BajaNomad

Whales still frolicking! Questions ...

CaboMagic - 3-22-2011 at 03:28 PM

Wow - still frolicking all day long in the SJD Sea of Cortez .. simply breathtaking!

They headed north in December now headed south. ..

Shari can you please comment on the incredible volume, that they are still around and any other interesting points of info? anyone else?

With thank and magic best wishes!

mcfez - 3-23-2011 at 06:42 AM

Any sightings down by puertecitos lately?

shari - 3-23-2011 at 11:57 AM

Hi Lori....what kind of whales are they? Humpbacks, fin, blues?
Whales usually follow food so their movements generally have to do with available feed...except gray whales who always go to the lagoons to have their babies. The big whales come here too to birth in warmer coastal waters too.

fishabductor - 3-23-2011 at 12:04 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by CaboMagic
Wow - still frolicking all day long in the SJD Sea of Cortez .. simply breathtaking!

They headed north in December now headed south. ..

Shari can you please comment on the incredible volume, that they are still around and any other interesting points of info? anyone else?

With thank and magic best wishes!


lots here on the eastcape too. I watched them jumping around yesterday for about an hr.

Bajatripper - 3-23-2011 at 08:09 PM

The family and I drove up to San Ignacio Lagoon this past weekend to see the whales. Several friends said it was too late in the season for such a trip, one even saying the only thing we'd see were tumbleweeds along the way.
But we were fortunate, as others have noted, the whales are running late this year and there were still many in the whale-watching area near the mouth of the lagoon. We had a newborn hang out with us for the better part of an hour, repeatedly ignoring its mother's efforts to steer it to some other place she'd rather have been. We finally had enough and broke off the engagement. It was a great experience to be so close to such a large, gentle creature.

My daughter and stepson touching the calf



The mother loitering in the area as stepson looks on


Mother trying to convince junior to follow her


Junior had a fascination with boat propellers, our captain informed us, and its face showed scars and gashes from this masochistic fetish.


One of several eco-camps operating along the shore of the lagoon


Campo Cortes, where we boarded our boat out to the whale-watching area, a short ride away.


One of the fattest coyotes I've ever seen in Baja, life is good in the shadow of the eco-camps


[Edited on 3-24-2011 by Bajatripper]

Eli - 3-24-2011 at 07:13 AM

Great picture and wonderful report, thanks!

Bajatripper - 3-24-2011 at 10:37 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Eli
Great picture and wonderful report, thanks!


Thanks, Eli. Been a while since I've seen any posts by you. Hope all is well.

Steve

CaboMagic - 3-24-2011 at 01:01 PM

Bajatripper those are fantastic fotos + enjoyable story with it - thank you!

Shari I dont know enough about them each to say for certain - some jump alot & flap their flippers and tails - thought those were humpback .. others seem to glide and surface just enough to show a shorter dorsal and they spray but no jumping - just amazing - and thought I saw porpoises 'escorting/swimming' with ones with a short dorsal fin -- so glad to know their population is strong and increasitheg. Is it always one mama w/one calf? Do they ever have 2 calves wth them? Thought I saw two babies jump with just one mama ..

mcfez cant comment sorry!

fishabductor guess as long as youre still seeing them we will continue seeing them passing from there thru here on their way to wherever they go next!

bien saludos Eli!

shari - 3-25-2011 at 01:13 PM

You are probably correct that the "jumpers" and flipper slappers are most likely humpacks...you can ID them by their long white pectoral fins that often slap the water and they breach more too. The others may have been fin whales....if the spout is rounder they are baleen whales as they have 2 blowholes and toothed whales have only one so the spout is straighter up...sperm whales blowhole is forward and off to the left of center so their spout tilts a bit forward and left.

Whales only have one calf but can adopt an orphan baby in a pinch.

great photos bajatripper!