The very title conjures excitement. Whales! Big, giant monsters…the creatures of legend. Visions of Moby Dick. Herman Melville. Call me Ishmael, and all that…<\/p>\n
<span class=\"mce_SELRES_start\" style=\"width: 0px; line-height: 0; overflow: hidden; display: inline-block;\" data-mce-type=\"bookmark\">\ufeff<\/span><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Yep, this is a topic I’ve covered before, back in <a href=\"http:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/2018\/09\/08\/lets-go-see-the-whales\/\">September<\/a>, but I like whale watching in Baja so much I thought we’d cover it again.\u00a0 And yeah, Danny boy, you’re right…we’re inviting you to ride with us in March if you want to go.\u00a0 You have to pass the personality test (which basically means if you’re a jerk we’ll take a pass) and you’ll have to convince us you have a significant social media presence (we want you to help us spread the ExNotes word). \u00a0 Oh, yeah…one more thing…you’ll have to show up with a copy of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Moto-Baja-Joe-Berk\/dp\/1979933758\/\"><em>Moto Baja<\/em><\/a>!\u00a0 We’ll sign it for you, and we want you to read the book so you know a bit more about riding in Baja before we head out.\u00a0 We’ll be putting out more details on our March Baja ride in the near future, so keep an eye on the blog.<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 650px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Moto-Baja-Joe-Berk\/dp\/1979933758\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/images\/Books\/Baja-Cover-650.jpg\" width=\"650\" height=\"473\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The best book on the best riding on the planet!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>I\u2019m convinced that the only reason the towns of Guerrero Negro and San Ignacio are not absolutely overrun with visitors during the months of January through March is that most folks just don\u2019t know about the whale watching in Baja. To get to the point: It is the best in the world. That\u2019s no idle overreach or hyperbole on my part. It is the best. It is the only place on the planet where you can get up close to the California grays and, in many cases, actually touch them. Go whale watching here in California and there will be maybe a hundred or more people on a large boat, and the closest you\u2019ll get to a whale is maybe a hundred yards out in the open ocean. You might see one or more spout in the distance and it\u2019s \u201cmission accomplished.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Not in Baja. It’s way better in Baja.\u00a0 You\u2019ll get on a little boat carrying maybe 8 or 10 people, you\u2019ll go out in Scammon\u2019s Lagoon or San Ignacio Lagoon, and you\u2019ll be in the middle of a pod of whales.\u00a0 Up close and personal. One will spout, then another, and then, suddenly, it\u2019s like being caught in a lawn when the sprinklers go off. You\u2019re surrounded, and they\u2019re all close.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_2033\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2033\" style=\"width: 650px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2033\" src=\"http:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/160315_5328-650-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"650\" height=\"433\" srcset=\"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/160315_5328-650-2.jpg 650w, https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/160315_5328-650-2-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 984px) 61vw, (max-width: 1362px) 45vw, 600px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-2033\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mama and baby and me makes three. Baja whale watching. It’s the best in the world.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>That\u2019s when the fun starts. A whale or two, maybe twice the length of the little boat you\u2019re bobbing around in, come right up to your boat. As in touching your boat. Then they exhale, or spout, and you\u2019re covered in what you hope is sea water and not whale snot. Everybody laughs, including the whales.\u00a0 You realize there are literally thousands of whales in your lagoon. And then you see two whales, and you realize the larger one is the mom. She\u2019s literally pushing the little one closer to your boat, training her calf not to be afraid of people.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_2034\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2034\" style=\"width: 650px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2034\" src=\"http:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/160315_5323-650.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"650\" height=\"433\" srcset=\"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/160315_5323-650.jpg 650w, https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/160315_5323-650-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 984px) 61vw, (max-width: 1362px) 45vw, 600px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-2034\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ewwwww!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>You\u2019re excited about seeing the whales. They\u2019re excited about seeing the people.\u00a0 That\u2019s when you feel it. There\u2019s some kind of extra-sensory-perception thing happening between you and the whales. No one who ever does this goes away feeling the same. I\u2019ve done it maybe 20 times now, and I can\u2019t wait to get down there to do it again.<\/p>\n<p>The story goes like this: More than a century ago, whalers wondered where the whales were going. You see, the California grays spend their lives on the longest migration of any mammal. They winter in Baja and summer in Alaska (which probably makes them smarter than us). But when the whalers were hunting them, the bad guys didn\u2019t know this. They harvested (read: slaughtered) the whales they could catch out in the open ocean heading south in the months before that January-March window, or headed north after those three months, always wondering where they were headed. Then, in the 1800s, a whaling captain named Scammon discovered the lagoon that carries his name today and the word got out: These whales are all holed up in Scammon\u2019s Lagoon. It was a blood bath and the herd of approximately 20,000 California gray whales nearly went extinct.