The Traveling Widower

Tag: grey-whales

  • The First and Only Day – Baja Part III

    February 24th, 2026

    It was not easy getting up early on Tuesday – I was still tired from my late night E/R experience on Saturday/Sunday, and had to get up at Oh-Dark-Thirty on Monday for the trip to Ensenada, so a 5:45 AM wake-up was tough. But, I managed to stumble off for breakfast at 6:15, and had everything ready to go for loading up the vans for the short drive to the dock. 

    The “visitor center” for the whale watch tours consisted of an office for buying tickets (which we did not have to do), a small cafe and gift shop, and a room where you get your life vest. And a few port-a-potties back in the parking lot. After getting the vests, we all headed out on the long dock to load on to the boats (Panga’s) – the loading dock was kind of fun since it floats and rocks, so boarding the boats can be a challenge. The first boat out only had four passengers while mine had 7. Not crowded, but I’d rather have been in the first boat. 

    My plan for  this first trip was to get the lay of the land so to speak for photography.  I had three cameras plus my phone, and I wanted to experiment and find out what worked best for the remaining 5 trips out to the lagoon. After all, I’ve never photographed whales from 6 inches away before. 

    This was absolutely a perfect day – just warm enough, no wind, and the water was really calm. We saw lots of whales as soon as we headed out. The first boat was far ahead, and already had a bunch of whales surrounding them, so we went over to share. No whale hogging allowed on this trip. That was not a problem as it turned out.

    It was an amazing experience. We had 3 or 4 whales coming right up to the side of the boat, rolling over like Golden Retrievers. Yes, I did rub one of them – really soft skin. And no, I did not kiss them. Other people in our group did that. At one point, we had two adults and one baby on one side of the boat, and one swam under, scraping along the bottom of our boat. It was impossible to get a full photograph of the whales – just whatever portion of their body that was sticking up next to the boat. They move around quickly, so it is pure luck on what you capture with the camera. 

    I started out photographing with the Sony when the whales were over by the other boat, but quickly switched to the GoPro when three or four whales approached our boat. I wish that I had just used my phone for the close up. I totally gave up on the other underwater camera I had brought along. One other challenge was the other passengers in the boat – I wound up with a lot of heads, arms and other body parts in my photo’s – not much you can do about that. Not everyone is focused on photographing the whales. So, here are a few of the still shots I made that morning – mostly close-ups of the head and blow holes.

    I did luck out with some of the GoPro videos – this one is the best. I managed to get most of a whale, including the eye. I have a few more clips I’ll put on the next post.

    All good things come to an end unfortunately – the boat drivers have to be back after 2 hours, so we left our friendly whales and headed back to the visitor center. I was pleased – I figured out what I would do in the afternoon session – just use my phone and the GoPro, and maybe switch out the wide angle for the regular lens on the GoPro.  Once we got to the dock, I managed to get out of the boat without falling in the water, and made it back to the center to turn in my vest.

    On the drive back, we noticed an Osprey having lunch, sitting on a sign. These birds are all over the place – they build huge nests on top of the port-a-potties, or any other structure convenient for them. This turned into a great photo-op for me with the Sony camera

    Once back at the camp, we all headed over for lunch, and had about an hour afterwards to rest before we went back to the visitor center for our next outing. I went back to my cabin and started checking out the battery levels in my cameras, when all of a sudden, the world started spinning around, and my heart was pounding. Crap – this was just like what happened on Saturday night. Once again, I tried to just calm down, but my BPM was way over 100, and I staggered every time I stood up. I realized that going out on the next whale trip was not going to happen, and that maybe I should get some help. Calling 911 was not going to work this time.  Fortunately, the door to my cabin was open, and I must have looked like I needed help – I soon had three staff members asking what was wrong, and one of them rushed over with a blood pressure cuff. Way high, not too surprising. The van drivers were hanging around waiting to see what I was going to do, so I told them I’d stay behind, and the group headed off for the boats.

    One of the staff members came back with a home made Gatorade mix, since I was probably still dehydrated from the previous days, and they set me up in a shady spot where I could rest. I was not sure what to do – I was scheduled to take the van ride back to San Diego on Friday, and maybe switching to the plane would be a smarter move. Or maybe I could switch to Thursday instead. I still wanted to get a few more cracks at photographing the whales. I passed this request on to the staff, to check with Keith (the owner). Needless to say, I was really depressed, stressed and a bit panicked now.

