It’s always exciting when you’re making your way to the camp, and you’re full of excitement of getting there and seeing everyone, then setting up your campervan or wherever it is you’ll be calling home for the next 3 months, and that first trip out to see the whales… woosh! It’s indescribable! But this year, it has never felt better arriving to camp with a full calendar, knowing that visitors will once again be returning to Campo Cortez for the whale watching season. It’s when you know that things finally feel something “normal”, or at least, something very familiar and warm.
It has been a turbulent couple of years, for everyone, so we are happy to say that this whale-watching season is well and truly open and happening…. We’re actually already a week in! Here’s a lowdown of what’s been happening so far:
Baja Ecotours has been developing a new trip for our guests (as well as our usual 5-day air trip) and we call it “The Big Whale Trip”. Guests will spend 3 days in Campo Cortez with the gray whales of San Ignacio Lagoon and then another 2 days in the picturesque town of Loreto, located in the Sea of Cortez, famously named “The aquarium of the world” by famous marine explorer and conservationist, Jacques Cousteau. Here guests will be taking a boat trip into Loreto Bay National Park, where it’s possible to see lots of marine life such as sea lions and dolphins, plus Humpback Whales, Fin Whales, and the mighty Blue Whale, all in one day!
Rodrigo and I usually start the season together at Campo Cortez in San Ignacio Lagoon however this year started a little different, as I jumped off (the campervan!) in Loreto to meet our first Big Whale Trip guests of 2023!
We also had an extra passenger in our van, and that was Ricardo, our marine biologist-guide who works at Campo Cortez.
He made the rest of the trip to camp with Rodrigo, a boy’s road trip in the campervan!
On the 2nd of February, I met our guests at La Mision Hotel in Loreto and the following day, we left for Campo Cortez in our Baja Ecotours transportation, stopping off in the beautiful San Ignacio Springs and a short visit to the San Ignacio Mission.
Arriving at camp was very exciting, as the Big Whale Trip guests were excited to see the gray whales, as were all of us! And see the gray whales we did!
We were given a wonderfully warm welcome by the whales, they were full of love and cuddles! We enjoyed several Mothers and their calves coming up to the boat, some of the baby whales were very young but so full of courage and pluck.
The Solas (the whales without calves) were also providing a show, and some of them seemed very excited to have us in the lagoon. Or at least that’s what we felt!
Tune in to the next blog for some more updates on our camp activities including the famous low-tide walks.
Cheers, Lorna
