April 8, 2011: Gray Whale Census

Ok, this is almost unbelievable. We have over 100 whales in the lagoon this week. NEVER before have we seen these huge numbers of whales in the lagoon.

April 8, 2011
Gray Whale Census: San Ignacio Lagoon

Adult Gray Whales:  90
Gray Whale Calves:  87
Total Gray Whales:  177

March 18, 2011 Census

Gray Whale Census for San Ignacio Lagoon
March 18, 2011

Adult Gray Whales:   107
Gray Whale Calves:    68
Total Gray Whales:    175

March 10, 2011 Census

San Ignacio Lagoon Gray Whale Census
March 10, 2011

Mother calf pairs:  58 for total of 116
Singles:                167

Total:  283 Gray Whales at San Ignacio Lagoon

Grocery Shopping for whale camp

Maldo's Grocery Run to Town

As in all things at the camp.....this is a most interesting photo journal. Maldo has to drive to camp every 4 to 5 days to reprovision our camp supplies which include these items:
*food
*water
*ice
*sodas & beer
*kitchen supplies
*gasoline for the pangas
*auto supplies for repairs




There's SO much that goes into running an operation like this that this is only a HINT of what we do. I always tell my friends that it's like moving a regiment of marines through the desert during a WWII campaign and we have to keep our supply lines going and as the season goes on it's harder on all of us at camp since we have been running at 99% every day.

In Maldo's words below:

Esta foto es del mercado San Ignacio donde compro casi todo

lo nesesario para el campo como, vejetales,frutas, avarrotes etc.esta

a unas 45 millas de Laguna de San Ignacio con un camino de terraseria

en no muy buenas condiciones, al viajar se hacen aproximadamente dos horas

de ida y dos de regreso mas el tiempo en las compras.

Translation:

These photos are of the San Ignacio Market where we buy almost all of our necessary thigns for the camp such as vegtables, fruit, general supplies etc...  It is 45 miles from San Ignacio Lagoon on a washboard, dirt road that takes us there in very good condition. It takes me about two hours to get to town and two hours to return plus the amount of time that it takes to purchase supplies. 

*Basically it takes Maldo a full day when he leaves camp at 7am and returns around 5pm. When Maldo goes to town, he has to buy more than just food. It's fuel for boats and a whole laundry list of things for every one of the folks that work at the camp. 

Guest Report: Martha Bock

Guest Report from Mrs. Martha Bock
5 day air trip March 1-5

Notes from Martha's travel journel

March 1, 2011

It was a beautiful sight again, buzzing the western coastline of Baja, passing over Guerrero Negro and then finding "our" lagoon with whales waiting for us. We saw a mom and calf from the air and began to see blows as soon as we got off the plane. We knew this was a good sign. Later, a million, million stars at night and the echoing voices of whale-breath as I walked out to the point and switched off my flashlight.

March 2, 2011

Whales everywhere! This is the most whale activity I've seen in the many years I've been coming down. We're seeing spy-hopping, breaching, and even mating behavior.

March 3, 2011

Cuco took us out to an area called "the nursery" because moms take their babies there to get them ready for the long trip north. I've never seen so many mother and calf pairs in one place before. On the afternoon whale-watch, we shared a friendly mom-calf pair with another boat. Cuco said that he recognized the pair from the morning in the nursery. The baby was so sweet, letting us pet and love on it. It was looking right at us and then rolling, on its side, closing its eye as if to say, "MMM, that feels good!"

March 4, 2011

It was so fun to be with the British couple who had come such a long distance to see the whales. And, she really did say, "snogging" after she got to kiss the baby!! That's slang for making out, for those who haven't read Harry Potter!

March 13 & Final Guide Report - Tom & Patti

Reflections of the Showermaster, March 13, 2011


“Fantastic!”; “That was incredible!”; “I feel like a different person!”


These might be the excited exclamations that you would expect after a great whale watching outing, but actually these are the rewarding comments that guests share with me when they emerge from their hot afternoon showers. Of course I love the whale-watching, the birds, the intertidal life and the stars, but an unexpectedly rewarding part of my job as assistant guide at Campo Cortez is my daily role as “Showermaster”.

A hot shower in Baja California is hard to come by, and in the remote desert of San Ignacio Lagoon it is a true and unexpected luxury. As Showermaster I prepare the showers and let our guests know when their turn has come. “Hot, warm-hot, warm or cold?”, I ask as part of the orientation. “There is a changing room, and then in the shower you just flip the switch and you’re off. Give a yell if you need it a little hotter or colder, but don’t say anything that you don’t want us to hear outside the shower! You can sing commercial jingles but no arias, in the interest of water conservation.

Any problems, just holler.”
“Ooooh“, “Perfect”, “Wow!”. “Heavenly!” . . . These are the comments I love to hear when the water begins to flow. And you wouldn’t think of it, but Showermaster is a very sociable job, with a lot of nice one-on-one conversation with guests about the day, the whale-watching, and their time at the camp. And when they emerge from the showers with satisfied smiles and hugging their towels, well, that’s the kind of gratification that keeps us all going here at Campo Cortez.







By Tom O’Brien, Assistant Naturalist Guide, Campo Cortez


Photo A: “Hot Shower Anyone?”
Photo B: Shower Sign Up

March 05-09 Guide Report

Guide Report
San Ignacio Lagoon
March 05-09, 2011
By Tom O'brien

Strictly Business

“This just became a business trip!” blurted Mel gleefully while the rest of us tried to recover from shock and awe. Mel is a urologist who had just witnessed and photographed the legendary “Pink Floyd”, or the impressive male organ of the California Gray Whale. San Ignacio is an important place for Gray Whale females to give birth to their young, but it is also a very important and active mating ground for next year’s mothers. We had all been a little worried about the numbers of whales that would show up this year after the low numbers and malnutrition of last year’s El Nino year, but 2011 has turned out to be a record year for calving mothers and numbers in general. One of the things that we’ve been witnessing has been a lot of high-action, high-energy mating going on throughout the lower lagoon.

Gray whale mating generally involves three whales: two males and one female. The groups travel and roll around together for days, often swimming notably more quickly than the other whales, then swirling into a splashing, thrashing tumble of body parts. It’s hard to distinguish fluke from flipper and one whale from another as we watch from cautious distances, because mating is the one time that the whales abandon their otherwise precise spatial awareness of their peripheral body parts. The males cooperate more than compete, with one mating while the other supports the female as a “bolster pillow”. They then switch roles and take turns with the consenting female.

What we see on the surface is a turbulent confusion that is both chaotic and graceful at the same time. Finally a huge tailstock will rise up from the sea surface, seemingly defying gravity, then another with an emphatic slap and splash, then the whole group submerges for an anxious moment. “Now keep an eye out for the Pink Floyd when they surface . . .” we warn in anticipation. A head surfaces with a snorting blow, then a pectoral fin, edge of a fluke and rolling, rolling, rolling. “Oh my God, there it is!” everyone cries with excitement. Our urologist smiles with satisfaction, confirming in his camera screen that this one will end up on his office wall.

By Tom O’Brien, Campo Cortez naturalist guide.

Photo A: “What a Big Head”, by guest Jonathan Muller

Photo B: The Pink Floyd, by guest Krista Billinghurst (March 9 – 13 trip)