AMONG THE GREAT WHALES
Hola—
We spent a week aboard the 70 passenger ship, Sea Lion, with 5 outstanding naturalists searching out the gentle, majestic California grey whales. They journey south to the warm, protected lagoons of Baja California to breed and give birth.
The “greys” have a remarkable life cycle. From April to October, they spend their time feeding and bulking up in the nutrient rich waters of sub polar Alaska. They will accumulate 6—12 inches of blubber which will be their main energy reserve until the following year. October to February signals the southern migration. The pregnant moms, well into their 12 month gestation, are the first to start the 6000 mile, 6—8 week, 7 MPH journey to Baja. Others follow with the frisky males courting, and sometimes mating, with the coy gals en route. The calving season begins when the females reach Baja in early January, and mom delivers her not-so-little bundle of joy—a 1500 pound calf. Before pregnancy, mom is a svelte 45 tons and 45 feet long. (The males are slightly smaller.) The baby will gain 60—70 pounds per day on the buttery rich maternal milk, reaching 2—3 tons and 18—19 feet before it is time to head north. Meanwhile lots of mating is occurring. The newly pregnant females are the first to start the migration north in Feb. The moms and babes are the last, some not leaving until May. Mother whale will do some feeding along the way and hope that Junior catches on and can start the transition from a milk diet to solid food. Complete weaning occurs when the calves are 8—10 months old. Back in Alaska, the cycle starts anew—voracious feeding, migration south, birthing and mating in Baja, and then back to Alaska. What an arduous lifestyle! Glad I’m not a whale…
What’s it like being a California grey whale? When feeding they turn on their right side (a few are left handed) and scoop up ocean bottom like a vacuum cleaner. Their tongue squeezes this silt and water back through the baleen filter, leaving behind inch long, bottom dwelling creatures known as amphipods—not plankton or krill. Their tummies hold about 10 wheel barrows worth of these critters. Interestingly, they are voluntary breathers and rest half of their brain at a time and the other half decides when it is time to breathe or “blow”. This was discovered when whale vets tried to anesthetize whales. They’d die because there was no awareness to tell them when to breathe. California greys are not the beauty queens or kings of whaledom. They are mottled grey/white and much of their hides are covered with barnacles and orange lice. The pristine newborns start out dark grey and are covered with hair. The greys have learned to interact with humans and seem to like touching. We saw none of this because moms were too protective of their brand new babies and the grown ups were busy playing hanky panky. It starts when the little ones are a few months old; the ones we saw were days old. On a couple of our trips from the ship, whales swam under our zodiacs. They’re HUGE! Spyhopping, when the entire 8 foot head comes out of the water, is a way to check out the scene. Breaching, when ¾ or more of the body bursts from the water, can be a signal, a courtship display, an expression of stress or just a way to get rid of those pesky barnacles and lice.
Late one afternoon, on our way from Magdalena Bay to Cabo San Lucas, we came across an extraordinary site. Three or four frisky humpback whales (larger than the greys) were vying for the attention of a female beauty. They slapped their pectoral fins and tails against the water, butted heads, and then breached. Just think of raising 40--60 tons clear of the water. As a reference, Grand Finale was about the same length (50 feet) and weighed 30 tons. This went on for a couple hours. As darkness settled, the captain moved on and we left the group to slug it out.
We saw oodles of dolphins. In the shallow waters of Magdalena Bay a pod of bottlenose dolphins rode in our bow wake. Through the mechanics of hydrology (or something like that), they get a free ride. At other times we’d see them leaping over our stern wake. One day we came across a pod of hundreds of them frolicking together in the ocean. We watched, photographed and watched some more until we saw a “blow” on the horizon.
Another time we took the zodiacs to view a bunch of sea lions zoned out on a rocky outcropping. Back at the ship we donned our wetsuits and went out and snorkeled with them. They are ballerinas under water. The stinging hydroids were not as friendly, but swimming with sea lions was worth the discomfort.
Ship life was excellent. There wasn’t a single obnoxious passenger. Best of all were the naturalists—Sue (plants, birds and wildlife management), Mary Lu (plants, birds, shells), Carlos (undersea life, marine biologist), Adrian (snakes, history of Baja, geology) and the extraordinary Michael (marine mammals and photography). The ship’s physician, Jean, was a huge Red Sox fan. The captain searched and stopped for anything that peaked our interest. Food and wine—both outstanding. One evening we had a barbecue on a sandy beach surrounded with rocky cliffs. Under an almost full moon, Adrian talked of his Aztec heritage and told the Aztec creation story. Multi talented Mary Lu (she’s also a tug boat captain) played her guitar and sang. As we tired (days were long and full) one of the crew would ferry us back to Sea Lion. Another day we hiked on Sand Dollar Beach. The sand was full of bleached sand dollars. We saw animal tracks and as the ship pulled away, there was a lone, very healthy looking coyote silhouetted against the huge, sculpted sand dunes. Bob has an awesome photo.
Before we flew to Baja, we spent a few days in San Diego. Nice city! We had dinner with a couple, Linda and Manley, we’d met on our Australia trip and spent another day with Debi, the shipboard photographer on our first Semester at Sea. We are currently in a spanking new resort, Rui Palace, in Cabo San Lucas at the tip of Baja. We are watching the news of the northeast blizzard. Glad we didn’t have to fly home yesterday. On Wednesday we go to San Jose, Costa Rica where we’ll join our next tour to visit the parks in the northwest section of that country.
ET CETERA: We saw 100’s of whales. Grey whales have recovered to prewhaling days’ numbers. Some whales are Odontocetes. They have teeth and one blow hole; baleen feeding whales have two blowholes. A grey blows 3—4 times and then raise its huge flukes and dives for 3—5 minutes. The naturalists set their stop watches and, bingo, up it come. The guys have a 15 foot “member” the naturalists call it Pink Floyd. A female grey can become pregnant again shortly after giving birth, and have to haul herself, her fetus and her nursing baby north. Which sex is stronger?? The humpbacks are larger and are the famous singers. Mexico has been very proactive in protecting these gentle giants.
Take care and stay cozy and warm. I’m a bit jealous—I love snow!
Adios,
Mom/Anne