    I rested for a while, and then walked up the hill to the dining hut for a refill of the Gatorade mix, and to have someone to talk to. Keith was already there, waiting for me. He first said that there was no room on any of the flights out. And then he lowered the boom – he was very concerned about my condition and put it bluntly to me. If anything serious happens, I will die there. There are minimal medical services in Guerrero Negro, and there is nothing close by that can handle heart related issues. He told me I needed to get back to the US – he could get a car to drive me back later in the day, or early tomorrow. It was my choice, but that was his recommendation.

    I gave it some thought for a few minutes – part of me REALLY wanted to stay. The intelligent voice, and probably my wife’s as well, was saying…”Idiot, get your ass back to the states!!!” Intelligence won the argument. It was not just the risk, but also the impact I could have on everyone else. What would happen if I had one of these incidents while we were out in the lagoon? I guess they could just push me overboard. At any rate, I told Keith I’d leave and he went off to make the arrangements. I finished another glass of the homemade gatorade, and pondered my fate. Lots of bad words. This was a really bad day to have given up drinking alcoholic beverages. 

    After a while, the dizziness was gone, and my BPM was down to something more reasonable, so I decided to take a long walk along the beach, and find someplace to sit and relax. And curse and cry in privacy  By the time I got back to my cabin, Keith had everything set – I would leave early the next day – the driver would arrive at 5:30 AM. Another very early morning. The driver did not speak English, but we would switch cars close to the border, with a driver who could get across the border, and also spoke English. I could hardly wait.  I enjoy adventures, but this was one I could have lived without.

    So, I had a nice dinner with the group, enjoyed watching them play some very strange game which involved eating poisoned jelly beans (not really, but it was peculiar and funny), and wandered back to my hut. Such a shame – I was really enjoying this trip – what a fun group of people, and incredible staff.

    My favorite all-round photo from the trip (not really):

    One more post after this…I promise. I like to draw out the story.

    If you are interested in this type of adventure, here is a link for the Baja Jones whale camp: wwww.graywhalewatching.com

    If you are really adventurous and want to drive to Laguna Ojo de Libre and camp, you can rent one of the pads, and just sign up for one of the whale watch tours: https://www.campendium.com/laguna-ojo-de-liebre-campground

  • The Long Way Down – Baja Part II

    February 23, 2026

    Grey Whale Skeleton outside the Whale Watch Visitor Center

    I’ve only been to Mexico two times – the first time was when Jan and I did our first international trip (we did live in Texas for a while….that’s sort of another country) and it was quite an experience. Puerto Vallarta, in 1982. Another strange story to tell some other time. Traveling there by plane was pretty simple. We did not even need a passport. This time of course, a passport was required, and driving requires going through Mexican customs, which I had heard could be a harrowing experience

    Our group was spread into two vans, and we drove off together for the short trip to the border from the hotel. Thankfully, It was a quick and uneventful experience – there were a few armed soldiers standing around, but all we had to do was have our luggage x-rayed and our passports stamped, and off we went. No different than what they do in any international or domestic airport.

    We then headed off to Ensenada, driving along on a really nice highway through parts of Tijuana, and then along the beautiful coast. It was interesting seeing “The Wall”, and then the strange mix of beautiful expensive housing interspersed with more ramshackle types of dwellings close by. I wish I could have taken a few pictures – there was one house we passed that looked like it was made of stacked plywood, three stories high, and had a nice table with chairs up on the very small roof. No railings. Great view, just make sure you don’t lean back.

    It was a short ride to Ensenada, maybe an hour – really pretty along the coast, and then into the city. The airport is, well, not much of an airport. It’s a military base, with a very small terminal that services a puddle-jumper airline, ASG, that flies to all the small villages in Baja. This was not quite LAX – no conveyer belts, no kiosks, no lounges, restaurants, bars, or anything else. Just a shack with a 100 year old scale to weigh your baggage, and a small terminal with seating and bathrooms that had not been cleaned in a few weeks. 

    Check-in line. No kiosks, no conveyer belts
    Ensenada Airport Terminal

    We had been assigned two planes, one a single engine Caravan which can carry 12 or so passengers  – this was the regularly scheduled plane and carried some locals who were returning to Isla Cedros with their purchases from Costco. Either that or snacks for the flight. Myself, and five others, were on a small two-engine plane, chartered specifically for our group. I think it was a Cessna 402, not that it matters. It flew and landed. That’s all that counted for me.

