agra - 12-13-2007 at 06:43 PM
I will be driving through Baja the last week of March and am wondering if there is any chance of still catching some whales this time of year?
If so, any thoughts on Scammers vs. Laguna San Ignacio?
Thanks!
whales
tehag - 12-13-2007 at 07:50 PM
Getting pretty late both places.
Scammer's Lagoon, gotta love that one.
elgatoloco - 12-13-2007 at 10:22 PM
We had a fabulous time at San Ignacio a few years back last week of March. Just moms and babies.
capt. mike - 12-14-2007 at 07:53 AM
you have animals present easily thru mid april.
end of march is the best.
shari - 12-14-2007 at 09:06 AM
I was a whale researcher for over 20 years and can tell you that the last week of march is too late in Scammons..most of them leave mid
march...possibly some stragglers or whales stopping to rest at the mouth of the lagoon...but not much....but in San Ignacio there are still lots of
moms and calves...the whales enter Scammons earlier and leave earlier but stay later in San Ignacio. I will be doing a weekly whale report on our
website on whale movements, behaviour, photos etc...kind of a play by play on what they do from week to week. So do't bother with scammons late in
march...UNLESS they enter unusually late...but I doubt that...migration depends on how soon the ice packs form in the north..cold weather early drives
them south earlier...if it's a warm winter...they may stay later to eat more...also depend on when the females got pregnant the year before..they have
to make it into the lagoons to drop their calves in a safe, secure, warm place.
shari - 12-14-2007 at 03:07 PM
gee I'm not so sure I'm glad I saw that before it got deleted!
Debra - 12-14-2007 at 04:02 PM
Both times I've been to San Ignacio has been late march and early april, Great time!
ELINVESTIG8R - 12-14-2007 at 05:10 PM
Pompano, The picture of the Skipper's pinkish hump was a lot pinker than the one I think you were describing.
shari - 12-14-2007 at 05:13 PM
Um, those whale photos are taken from the air so I'd like to take this opportunity to mention something here...gray whales are acoustic animals s when
a plane circles overhead fairlylow...under 1,000', the whales perceive from the vibrations given off by the propellers...a serious threat to
avoid...they cannot echolocate and identify where the threat is so their fear reaction is to dive..deep...and they take their newborn calves with them
to avoid being hit by a ship...which is what they think is coming...the problem is that calves have a very small lung capacity and cannot dive deep
nor stay down for long...thus calves have drown avoiding planes that circle overhead...I have personally witnessed this and so I do get upset when
pilots circle around whale calving lagoons, which is illegal by the way...the lagoons are NO FLY zones. So in case you are flying with someone who
wants to give you a thrill...maybe mention the risk to the babies. MOst errors are made out of ignorance which is why I wish to pass the word about
why flying low is dangerous to whale calves.
and not about the low flying
capt. mike - 12-14-2007 at 06:37 PM
mea culpa.
for the record - i never do that.
but no more funny pix from this guy.
[Edited on 12-15-2007 by capt. mike]