Gray Whales in Mexico

Driving, driving, flying, and driving some more. That’s how I reached Baja California Sur. This time accompanied with my kid during her spring break. Perfect timing as she wouldn’t miss a day of her rigorous elementary curriculum. Instead of the cliché visit to an amusement park she’ll potentially have a once in a life time experience. A special connection between her young mind and unadulterated nature. This isn’t sea world where the orcas do somersaults  and the sea lions clap and jump through hula hoops for a prized sardine. This is San Ignacio Lagoon, a breeding and calving ground for gray whales.

I’ve had opportunities to photograph whales in both the Silver Banks and Dominica- check out some shots here. Silver banks only produced 1 special underwater encounter. I was briefly serenaded by a young male calf as it tucked it’s head into the seabed and wagged it’s tail towards the surface. The power of it’s song’s sonic reverberations made my chest rattle. A surreal experience. In between songs, while rising to surface for air, he would acknowledge his surroundings and make direct eye contact with all those who watched, but the murkiness of the water only allowed a hazy silhouette which brought forth heavy noise when attempting to reduce the shadows. Photographic results were very dismal. A chance to do justice to one of the earth’s largest creatures was not served. So, as the old mantra goes, “if you don’t succeed, try try.. blah blah blah.” Anyway, I visited Dominica 1.5 years later. Much better results with the sperm whales as they were much more sociable. They’d slow their speed to share a short swim. I swam along a mother and it’s calf for about 2-3mins in full sprint before they lost interest and took off. No chance to catch them at that point. The calves would circle us while rotating their bodies 90 degrees to take in a good look with it’s inferiorly placed eyes. The water was much clearer than Silver Banks. The only disadvantage was that the water was as deep as 250m which gave them a chance to escape us for 20-30 mins as they hunted for giant squid. Good experience, I got decent shots, but had yet achieved what I wanted. Enter Mexico, the land of monarch migrations, whale sharks, and great whites. Baja Sur complements these opportunities with an unique aquatic encounter. 

3 qualities which separated my approaches to underwater photography were the depth of water (max 5 meters), sociability of the cetaceans, and boat based excursions. The interactions won’t be the direct approach technique with which I’m accustomed. An action camera on the underwater housing hub being dipped in the water from all angles will produce twisting and upside down angles as if riding a roller coaster as opposed to steady video when swimming head on directly towards them. The shallow water was beneficial as the whales had no opportunities to deep dive. They were always present and we didn’t have to look far for another interaction. However, the visible was minimal. 1.5 meters for anything but a shadow. This being the case, you have to be within inches from their faces. My traditional rectilinear 14-30mm f4 with a minimal focus of 11in wouldn’t suffice. I dusted off the old 8-15mm “fish” with it’s in minimal focus of 6.3in. Crazy sharp and rarely misses focus, a good companion on this type of trip.

Rules restricting snorkeling with these beasts only offered topside photography. Regardless of how strong my urge, I could not jump in and squeeze a couple off. It was completely dependent on how close the whales wanted to approach. If they abutted the boat, great. If they were 1m away, a good distance in most waters, all you would get is a silhouette. I had to get my mind off of the subsequent day.

My kid and I went on a walk. In our explorations we spotted a discreet sign off the side of the outgoing road which read “bone yard” followed by a path through the desert landscape adjacent to a rocky beach. After a 200m stroll we found the remains on a gray whale; femurs, scapula’s, and a whole lot of ribs stripped clean and bleached by the sun. The light was bright so conditions weren’t ideal. I thought it would be best to return the next morning to take advantage of this potential landscape. Most days had cloudless bland skies. I was expecting the same prior to getting out of bed, but to my surprise I was blessed with the most spectacular sunrise and shot the “bone yard” until the light was too harsh.

I told my kid that the likelihood of touching one of the calves wasn’t very high so it would be best that she not get her hopes up. The trip began with a 15-30min boat ride to the center of the lagoon. Whales were spotted most commonly by the expulsion of air through their blowholes. Sometimes they were found resting at the surface and less frequently they would spy hop, a quick peak above the surface to identify the topside commotion. 10-15mins passed before the first whale approached us, a young unaccompanied calf. It swam around and under the boat. Playful, but not eager to be touched. I told my kid to enjoy the moment as seldom do people have such great proximity to whales. It put on a show for 20mins then carried along it’s business. The rest of the morning played similar scenes with calves and mothers almost teasing a touch but then swimming to their next destination. We agreed that it was a good morning, but still desired that special moment.

The afternoon was different. It appeared as though the whales got together and told everyone that the “humans are here!” They were much more rambunctious; tail slapping, breeching, blowing, etc. groups would arrive 2-3 at a time popping their head out of water demanding physical interactions.  The calves came directly to the boats almost like panting dogs wagging their tails begging for head scratches. They would raise their head out of the water, mouths wide open, and rotate their bodies laterally asking for a belly scratch. A bit intimidating at first as an animal larger than a SUV with the power to capsize us with a single breech was so willing to engage. I said “scratch scratch?” to my kid as she was a bit hesitant. Her eyes widened and her mouth hung open as she first touched the boat sized beast. It stayed for a good 30mins. Mom was at first watching from a distance, but maybe the scene ignited her early encounters with humans as she too came closer to play. At first she swam under the boat. She did not emerge from the opposite side instead she decided to stay below and rock us a bit to illicit an quick gasp and chuckle. She knew exactly what she was doing. Both frolicked for a while blowing bubbles, spraying us, and swimming along the boat as we returned to camp. The whales proved me wrong and on 3 of the 4 remaining encounters we had similar experiences. 

San Ignacio was completely different from other underwater trips. Usually my objective is for the good shot, but this time watching my kid interact with a massive yet gently giant was satisfaction enough to make this trip successful. She told me, “I’ve pet a dog, a cat, and now a WHALE!” I think she won’t forget this trip anytime soon.

March 2022