BajaNomad

Whales Wash Up in Santa Rosalia

Bob and Susan - 1-9-2005 at 12:39 PM

Brenda of Santa Rosalia has posted some info and pictures of a couple of whales that washed up in Santa Rosalia recently....:yes::yes:

http://www.santarosaliacasitas.com/jan2005.htm

Take a look....and.....
Think of the smell that will come later:lol::lol:

One time a long time ago

jrbaja - 1-9-2005 at 12:45 PM

when I was a surfer dude, we found a whale on the beach.
My cousin and I thought it would make a nice trampoline. It did, until we broke through the skin.
Our older brothers almost made us walk home from Mexico and our parents probably would have thanked them for leaving us:lol:
Guess how much time it takes to wash off rotten whale?
In fact, I'll bet there are some on here that will say it has never gone away! :rolleyes:

4baja - 1-9-2005 at 07:11 PM

would love to get the teeth from one of those whales. the dead can be of use and my girl friend uses these for teaching purposes.:coolup:

Me No - 1-9-2005 at 07:16 PM

You are right Steve the teeth are very valuable. I believe one other part of a dead sperm whale can be used also but I can't remember what it is. It might be the liver, and I think they use it in perfume, or used to. Just a tiny bit is worth a small fortune.

movinguy - 1-9-2005 at 10:11 PM

Ambergris is a sperm whale secretion (not sure exactly which orifice) that was widely used for making perfume. It's been replaced by synthetic compounds in most processes and I believe is even illegal to harvest in the USA. Probably OK in Baja though . . .
:cool:

Mexitron - 1-9-2005 at 11:45 PM

I vaguely recall sperm whale oil being used in jet engines since it didn't break down under adverse conditions....I remember Jojoba oil(Baja native plant) was also useful for this, and as a replacement for using whales...

[Edited on 1-10-2005 by Mexitron]

Taco de Baja - 1-10-2005 at 09:05 AM

Quote:
Ambergris, waxlike substance originating as a morbid concretion in the intestine of the sperm whale. Lighter than water, it is found floating on tropical seas or cast up on the shore in yellow, gray, black, or variegated masses, usually a few ounces in weight, though pieces weighing several hundred pounds have been found. Ambergris has been greatly valued from earliest times. It is now used as a fixative in perfumes. Its active principle is ambrein, a crystalline alcohol with the empirical formula C 30 H 51 OH.

http://www.encyclopedia.com/html/a1/ambergri.asp
--------------
ebay of course has some for sale...$7.50 + $1.00 shipping for 1 Dram (0.12 ounces or 3/4 of a teaspoon). That?s equivalent to $62.50 an ounce or $1,000 a pound, not including shipping...... :O


[Edited on 1-10-2005 by Taco de Baja]

bajalou - 1-10-2005 at 09:11 AM

There are fields of jojoba in southwestern Arizona which look abandoned. Probably the economics didn't work out.

:biggrin:

Excellent Pompano!

Skeet/Loreto - 1-10-2005 at 01:32 PM

I was there at the time and can tell you that you could smell them from 5,000 Ft. I was going into the small Strip at San Nicolas, starting my descent. It was a Hellofa Site and Smell!!
I have several of the Ballennas{Sp} from the mouth of a Whale, they are Black and very Hard with stringers I think to catch the small Plankton as they Eat.
I also have a Vertabre, Rib Cage, and several of the very Old Whale bones that I got out before the closure.
I had the Great Pleasure of seeing a very large Dead Whale Explode near San Jacinto on the Pacific.

Pampona , Did you ever meet "Lupe", the little Indian with One eye who "Baja Patty " had as her Pistolera on the ranch.?

Would like to find him if Possible. I heard that MontyNegro died on the Streets at Mulege, but have been unable to find "Lupe" after Patty died.

