The Gray Whale Advocate Newsletter

Contents, both editorial and photographic are:

copyright 2001

Keith E. Jones

Hola amigas y amigos:

Please be advised that my email and my website were down and out of commission. I won’t detail the continuing string of catastrophes that have hit my site. I do want all of you to know that The Gray Whale Advocate and Baja Jones Adventure Travel are both still 100 percent active. We were just off line for a short time. My secondary email is good and I access and answer email promptly when contacted at - - - rowman@earthlink.net - - - or keith@greywhale.com

For those of you new to the newsletter, I want to give just a brief description about the area I operate in.

Laguna Ojo de Liebre (formerly known as Scammon’s Lagoon) and the town of Guerrero Negro are located 450 road miles south of the border, just a mile south of the 28th parallel. The other two major gray whale lagoons are Magdalena Bay and San Ignacio Lagoon. Our lagoon is the largest, nearest to the U.S., and always has five to ten times as many whales in it as do either of the other two lagoons.

Access to this lagoon is restricted because all property surrounding the lagoon is controlled by Exportadora de Sal, the salt company jointly owned by Mitsubishi and the Mexican Government. Our lagoon has the tightest restrictions placed upon the boat operators of any of the lagoons. There are less boats on the water here than at any of the other lagoons. Combine all of the above with the many friends I have in Guerrero Negro and you know why I have made this my second home.

Many of you know that whale watching at Guerrero Negro this year was phenomenal, from the first trip on New Year’s Day until the very end of March. There were still some whales lingering in the outer lagoon area late in April. I worry about these late departures because that means they will have less time to feed this summer.

This year the "friendly" whale activity in our lagoon rivaled that of San Ignacio Lagoon. I believe every one of our groups experienced at least one very close encounter. Many of you were fortunate to get to feel what a gray whale touch is like. Some of us had the extraordinary experience of having a 40 foot adult swim beneath our 20 foot panga and just lay there inches below the bottom of our panga for a very long time.

I do not and will not ever push the touching of whales as the primary reason to go whale watching. It does occur on about 30 percent of the individual boat trips out on the lagoon. However sometimes days will go by without a single boat having the touching experience. Then all of a sudden, it seems every boat returns to shore to report a "friendly" encounter.

Numerous individuals have contacted me with concerns about reports of low birth rates and high mortality rates among the gray whales. I cannot verify this. What I saw in the lagoon this year was relatively normal, except that the migration started slow and the whales left for the north later than normal. There were at least 1000 and maybe as many as 1,500 whales in the lagoon. It seemed that virtually every adult whale not involved in mating activities was accompanied by a baby. I saw hundreds of baby whales. My estimate is that there had to be at least 400 to 600 baby whales in the lagoon this year. Possibly many more than that. Since we don’t get to visit all areas of the lagoon, my informal observations are not comprehensive. There are vast areas of Laguna Ojo de Liebre that go unobserved.

I came across an interesting series of articles being published by SF Weekly. This publication is nationally known for its in depth and comprehensive investigative reporting. Here are links to the two articles published so far.

http://www.sfweekly.com/issues/2001-04-25/feature.html/page1.html

http://www.sfweekly.com/shadesofgray/index.html

The first article above, actually the second in this series, has prompted me to plan a trip to Siberia, Sakhalin Island to see for myself. The trip is in the initial planning and preparation stages. I will probably go from August 15th to August 22nd, but may stay through the 29th. If you’re interested in going along on this very exciting trip, read the article, then let me know.

I promised everyone who went whale watching this year that I would have digital photos available in May. A CD containing all the images from all of this season’s trips will be available in June. The price for this CD is $20.00 and includes postage and handling. Please be advised that these images were all taken using a small digital camera with resolution intended for the internet. This means that the images will probably not give good photo quality prints if you convert them to glossy photos.

Anyone interested in the CD email me with your name, address, phone number and email contact.

I have been asked dozens of times about sportsfishing in the Guerrero Negro area. Finally I can say, that yes I can offer fishing trips here. I don’t believe this newsletter is the proper place to talk about sportsfishing, so I won’t go into detail. If you are interested in a unique and action packed fishing adventure, just email me and I’ll send you some information, including the details of our first trial fishing trip. You will be amazed at how good the fishing is! ! ! !

That’s all for now.

Keith (baja) Jones

Baja Jones Adventure Travel

and coming soon:

www.whalesforkids.org

www.whales4kids.org