Whale of a good time

Hey all,

Currently on the plane from Cabo to San Diego after a fun filled couple of days.  Let’s see…we last left off after diving and a day of relaxation.  Thursday we relaxed a little more although that included walking around town for about 10-12 miles.  Fun fact about La Paz, the sidewalks suck.  Really, it’s detrimental to your health to gawk while talking because the sidewalks are not nice, flat creations.  Rather than change height every few feet, sometimes go away only to come back again, have various obstructions in the way.  Pay attention is what I am saying.  Another fun tidbit is most of the corners have handicapped access ramps onto the sidewalk.  They may not lead to anything a wheelchair can make it through (including those suddenly increasing heights, plants directly in the way, and sudden bouts of dirt) but they ARE compliant with whatever handicapped regulations are out there.

Really a couple of nice, mild but sunny days to laze away and explore the various areas of La Paz….and shop for trinkets…everyone loves trinkets, no?  Saw a really cool painting of a whale tail too but it was large and I didn’t want to have to deal with shipping and all that craziness…actually, I don’t even know how much it was…oh well.

Friday, Stacy and I left Lance and Amy to their own activities and hopped aboard a fully loaded 15 passenger van to go see some whales.  It was a 4 hour trip along windy, bumpy roads, but we got to the area around time for lunch which was a pretty decent set of quesadillas and fish tacos.  After that, we went to the boats to go see some whales.

I have to be honest and admit I was picturing a bay so full of whales that one could conceivably hop from back to back across the water it was so full of whale flesh.  This was not the case and really, it was a whacky thought to begin with.  Instead it was a nice large bay and you had to hunt a bit to find the whales.  But find them we did…moms with their calves teaching them how to be a good whale.  We found a pair shortly after we left the docks…actually, I should say, eagle eyed Stacy found a pair and we followed along with them for a while.  The guides tell you to splash the water because it attracts the calves over.  While this calf was breaching in the air, it didn’t seem inclined to come over to be petted.  In fact, after a brief time, the mom and calf went under for long enough for us to search for more.  Click to embiggen

 

Breach

Breach again

Calf close to the boat checking us out

More we found!  We went to the mouth of the bay and, although the water was pretty choppy, we found whales galore.  Really, any direction you could look, you could see whale-sign (at this point, the geek in me would like to reference Dune and “worm sign” but I will try to refrain….Mua-dib!).  This mainly consisted of sprays as they came up to breath, but you could also see mom and kid pairs galore.  Eventually we came up to a pair where the kid was interested in our boat and Stacy’s splashing (she was the official splasher of our boat).  I would like to say, at this point, it is very exciting then all of the people in a 16-20 foot boat go to one side of it trying to touch a whale.  “Oh shit” may have been heard a time or two. 

 

Everyone on one side of the boat...the whale is here!

Baby and mom on the other side of the boat

Yep...right there.

But touch the little (probably 15-ish feet) thing we did!  It was sooo cool!  Can’t even really describe it other than with what one of our fellow passengers said as “smooth and squishy”.  The skin was smooth but since it has blubber right below it, it was sort of squishy too.  Just an all-around awesome experience!!

The accommodations did leave a bit to be desired.  They were brick buildings with two rooms sharing a wall…a thin wall and then the bed was made up of springs and had to be one of the most uncomfortable things I have been on in a while.  Not a lot of sleep to be had.  Plus it was Friday night and while we might have been tuckered out, the town was not and we could hear the music playing late into the night. 

On the other hand, we went back out for a couple of hours the next morning and had more interactions with baby whales.  I cannot recommend this one enough…if you are into whales, that is.  For sure it was great.  Unfortunately the movies I took are too large for this...but they are awesome...instead, here are some more pictures 

 

What our boat looked like (everyone on one side)...but the whales are right there!

Calf teasing everyone..."I'm right here"

Calf at our boat, laying on it's side...mom in the background hovering protectively

After a 4 hour ride back to La Paz, it was out to dinner and then an early evening in bed to be able to leave early this morning.  A two hour bus ride to Cabo airport and then a wait for a couple of hours until our flight left.  One bright note was the flight attendant on our second flight was a diver and knew Stacy through her boyfriend (also a diver) and free drinks were had!  Yay Alaska! 

Had a good time, but now back to the real world.  Hope all are doing great!  It’s our time, the people’s time!

Love to all  

Jim