Thanks
Skeet/Loreto

Whales and Baja Patty

Pompano - 1-10-2005 at 04:34 PM

Skeet....I don't recall 'Lupe', but I was partying pretty hardy in those days at Patty's Margarita rancho and was lucky to get home in one piece mostly. Never knew anyone who could party like her. I know a lot of indios..and some with both eyes!..(lots of one-eyed guys around Mulege area.) I will ask Benicio, my old gardener, who is as old as the hills and has a better memory than me. I am looking at one of Patty's Little People right now...cute little Pancho Villa guy. She brought it over to me one day with some special tea she'd made to combat a flu I'd come down with. Quite the gal...it was a sad day when we boated her back to the penisula for the final time.

JR

Capt. George - 1-10-2005 at 07:41 PM

are they still good to eat after you trample them?

Save the whales, save the whales, the sky is falling, the sky is falling....ooohhh,
my favorite people!

Trampoline, muy bueno.....

Pompano

Skeet/Loreto - 1-11-2005 at 09:20 AM

In about 1072 I flew into San Nicolas for a few Days, that night around a campfire i met a Little Indian who attached himself to me. He was working with Chico fishing. he would work for several months, take his money to Mulege, buy all the Beer he could and throw a Party for his Friends, then go back and go to work again.
He heard me say that I liked "Black Coral" so I now have at least 5 Pounds of it.
He would take a Large rock and drop down 105 Feet,break it off and surface. He would do that three times each day he went fishing.

We did a lot of fishing a Del Elfonso. The Black Coral Reef is still there but I will never Tell Where~~

Do you know the name of those "Strainers" that the Whales use?

Skeet/Loreto

black coral

fishinrich - 1-11-2005 at 10:03 AM

Skeet--- I have dove that reef with scuba gear, down to 120'. The black coral looks yellow underwater, it's the outer growth and the depth at which it's at. The last few years in loreto the shop on east side of the plaza that used to sell black coral jewelry has not been open when I am around, any idea what happened to it? When you sit down to take a rest don't sit on a fire ant nest--pardner!!! fishin rich

Bajalero - 1-11-2005 at 11:26 AM

Skeet , always a pleasure to read your stories. If you haven't done so already you should be putting them on paper each time you remember something. Just how the hell old are you anyway? lol.

To answer your question , the filter material in a whales mouth is called baleen. There are actually 2 kinds of whales , "toothed and baleen"

Rich

Skeet/Loreto - 1-11-2005 at 11:27 AM

I think that Luis and his Wife finally retired. The last time I visited with him was about 4 years ago when he gave me permission to gather some "Black Palm" seeds from the two Huge palm trees behind the Shop.
The large bag of Black coral has a yellow tint to the surface. I am trying to find someone that will take it and prepare it properly.
Do you know the spot of Hot Water South of Pulpito?
Skeet

Lera

Skeet/Loreto - 1-11-2005 at 11:36 AM

Are you in La Paz now?

I will be 74 the 17th of May coming.The Air is so much better than Calif. I am planning on going to 105.
Thanks for the Info. I am going through some old Photos and found the snapshots of when i coaxed the Pilot Whale up to the Panga and reached down and touched it. i am trying to learn how to scan and will post when I do.

Are you also aware that there is a White{albino} not too far North of La Paz?It will be interesting to see who gets a Photo. Maybe this year, Who Knows!

Skeet/Loreto

Bajalero - 1-11-2005 at 11:44 AM

Skeet , It's lero, but thats ok.
I was poking a little fun at you because in your previous post you said you flew over San Nicholas in 1072.

Pompano - 1-11-2005 at 03:06 PM

Skeet....sounds like fun diving around Isla del Fonso and San Nicholas. We were doing some interesting dives out of Pta. Chivato and San Marcos at that time. I remember some night dives to 80 feet near Sta. Inez...brrr..and you could feel some turbulence in the water behind your back...made the hairs stand up. My diving friend then was Manuel Diaz...I'm sure your Mexican buddy would have known him. Also later on George Staples at Pta. Chivato and Bill Alvarado, the hotel owner at that time.

