Whale
Watching at the Gray Whale Nursery
Tour of Ojo de Liebre, Baja, Mexico
Join
Journey North's Jane Duden on a day of whale watching in one
of Mexico's famous gray whale nurseries. Jane traveled to Mexico's
Baja Califorinia to visit the "Ojo de Liebre" lagoon
nursery. It's about 9 hours by car from San Diego, CA.
[map]The
location of Laguna Ojo de Libre is marked in red. Baja California
is the earth's longest and narrowest peninsula. It is more than
300 miles long and only about 60-70 miles across.
This
is a welcome sign after the
long, dry drive. Let's
go see the whales! At
the entrance to the beach for whale watching we see a
greeting on the building: "Welcome to Laguna Ojo
de Liebre," it says in Spanish.
[sign]
Look closely. How much does it cost to visit?
A
whale skeleton in front of Visitor Center/Restaurant
reminds us that gray whales are B I G.
[photo]
Which bones do you see that are similar to yours?
These
are rules for whale watchers. Why is each rule important?
This
boat is called a panga. It holds 10 people and the driver,
who is well-trained and careful around the whales.
Look!
The first sign of a whale! Do you see the glassy area at the
surface of the water? It is called a "footprint." It
shows where a whale just went down.
A
fin!
A
tail!
The
whale is much closer now! A gray whale is about the same size
and weight as 10 big elephants. An adult whale is about 45 feet
long and weighs about 35 tons.
This
friendly whale lets us touch her baby. The skin feels like smooth,
wet rubber.
Those
white patches you see are called barnacles.
A big whale can carry over 200 pounds of barnacles! Once they
have settled on "their" whale, these small crustaceans
spend their entire lives in the same place.
Mom
and baby come near the boat!
The
whale is still close, but swimming away. How can you tell?
Our
boat heads back to the Visitor Center after a wonderful day.
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