches! The barnacles
growing on it are weird and fascinating too and that boat that just
started feeling like an ok size? Well, it got instantly smaller
again! What creatures these whales are - hanging in the water, diving
just deep enough to miss scraping the bottom of the boat and wafting
away in a direction least expected or re-appearing at another place
next to the boat. The baby played around us for a while and then
tootled off with mama who was hanging back a bit. And on we went to
look for more. We briefly saw a very small calf coming up on it's
mothers back and one of the guys on the boat said that it was probably
a newborn being brought to the surface for the first time - but it was
so brief that i did not even get a photo of it.
We felt that our tour guide should have kept us in the sheltered part
of the lagoon, but he kept heading out towards the open water where
the swell got a fair size and the wind picked up quite a bit. We
still saw whales everywhere, but none approached the boat in the
choppy water and the guide was just happily going on his way. Ah
well. We saw many of these enormous 'submarines' gently cruising by
our little boat, spouting off and flipping their tails at us just when
the camera was pointed in another direction. After we got back the
other boats were all showing off their photos of the whales breaching
and spouting and playing with them for most of the time...... Ah well
- next trip we will see more. On one of the other boats, three people
got their camera's totally soaked and utterly ruined when a whale
slapped its tail and totally drenched the whole boat..... maybe I am
not so sad about the boat we ended up on. Although my new camera has
a full warranty, even against a soaking in the sea, I would have been
very unhappy to have had to park it for the rest of the trip.
But we did see some sea lions, a good many birds and some nesting
Osprey. The ride was glorious, rolling around in the middle of the
bay with spouting whales all around, standing with knees bent against
the next slap of a swell, then screaming back to base camp at high
speed with the engines revving and racing one of the other boats in.
It was a really great morning all in all.
And then we topped it off by going for lunch again. This time Frank
got the shrimp platter and I ordered the sirloin steak with all the
Mexican trimmings and things....... We ate so much and were totally
and very happily stuffed afterwards. We tried one of their beers,
Tecate beer, and it was very pleasant, but with memories of 3
margaritas yesterday and a restless night, we each stopped at one
beer only.
We got to speak to the manager of this campground and motel - he and
his wife own it all and I must say its a sweet place. I must remember
to get photos tomorrow before we leave. They have all sorts of pots
and pottery and glass bottles and interesting things hanging all
around, both inside and outside and he told us how so many people came
to contribute things when they built it up. There is so much
character and warmth in this place and one sees new things each time
you look around.
We also went for a short walk up and down the main street. It's
very...... I think the word is 'incomplete'. Nothing seems to be
finished as we know finished to be. Like the showers - the door was
there, but the lock was on the wrong side on the one door and the
other door - well, it was there but did not close properly without
really yanking at it hard and then having to lean a heavy shoulder
into it to get out again. One of the guys on the boat was saying that
life is different here in that way - if something is done about 75 -
80%, then its ok - it's done and everyone is happy and goes on to
another project. We can see this. The buildings look run down, but
they are totally functional - so what if part of a window is missing
or the roof is hanging on one side? The door does not close? ah
well............. and so it goes. All is done in lovely colors,
dotted with palm trees, some short, some tall and some just barely
hanging in there. There is no grass here at all - its all dust or
road or dust in the road or road made of dust or sand or salt. But it
all works........ It's done :)
Doglets were very happy to see us and we took them on a few short
walks before the wind came up and Sophie refused to walk anymore. She
tucks her tail in, plants her feet and thats that. The only way to
get her anywhere after that is to make drag tracks in the sand or
carry her.
Tomorrow morning we are heading just a little way down south to the
campground right on Scammons Lagoon - also known as Laguna Oja de
Liebre, where we did the whale tour today. Apparently here one can
hear the whales at night and there are also tours from there - and the
campground is awesome, say some guys who were there. We might just do
another tour here too seeing as this is the most popular breeding
ground for them. And then I think we will head far south to warmer
weather. Its raining again now and the wind is howling, rocking the
rv and frustrating the heck out of us. We were going to head to Bahia
Asuncion after tomorrow, but it still seems as if its going to be cool
up here for a while. We both need sunshine and warmth.
I put up some more photos again this evening knowing that we will be
without internet for a good few days from now on.
love and light
Annie
1 comment:
How wonderful to see the whales! Thank you for sharing all this!
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