Did you ever meet an early flyer by the name of Blackjack, Clarence, or Dusty? They flew..a
Taylorcraft, a vintage Stenson Station Wagon and a 180 taildragger. We made some trips back then too...and one a lot earlier when I was 15 to Rcho Buena Vista below La Paz.

Here is a picture of Manuel from back then.. he was quite a champion diver in his day. I just talked to him yesterday about the great whites sighted and caught up by Sta. Rosalia this summer. He told me that just a few weeks ago his son, Manuelito, had half his divefin chomped off by a shark that came up behind him while he was scalloping.

Pompano - 1-11-2005 at 03:26 PM

Skeet...here's some more interesting info on those whales with the comb-like material called baleen. These baleen whales use it to filter their food from the water. They are larger than toothed whales and have 2 blowholes (nostrils). There are 9 or 10 species of these kind. Sometimes (like my old prof did) they are called mustached whales and most are listed as endangered or protected.

On the other side of the whales are the toothed...who are predators plus. They use peg-like teeth to catch fish, squid, and marine mammals, swallowing them whole. They only have 1 blowhole and use echo location to hunt. Lots of these around...over 60 species. Not endangered and the fastest at 30mph for the Orcas and
Short Fin pilot whales.

We had Orcas here in Conception Bay back in 1987. They were after the big run of langostinos that were happening then. That was a wild sight...all the beaches were windrowed with millions of these red lobster-like critters. The Calypso came to study the event with Cousteau's son running the research.

Nothing like Whales!

I know you will like this aerial photo of Pta. Chivato from 1973.

Pompano

Skeet/Loreto - 1-12-2005 at 06:17 AM

Itwas somewhat different in the 70 and 80's. I ran across manuel diaz around the Hotel Mulege when Saul was running it. Also new of dusty and the Stinson. I went into Pt. chivato in 1972 , took the wings of of a Cessna 310, out the thing on a trailer and back across the Ferry to guyamas then to the States.
did you ever see the Twin engine buried in the Sand off of the Strip a Chivato?
I was flying a 170b in and out of the Strip on the edge of San Nicholas, fishing mostly at the Isla DelEnfonso.
Did you ever chase the rumor that a Large amount of Gold was buried at Chivato?
They only made one Human that could dive like Diaz. what a fish!

Skeet/Loreto

Pompano

Skeet/Loreto - 1-12-2005 at 06:21 AM

The Orcas were in at Rancho Buneo Vista in 1976. I was out fishing for Roosterfish when I saw a small group following a School of small mantas. they would grab them and stun them then go back around and Eat them. What a A Sight. After 1980.s i did not see any around loreto.

Skeet/Loreto

Pompano - 1-12-2005 at 08:04 AM

Skeet...I have some great videos taken in '87 when the Calypso followed the Orcas into Conception Bay and then right in front of my house. The orcas glutted themselves on thousands of those little lobster-like critters called langostinas by Manuel. That was a sight to see...all the beaches were piled in red with millions of those guys. What a stench after a day or two. The wierd thing is, after they died nothing would eat them! Not even the buzzards!

I lived at the Casa Grande at Pta. Chivato in the 70's and 80's whenever I went there. Bill Alvarado, Doc Lyons, George Staples were all amigos of mine back then. I was the 'designated architect-signer' ..mostly b.s. to get the job done. All of us went joint ownership on another stone house on top the hill overlooking Posada trailer park down in the Bay.

Tales of gold...buried in old adobe walls somewhere in the area..we heard those constantly from many locals. Remember Pepe..we called him 'Piano' because of his huge white teeth..he loved to tell those stories, with a lot of rum.

I know about a DC-3 ditched in shallow water by Pt. Conception when trying to land with some contraband aboard, but don't recall now any twin buried at Chivato. George and Doc did bury a human skeleton/corpse they found on Shellbeach area one day. The hands and feet had been cut off. Figured it was a killing amongst druggers at sea. Doc took the head to the US and the USN hospital at San Diego for I.D. but nothing ever came of that. I have a ton of stories about Chivato...we had some times!



[Edited on 12-10-2008 by Pompano]