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I cringed, too, when I heard the guide say that, but soon learned that he meant it in the best possible way. For many decades, I had pursued the occasional opportunities to observe whales in the wild that came my way, mostly through excursions. Way back when, despite years of sea duty with the Navy, I didn't encounter a single whale, and as sonar officer, I was in a position to find them if they were there. Alas, not where my ships operated. Even on the organized whale watching tours I had managed to get on, few and far between for someone who lives far from the sea, sightings had been few, sparse and distant, if any at all.
But not this time. Last week, we spent a day visiting the quiet waters of a lagoon of Magadalena Bay, Baja California, Sur, near the fishing village of Puerto Adolfo Lopez Mateos, Mexico, on the Pacific coast. The trip was planned to coincide with the mid-Winter visit to the sheltered waters of Pacific Gray Whales who bear their young and breed before returning to their Summer feeding grounds in the Bering Sea. A beautiful whale and her calf and other Grays permitted us the privilege of observing at length their graceful patrolling of the calm, blue waters.
Weighing thrity tons or more and about the size of a school bus, Gray Whales, while not the largest of their kind, are entirely large enough to render people golf-crowd quiet while observing in calm awe. We went out in a party of seven with a guide and fisherman operating the quiet outboard motor of the small Panga boat.
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Before we knew it, there were whales all around us, and very close.
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If you have the bandwidth for it, I highly recommend these videos we took of the encounter with a whale and her calf.
For any whale tail junkies like me, there is also this:
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And this:
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Now go forth encouraged by the knowledge that despite the constant depredations of man, these beautiful creatures and a bit of the natural world they inhabit still abide; and when you sleep tonight, may you, as I will, dream of whales.