    I have not flown on a small plane since graduate school, over fifty years ago – I recall one of the students kissing the ground after we landed. I seemed to have blanked the rest of that trip from memory (something to do with geoanticlines) but still have a fear of flying in anything smaller than a 737. But, it was the only fast way to Guerrero Negro, so I said a few prayers, and boarded the plane. Luckily, I got the seat by the very narrow entry hatch – sort of like having the emergency exit row in a regular plane – extra leg room. Once we were all settled in, the pilot fired up the two engines, and we headed down the runway. I decided to capture the moment on my phone 

    It was an exciting take off, banking quickly over the beach and out over the ocean. The view was quite nice – I quickly forgot why I was so afraid of the flight, and settled in (there was no seat back) to enjoy the view of the Baja coast as we headed south. I think everyone was waiting for the food and drink service to begin. Now where was the flight attendant?

    Seating was cozy…I was in First Class. I blurred the faces.

    The flight went by fast (it was a faster plane than the Caravan) – after about 2 hours, we turned inland over the lagoon – really interesting views of the wind-swept dunes. The area surrounding the town of Guerrero Negro was pretty much desolate – I thought that the cavern I visited last year in the Mojave Desert was the middle of nowhere. This would be the end of the road to nowhere

    The airport was about what you would expect for a small town in a remote location – a runway (sort of paved), a small hanger, a couple of outhouses, and a small cafe. More than what Ensenada had. 

    The van from the whale camp was waiting for us – the staff loaded up our luggage on top, and we managed to cram everyone in. I drew the short straw, and had to hang half on the edge of one seat. Not exactly comfortable for a long drive on unpaved roads leading through the salt ponds down to the beach. Ouch. I guess I should mention something about the salt ponds. The main source of income and employment for this town is salt production – there are large evaporation ponds along the edge of the Ojo de Liebre lagoon, and the dried salt is scraped up and processed locally, for distribution around the world. It’s a big business – the largest industrial sea salt operation in the world. Really. 

    The road eventually reached the whale watch visitor center (more on that later), and we continued down the road, passing the rental camping spots, each of which had a porta-potty and a thatched roof, open sided hut. And each had some sort of recreational camping vehicle with the owners sitting in beach chairs, adult beverages in hand. Very strange. They all drive down here to see the whales, and watch the sunsets I guess. They all looked pretty relaxed. I was half expecting to see all these folks wearing tie-dyed t-shirts, dancing to Grateful Dead music.

    Finally, after another mile of driving, we reached the whale camp. What an amazing setup. The owner, Keith Jones, has been doing this for 30 years – extending and improving the camp along the way. There are a variety of “cabins”, each made of plywood and tarps, some located along the edge of the beach, others scattered along the trail leading up to the communal dining/kitchen structure. There are porta-potties in a few places, open washing areas (hands, brushing teeth), a couple of communal showers, and paths marked with solar lights. There were also a few larger lights, powered by generators. The amazing thing about the camp is that it has to be torn down after the whale season is over – every structure is disassembled, and stored away locally until the next season. That’s a lot of work. Each cabin is on the primitive side – two comfortable beds, a small table, and a very small electric heater (only for a few hours in the AM and PM). I upgraded to a cabin + shower – it looked like a Tuff Shed with another plywood shed added to it. Primitive but functional and surprisingly comfortable. My wife would never have done this, but I’m OK with roughing it once in a while. 

    My cabin – the add-on section is the shower room. The path on the left leads up to the dining building.

    Here are a few photos of the camp

    View from the beach

    After the van was unloaded, we met the camp staff and had a brief orientation – we then wandered off to our assigned cabins, and then made our way up to the dining building. This was another pop-up structure – lots of tables and basic seating (plastic or folding chairs), a bunch of games, books on whales and Baja geology and most important of all, a really nice bar – the woman doing the bartending made excellent margaritas. I was supposed to avoid alcohol for a while, but what the heck. It was a long trip. The staff was wonderful, and it was a really interesting group – mostly from California, but a few who traveled a long way to get here. All really nice, very friendly and a lot of fun. Things were looking up for the trip after the almost disastrous beginning for me. My heart seemed to be behaving normally – I had been checking my pulse (on the watch) regularly during the trip, and the BPM was pretty much normal most of the time.

    After dinner, everyone wandered off to their huts – the staff placed small, rechargeable lamps in every cabin, along with a camping toilet – very important for those of us who make a regular trip to the bathroom at 3 in the morning. Once the generators go off at night, the place is absolutely silent. Falling asleep was not a problem.

    Oh…and of course there were beautiful sunsets there.

    Breakfast was at 6:30, and we were leaving for the boats at 7:30 sharp – I had all the camera gear and my clothing ready to go. It was a long, very strange trip, but I was finally going to see the whales up close and personal.