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Guest Article: Gray Whales - A Symbol of
Hope
By Al Zagofsky -
Special to the Times News of Carbon County Pennsylvania April 17,
2004
Since whaling was banned
in 1946, the California Gray Whale population has rebounded from near
extinction to a population that has been estimated to be as high as 27,000.
Gray Whales are a symbol of hope for the world's endangered species.
The Grays make an annual
10,000 mile migration along the California coast from their Bearing Sea feeding
grounds to Baja California's protective lagoons where they mate and birth their
calves.
I joined Sea Kayak
Adventures, Inc. for a weeklong kayaking expedition in the longest and most
remote of these lagoons, Magdalena Bay.
Our group of eleven
adventurers and three guides met in Loreto, midway down the east coast of the
peninsula and Spanish California's original capital.
Early the next morning,
two shuttle vans arrived-one for people and their belongings, the other loaded
with supplies and towing a kayak trailer.
Three hours later, as we
descended the 3,000-foot high cactus-covered Giganta Mountain range, we had our
first glimpse of the Pacific coast of Baja and Magdalena Bay.
After unloading the
kayaks, supplies, paddling equipment and personal bags, we ate our first lunch
of cheese and local vegetables as we watched pelicans dive for fish.
Following a sea kayaking
orientation, we launched our tandem kayaks and were off on a journey that would
put us out of touch with the commercial world for five days.
As we paddled the
mangrove-lined channel, flocks of snowy egrets, blue herons and cormorants
lined the trees, waded in the shallow water or flew low over the
water.
As it was low tide,
both the roots of the mangroves and the sand bars were exposed, forcing us to
get out of our boats and pull the kayaks across the sand bar into the deeper
water.
We paddled passed a pod
of dolphins and saw a sea lion and pup resting on shore before we made camp on
an unnamed sand-duned island.
We dined on fish Vera
Cruz as we watched a red colored full moonrise follow a Kodak moment
sunset.
Though we woke to an
overcast morning, by the time we set out to paddle the mangroves, it was sunny
and comfortable. One island served as a rookery for hundreds of sea
birds-cormorants being in the majority.
Returning to our camp,
we lunched and then walked across the narrow island to view a herd of sea lions
on a beach of surrealistic emptiness.
The next morning, the
seas were choppy as we crossed the channel. Waves crashed over the hulls and
occasionally, water from the waves sprayed into our faces providing the
grandest thrill of the trip.
After covering twenty
miles and paddling nearly thirty miles that included side trips and circuitous
routes around sand bars, we arrived at the southern tip of Isla Santa Domingo,
the bay entrance frequented by Gray Whales.
As the Mexican
government does not permit kayaks in this part of Magdalena Bay, the outfitter
hired captained motorboats for the whale watching.
The Mexican government
has specially licensed these skiffs so that the whales are not inundated with
boats. These captains are sensitive to the whale's moods and leave if the whale
shows signs of discomfort.
Within minutes, our
captain called our attention to a rising form just left of the boat. It was an
enormous figure, perhaps twenty-foot long and, we feared that it would flip our
boat. This, it turned out, was the calf. Nearby, the mother watched. She was
more than twice as large.
When the calf came along
side the boat, everyone went to that side wanting to touch the calf-nearly
swamping the boat from the shifting weight. Everyone got to pet the calf while
the mom watched from on the other side of the boat. Our captain said that only
one in fifty calves allowed itself to be touched.
"It is spectacular to
have a whale come up to the boat," said an expedition member. "It was very
moving though I'm having second thoughts about it. It was beautiful for us but
I wonder how it impacts the whale calves to have people so close."
As its natural wonders
draw more people to visit and relocate to Baja, a building boom is anticipated.
Will the Gray Whale's success become the beginning of its next
crisis?
Click here for Baja'a Desert Whales trip
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