Active Adventure Trips in Baja Under $1,000

Sea Kayak Adventures is offering two trips in Baja this winter that are easy on your pocketbook. For less than $1,000 per person land-only with hotels and camping, you can paddle a kayak to remote islands in the Sea of Cortez, snorkel in aquamarine waters, and have an once-in-a-lifetime experience going eye-to-eye with a friendly gray whale. The trips meet in Loreto and details are below.

Baja Gray Whale Adventure -

Go eye-to-eye with a 30-ton gray whale and its calf as they swim up alongside your boat on the wild western coast of Baja, Mexico. On SKA's three-day gray whale adventure you’ll spend several hours each day in a motorized skiff getting close to the whales, dolphins, and sea turtles that cruise along the bathwater-warm waterways of Baja California’s renowned Magdalena Bay, home to the highest concentration of nursing gray whales in North America. Next, you’ll enter a labyrinth of mangrove channels, past cacophonous heron rookeries and mudflats teeming with migrant shorebirds. Then it’s back on land to trek through the rolling sand dunes pausing for whalebones, and rare seashells to watch spouting grays as the sun sinks into the Pacific Ocean. At camp, biologist guides dish out tasty chili relleno, margaritas, and educational tidbits on whale natural history. Nights are spent in comfortable tents on a sandy barrier island, where the hollow sounds of whales breathing lull you to sleep. From January to March, hundreds of California gray whales arrive at this remote coast to mate and calve after a 5,000-mile journey from the icy waters of the Bering Sea. When to go: January-March. The price of $895 per person includes two nights’ hotel in Loreto; two nights camping in Mag Bay; all meals; all camping equipment; and guides. SKA donates a small portion of your trip cost to wildlife conservation groups in Baja. Afterward, go snorkeling through brilliant turquoise water in the Bay of Loreto National Marine Park in the Sea of Cortez ($95).

Sea of Cortez Kayaking Quick Adventure -

Sea Kayak Adventures is offering a four-day sea kayaking trip in Baja’s Sea of Cortez that cost less than a grand including two nights’ hotel in Loreto and three nights’ camping on secluded beaches in Loreto Bay National Marine Park. The Sea of Cortez has been declared a World Heritage Site and the waters surrounding the Park are a sanctuary for blue-footed boobies, fin and blue whales, dolphins and sea lions. Participants will paddle sea kayaks below towering volcanic cliffs amid sea caves and rocky reefs, get close to a 50-foot whale, trek cactus-studded arroyos and snorkel in crystal-clear bays. All activities are led by naturalist guides, who dish out tasty chile rellenos and margaritas in tented beach camps at days end. A support skiff carries the camp supplies including ice to keep the drinks cold. When to go: January-April. Cost: $995.

Sea of Cortez Kayaking & Magdalena Bay Whale Watching Combos -

• Are perfect for those who want to experience both sea kayaking and whale watching in a limited time frame. We've combined the best of two worlds- whale watching in the surreal landscape of Magdalena Bay and sea kayaking in Loreto Bay National Marine Park on this 8-day trip. During the first half, you'll explore warm and protected waters by kayak, with time for hiking and snorkeling, too. During the second half, daily excursions in motorized skiffs from our base camp brings you close to magnificent gray whales and their calves in this Pacific nursery, where you can also hike across sand dunes to remote ocean beaches. When to go: February and March. Cost: $1795.

SKA and Responsible Tourism

SKA is professionally committed to the environmental well being of the places we visit and where we operate. We follow leave-no-trace minimum impact practices. We seek to create inspirational experiences for guests, and we support a variety of institutions that further these ideals. Furthermore: SKA staff members personally encourage and actively support awareness, deeper appreciation, and preservation of our seas and natural ecosystems. Our trips are great adventures that emphasize heightened attentiveness to human impact on the environment.

• Ensuring minimal impact on the environment by using responsible leadership and maintaining small groups.
• Preparing travelers for each encounter with local cultures, plants and animals; teaching them environmentally sound ways of enjoying the wilderness.
• Providing eco-tourism as a viable economic alternative to resource extraction.
• Ensuring our staff know and participate in all aspects of company policy to prevent adverse impact on the environment
• Contributing to the conservation of visited regions with voluntary donations and permit fees.
• Providing competitive, local employment in all aspects of business operations and participating in recycling programs both on and off the water.

NativeEnergy - is dedicated to fighting global warming through the support of Native American, farmer-owned, charitable-purpose renewable energy projects that create social, economic and environmental benefits. SKA commits to voluntarily offset and help neutralize all of the energy used by our main office in Idaho and our Baja operation in Loreto through a innovative new partnership with NativeEnergy. SKA purchased 231 tons of carbon offsets in 2008, which has the same global warming offset impact as keeping 35 average cars off the road for an entire year.

In March 2008, SKA donated $1000 to Grupo Tortuguero, a local conservation group working to save endangered sea turtles in Baja's Magdalena Bay. Several of SKA's Mexican guides, Charo and Vladimir, work with Grupo Tortuguero during our off-season in Baja.

Guest photos

View Gary Luhm's beautiful images from his November 2008 Sea of Cortez trip at http://www.garyluhm.net/lightroomwebstuff/baja/index.htm

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