By Al Zagofsky - Special to the Times News of Carbon County Pennsylvania April 17, 2004
petting whale

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.
rookery

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?