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s when the Mexican government stepped in and protected the herd. It\u2019s taken a while, but they\u2019re back up to a population of 20,000 whales, which is what the ocean will support.<\/p>\n<p>A few years ago when I was on one of my whale-watching Baja trips, there were half a dozen Mexican Navy gun boats out in the lagoon, something I had never seen before. I asked our boat captain about it, and he told me that none other than Vincente Fox, President of Mexico, was going whale watching that day. He had plans to develop the Guerrero Negro area into an industrial center, a home for manufacturers, a move opposed by Mexican environmentalists because they feared it might affect the whales, the ospreys, the sea lions, and the other protected critters in this corridor. They implored Mr. Fox to see the whales, knowing that ESP thing would kick in. The day I was there he was doing that. After his excursion, folks asked the President if he would pursue his vision of an industrial zone. \u201cLeave it as is,\u201d Mr. Fox answered. He knew.<\/p>\n<p>Getting there takes a day or two, and taking two days is the better approach. Simply head south from California. Cross in Tijuana, stop to pick up a free Tourist Visa, and head south. I\u2019ve made Guerrero Negro in a single day, but that required getting up at 4:00 a.m. here in Los Angeles and riding hard for the next 700 miles, much of it in the <em>Valle de los Cirios<\/em> twisties. No, it\u2019s better to take an easy lope down, spend the evening in San Quintin, El Rosario, or Catavina, and then continue the trek south the next morning. Hotels abound in all locations, and the ride south is best savored like a fine wine. Make sure you have Mexican insurance (go with <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bajabound.com\">BajaBound<\/a>; we always do), and bring your passport. You won\u2019t need it to get into Mexico, but you will need it to get back into the US.<\/p>\n<p>The options are to stay in Guerrero Negro and grab a whale watching tour there, or continue south for another 70 miles to San Ignacio. In my opinion, Guerrero Negro is the better option because the ride to the Scammon\u2019s Lagoon takes only a few minutes. If you stay in San Ignacio (a beautiful little town in the center of the peninsula) getting to San Ignacio Lagoon is an hour ride on a rough dirt (read: soft sand) road.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_2035\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2035\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2035\" src=\"http:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/a_DSC1385-600.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/a_DSC1385-600.jpg 600w, https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/a_DSC1385-600-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 984px) 61vw, (max-width: 1362px) 45vw, 600px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-2035\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Malarrimo’s in Guerrero Negro is a wonderful place to stay, but the other hotels in Guerrero Negro are also great.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>There are hotel choices in both places. I like Malarrimo\u2019s in Guerrero Negro, but they\u2019re all good. Malarimmo\u2019s is the original place for Baja whale watching, but there are others and they are all good. You may be able to call ahead and get reservations, but it helps if you speak Spanish. If it just me and one or two of my friends, we just go. If I\u2019m bringing a group down, I call ahead for reservations.<\/p>\n<p>The whale watching tours are $50 (that\u2019s US dollars), but trust me on this: It\u2019s the best $50 you\u2019ll ever spend.<\/p>\n<p>You can go out in the morning or the afternoon (I usually pick the morning tour), and like I said above, the whales are in town from January through March. I like March, because the weather is milder, and I think the whales are friendlier (they\u2019ve had three months to get used to interacting with people). \u00a0 You’ll see whales, you’ll see baby whales, and you might even get to see whales mating. \u00a0 Actually, if that’s going on, all you’ll see is a lot of turbulence on the surface, but they tell me there’s a whole lotta shakin’ goin’ on down there.<\/p>\n<p>Whale watching in Baja:\u00a0It\u2019s a hoot…and it’s still one of the best-kept secrets on the planet. You need to get down there and see it before the rest of the world finds out.\u00a0 You can thank me later.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The very title conjures excitement. Whales! Big, giant monsters…the creatures of legend. Visions of Moby Dick. Herman Melville. Call me Ishmael, and all that… \ufeff Yep, this is a topic I’ve covered before, back in September, but I like whale watching in Baja so much I thought we’d cover it again.\u00a0 And yeah, Danny boy, … <a href=\"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/2019\/01\/06\/whale-watching\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> “Whale Watching!”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[235,63,96,89],"tags":[154],"class_list":["post-2032","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-amazon","category-baja","category-feel-good-stuff","category-motorcycle-adventure-ride","tag-whale-watching"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2032","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2032"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2032\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2044,"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2032\/revisions\/2044"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2032"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2032"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2032"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}