Gray Whales on the Pacific side

 Our desire to see migratory gray whales took us to the west coast of the Baja peninsula. A couple friends highly recommended the trip for a chance to see the calves and their moms up close, plus high wind conditions around Puerto Escondido made the decision for us. 

We left our boat on the hook at one of the well-tended mooring balls and rented a car for the enjoyable two hour journey across beautiful scenery and tremendous terrain differences. Mountainous stretches with hairpin turns and sky high cactus followed dips into valleys filled with lush greenery and arroyos ready for the next rains. Lots of ranches and cattle crossing signs so we kept an eye peeled for wandering bovine and a few goats along the way.

Diver checking our mooring ball in
Puerto Escondido after a big blow

Our friend Doug helped with
our mooring ball upon our
arrival in Puerto Escondido

Being birdwatchers, the big highlight for us was the Caracara, or Mexican eagles, of which we saw at least 100. Many of the birds were hanging out along the power line route, where additional posts were erected for their aeries (nests). Great idea for saving the power lines and made for easy bird watching.

Our day was overcast like the Oregon coast and we were blessed with some rains throughout the day. We drove through a modest little town called Insurgentes and arrived in the small port village of Lopez Mateos on the Pacific coast.

We ran into some people in the parking lot at the port who we’d met in Puerto Escondido – they were kind enough to lend us their rain jackets as we had not prepared for the cooler weather. Three vendors offered trips into the bay on their large pangas for the whale watching experience, and we connected with a Mexican family for our 2-hour outing.

It was a day well spent with plenty of oohing, aahing and photo snapping of the moms and their playful calves. As an added treat or distraction, we had an adorable little girl named Sofie with her mom and dad in the seats in front of us. They bounced that little champ back and forth across the boat (wrapped up in an XXL rain poncho) every time a whale popped up (oh Sofie, there’s a whale!). We think she must have been exhausted after the trip.

A couple of happy customers