BajaNomad

Whale watching at San Ignacio, Feb 13, 2010

tripledigitken - 2-23-2010 at 04:52 PM

Kuyima was the outfitter we chose, their office is in the town square in San Ignacio. We bought our tickets Saturday morning for that day, we chose to drive ourselves, they will drive you in their van if you choose. Our tickets were $40 each, I didn't check what the extra was for the van.




It is a 44 mile trip in all but about 8 miles +- is graded dirt, passable in a car.








Fernando gave an orientation about the whales, what to expect, their behavior, what was expected of us in the pangas, where not to touch the whales, etc.



Choppy was our Capt for the trip.


"Spy Hopping" was the most common behavior of the whales this trip, but not the only one! The mountains in the background were Volcan Tres Virgenes some 60 miles distant!




Spy hopping is when the whale comes straight out of the water slowly just to where their eye can scan the horizon, look for the eye in this shot.




The other behavior we witnessed was mating. Yes right there in front of the kids and everybody!









One of the two calves we saw.














[Edited on 3-5-2010 by tripledigitken]

DianaT - 2-23-2010 at 04:59 PM

When were you there? We were there again last week.

Nice photos and we have always been very happy with Kuyima. We think they are very professional. Also, we never buy the tickets in town and they never have a problem finding us a panga---but buying in town is probably a good idea.

Our friend known as EMAM when he posted here said he has created the Dork Club----we were able to join last year, and now you can join. :biggrin:

David K - 2-23-2010 at 05:00 PM

Great!

Bajahowodd - 2-23-2010 at 05:02 PM

Fantastic photos, Ken. Sorry you didn't get to pet a whale. Shari is the expert around here on such matters, but I would conjecture that if you were witnessing Whale copulation, you were probably a tad too early in the season for whale petting. In our experience, obviously with the limitation that before too long, they all high-tail it back to Alaska, the best whale petting time is after the males have left and it is just the Mamas and their calves left in the lagoon. And from all reports I've read in the past several years, the whales historic journey has been delayed. So, folks who may not have caught a glimpse of these magnificent creatures in late march in the past, may well encounter them today.

tripledigitken - 2-23-2010 at 05:07 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by DianaT
When were you there? We were there again last week.

Nice photos and we have always been very happy with Kuyima. We think they are very professional. Also, we never buy the tickets in town and they never have a problem finding us a panga---but buying in town is probably a good idea.

Our friend known as EMAM when he posted here said he has created the Dork Club----we were able to join last year, and now you can join. :biggrin:


Diane,

We were there Sat. the 13th of Feb.

Ken