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Last Updated: 07/22/03 |
        
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Photos: Mouse over to see caption; Click to enlarge Titles: Underlined titles link to corresponding journal entries Whale Watching - Magdalena Bay: One of the main reasons we went to the Baja right after Copper Canyon instead of continuing south down the mainland of Mexico was that February is prime time for whale watching. The gray whales migrate from Alaska to Baja California each year to mate and raise their young. Mette was still with us when we went to experience our first trip to see the whales. Magdalena Bay is pretty far south down the peninsula on the Pacific coast side. This year warmer water meant that the whales didn’t really need to travel this far south... so there weren’t as many whales in this bay as there had been in previous years. Still despite smaller numbers, we still saw many whales and got some really good tail shots.
Whale Watching - Guerrero Negro: A week or more later minus Mette, we reached Guerrero Negro. Much farther north than Magdalena Bay, Scammon’s Lagoon near Guerrero Negro is the whales’ number one destination, with more than half of all caves born there. So whatever the year or water temperature, there will always be lots and lots of whales here. And boy did we see a ton – close up and personal!! The calves were just at the right age to be really curious about all the small boats in the water and old enough for their mothers to let them check things out without being too protective. The results were lots of whales coming really close to our boats all the time. At one point a mother and cave stayed with us for at least 30 minutes. They were so close several people in our boat got to touch them!
Baja Missions: The Baja California mission system includes twenty missions built between 1697 and 1767. We visited four missions during our trip on the Baja including Loreto (the first mission built in 1697), San Ignacio, San Javier, and the Santa Rosalia mission of Mulege. These missions were all amazingly well preserved and some still serve as parishes for local residents.
Sierra San Pedro Martir National Park: Snow on the Baja?? Well... we found it! What Karen thought was a two hour side trip (one hour there, one hour back) to an Observatory in San Pedro National Park for a picnic lunch was really more like an eight hour journey (four hours there, four hours back)!! We realized this after we were already three hours into it. With no place to stay and not enough daylight to return if we kept going, we had to turn back before we reached the observatory. Our picnic lunch turned out to be in the middle of the road as snow prevented us from pulling off anywhere. Since we hadn't seen another car since we left the main road hours before, we didn't think this would cause any problems or traffic backups... besides, the cows lay in the middle of the road all the time and they never seem concerned. J But on the bright side, we did get to see some unexpected scenery... SNOW!!
Carnaval (Mardi Gras) in Ensenada: We arrived in Ensenada at exactly the right time without even planning it. We were walking around the city after dinner on our first night there and stumbled across a festival… it took us a couple moments to realize this was Carnaval!!! Many streets were blocked off with booths, entertainment and rides. The city had events the entire weekend and a big parade on the last day. Turns out our hotel was right at the beginning of the parade route and therefore we had excellent “seats” for the show! Luck was definitely on our side in Ensenada.
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