bajalorena
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Whales at Lopez Mateos?
Has anyone been recently whale watching at Lopez Mateos? We would like to take our grandsons next week, but would like a real time update on the
population of whales. Thanks...........
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capt. mike
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plenty there according to flyin sams who have the clinic there.
they will be back this weekend.
formerly Ordained in Rev. Ewing\'s Church by Mail - busted on tax fraud.......
Now joined L. Ron Hoover\'s church of Appliantology
\"Remember there is a big difference between kneeling down and bending over....\"
www.facebook.com/michael.l.goering |
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bajalorena
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thanks, Mike
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dtutko1
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we have friends who drove up to Lopez Mateos last week from Pescadero and went on a whale watching panga and saw no whales, plenty of dolphins and
other sea life, but not 1 whale. Maybe Shari has an explanation.
Dorado Don
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bill erhardt
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It was a very bad year for whales at Lopez Mateos. Through mid-January I fished out of Lopez whenever the wind was down, running north from the ramp
to Boca de Soledad and out to the Pacific. I did not see a single whale in the estero over dozens of trips. A couple of times there were whales in
the boca. This morning I spoke to Ruben Duran who is the primo fishing guide out of Lopez Mateos. He fished yesterday in the estero and saw no
whales. He said that recently there have been one or two in the boca early in the morning, but with the wind blowing as it has been it is too rough
for a panga in the boca. Ruben thinks that the whale season in Lopez, such as it has been, is over.
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DianaT
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| Quote: | Originally posted by bill erhardt
It was a very bad year for whales at Lopez Mateos. Through mid-January I fished out of Lopez whenever the wind was down, running north from the ramp
to Boca de Soledad and out to the Pacific. I did not see a single whale in the estero over dozens of trips. A couple of times there were whales in
the boca. This morning I spoke to Ruben Duran who is the primo fishing guide out of Lopez Mateos. He fished yesterday in the estero and saw no
whales. He said that recently there have been one or two in the boca early in the morning, but with the wind blowing as it has been it is too rough
for a panga in the boca. Ruben thinks that the whale season in Lopez, such as it has been, is over. |
That is really a shame especially after they were hit so hard with the hurricane. 
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shari
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Mood: there is no reality except the one contained within us "Herman Hesse"
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this is consistant with what I had heard as well...I was surprised when Mike said the Sams saw lots of whales there.
This year, there has been a large decline of whales present in all the lagoons. There were only 18 calves reported in San Ignacio last week and it was
the peak of the season there. I cant remember the exact # of calves in Ojo de LIebre but it was only around 150 at the end of february which is by far
much less than the usual amount of babies.
It would be neat if the Reserve posted the census reports publically...they post them at the Interpretive Centre in the inner lagoon at Ojo de
Liebre...the ejido part.
researchers say it is a natural cycle...the population has it's ups and downs...but I bet there is some reason behind it....perhaps food scarcity so
they self regulate their numbers??? This concurs with the theory that whales limit their population numbers when it has reached it's original
estimated population size which would be ideal for food ratios. It is interesting to see the charts over the years for dips and spikes in population
numbers and they always are similar in each lagoon.
remember the Exxon Valdez oil spill...there was a huge decline in reproduction a couple years after that and I always wondered if it had something to
do with the icky stuff affecting their food ....as they are bottom feeders.
I notice there are many more whales than usual outside our place which is logical..less whales in the lagoons=more whales on the outside.
another one of my many dreams is that someone might have the time to come and set up a little counting station here...it would only take say 3 people,
or 2 dedicated souls who would rotate watches and count the whales passing in a day. It is interesting to note the space between them...every few
minutes, one or a few pass by...some outside the island and many between the island and the point at our place.
They started trekking northbound earlier this year as well.
Perhaps we could organize some nomads to post the counts out of the 3 lagoons...I could get the Ojo de Liebre data, maybe someone with connections in
San Ignacio and Lopez Mateos could get them for those areas and we can moniter the numbers.
[Edited on 3-9-2010 by shari]
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DianaT
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I know before we left BA we were surprised to see so many still headed south--there were several everyday and they did not seem to be in a hurry. At
least they looked like they were headed south. Last year we saw some heading north the first week of March - I remember the dates because of the one
that did a complete breach in honor of John's birthday---or at least he thought he was saying happy birthday. 
There are a number of articles on the internet about the late Grey Whale migration this year that talk about it being a part of the Climate Change and
the warming of the ocean----interesting reading, except for those who think there is no change happening.
It sounds like the changes happening in their northern home are causing them problems---the adaptation will be interesting.
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flyfishinPam
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I Live in Loreto and have been doing whale watching tours for a cruise lines that offers these trips once a week for the past 10 weeks. i can count
on one hand how many whales i saw in a combined two hours times ten of these trips trips (ten weekly trips). Jimena changed the boca de solidad and
the entrance has a big sand bar blocking it. I would imagine the tides have been affected. I know that the east side off the boca is much shallower
than it was last year even on a high tide a whale couldnt go in there and I have filmed whales there in past years. i am so sorry for the people of
Lopez Mateos. it seems that whan there are whales they are too far out into the boca to take passengers safely to see them. bummer
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