Expedition Spotlight: The Gray Whales of Baja California

Anytime you're in the wild, anytime you encounter wildlife, it's a truly magical experience. But coming down here to Baja and seeing these gray whales leaves one with a sense of how it is that we can be with the wild, how it is that we can live with it, and hopefully we go home as stewards wanting to take care of these amazing creatures and the homes they live in. Hi, my name is Mary Lou Blakeslee and I'm a naturalist for Lynn Bladdon Expeditions. We are here in Baja California Sur experiencing some beautiful islands and beaches, but the highlight is definitely the gray whales. We come down to Baja California Sur to see these gray whales in their birthing lagoons. These saltwater lagoons on the outer coast of Baja provide the perfect habitat for the whales to give birth and to raise their young. These gray whales have the largest longest migration of any marine mammal. They come 6,000 miles from the arctic waters down to these warm salty bays to give birth. Because of the huge long migration that these youngsters are just about to do, the female gray whales have the richest fattest milk of any cetacean. Here they give birth to these little guys and then fatten them up before this really long swim up north. Sometimes the young ones, only a few months old, will come right up to our Mexican pangas, the little boats that we go out to see them in, and these amazing little creatures are so trusting and so curious. It's a once-in-a-lifetime experience, something you never forget. For me, I love seeing the gray whales because I love how trusting they are of us. They were nearly driven to extinction three times and yet they have come to a place within their society where they're willing to come up to our boats and give us a chance one more time, and hopefully we have evolved as a civilization to deserve that chance.