Whale of a Kiss

What an incredible, humbling and spiritually fulfilling day.

We all woke pre-dawn and were out packing the bikes in anticipation of an up close and personal whale experience. Today happened to be Sharon’s birthday so I gave her a happy birthday wish and, luckily, she was feeling good enough today to go out with the whales. We hopped on the loaded bikes riding back over to the Ignacio Springs B and B and a fantastic American family style breakfast that Mary had prepared for us. They had also offered to watch our bikes for our group while we were out with the whales.

– Melanie, Greg, Sharon, Carla, Jonathan and Paul

Our van arrived on time and right after our second cup of coffee. Piling into the van, except Paul who had work to do, we set off on our slow, bumpy ride down the recently reconstructed road to the lagoon.

Last September the Baja got hit with a hurricane that left much of this area in near ruins. The road out to San Ignacio Lagoon runs through a tidal flats. This road washed out and has been replaced with a very rough dirt road, which our van load of riders would like to ride next time we go out. The Bed and Breakfast also was damaged badly and with many months of intense work is up and running and about 80%.

As we near the lagoon we pass a Osprey nest built on a sign on the edge of the road. Poking it’s head out of the nest of twigs and bits of paper is a baby Osprey. Mama put on a show flapping her wings and flying around in tight circles.

Arriving at the beach we receive our safety briefing and talk about how to act and respond to the whales “if” they happen to come by the boat. With lifejackets on we walk down to the waters edge and climb aboard our 20ft boats, or pongas, for our ride out to San Ignacio Lagoon. Watch and see what happened during our time with the Eastern Pacific grey whales. You can also check out our YouTube video

– Melanie and Carla

– Sharon

– Carla

– Melanie and Carla

– Mama and her baby

– Melanie

– Carla

– the baby blew out several times, this one creating a rainbow

The whales, it seems, enjoyed our company as much as we enjoyed their presence. The 60 foot mama kept pushing her 20 foot baby to the girls for maybe 45 minutes. At times she would swim under our boats scratching her back on the the bottom of our boat and lifting us several inches out of the water. The interaction that we had with these mammals was an incredible experience for all of us. The boat ride back to the shore was, at times, quiet with the reflection of what we had all just experienced, a truly spiritual moment.

Back on shore or hosts had prepared a fresh caught seafood stew served over rice. I pared that with a 15 peso beer for an incredible lunch. Since it was Sharon’s birthday the staff surprised her with a cake and a rendition of Happy Birthday with several singers and a guitar player.

I also had to assume the “Lost For a Reason” pose on the shoreline. Check this charity out doing good things for people in the places we like to ride.

After driving back to the bikes, we high tailed it to the coast, the town of Mulege` and then south following the coastline of the crystal clear waters of the Bahia Concepción, to our hosts’ house on a bit of paradise called Coyote Beach, just in time for a brilliant sunset as the colors faded into the bay.

Greg “WANDRR” and Melanie