Whale Watching By Bus
text & photos by connie ellig

In the past I have enjoyed whale watching excursions in Ensenada’s Todos Santos Bay aboard the party boats of Sergio’s Sportfishing Center and Gordos Sportfishing. My significant other and I have driven to Guerrero Negro several times for closer encounters with the celebrated cetaceans in Scammon’s Lagoon. But since I wanted to experience something new, I decided upon a mid-March group bus trip from Ensenada to Guerrero Negro with Tillie Foster’s “Whale of a Time Tours.” Because the Mexican government limits the number of visitors to Baja’s lagoons during whale watching season, I made my reservation well in advance.

Heading South on Highway 1
We were an odd assortment of travelers of all ages and professions. We hailed from Northern California, Southern California and Baja California. But we had one thing in common – we were all taking one of Tillie Foster’s “Whale of a Time Tours” from Ensenada to Scammon’s Lagoon in Guerrero Negro, and we all planned to have a whale-of-a-time adventure!

A resident of Ensenada for almost thirty years, Tillie Foster is a sprightly septuagenarian who began organizing group whale watching tours to Guerrero Negro in 1994. Well-versed in Baja legend, lore and hospitality, she accompanies every one of her adventure trips and provides a unique personal touch to ensure that everyone has an enjoyable time. Travel with Tillie is never boring!

For the convenience of those driving to Ensenada from the U.S., Tillie’s 5-day/4-night tour package includes first and last night’s accommodations at the plush but friendly San Nicolás Hotel, centrally located in downtown Ensenada. Tour clientele are allowed to leave their cars in the hotel’s private, secured parking lot. Those of us who live in Ensenada joined the trip on Friday morning (Day 2) and were welcomed aboard the 45-passenger bus by Bajarama de Mexico drivers René and Javier. We departed from the San Nicolás promptly at 8am.

The morning had been cloudy, but the sun came out as we traveled along Transpeninsular Highway 1 past the vineyards in Valle de Santo Tomás, about an hour south. At 11am we piled out of the bus to stretch our legs in San Quintín, a colorful agricultural center that is also popular among fishermen and outdoor enthusiasts.

At noon, the bus pulled up at Mama Espinoza’s Restaurant in El Rosario. Although we had snacked on crackers, cookies, fruit, juices, candy, sodas and other goodies provided by Tillie, we were eagerly anticipating lunch at this legendary landmark founded in the 1930s by Doña Anita Espinoza. Most of us ordered the house specialty, lobster burritos, which were quickly prepared by Roly Espinoza and her staff, and then served up with homemade beans, rice, salad, tortillas and salsa. Tillie took the opportunity to pose with a freshly caught 6 lb. lobster that would soon become the fare for the next fortunate diners. By 1:15pm, we were on the road again.

As we journeyed south, the desert character of Baja began to form with an abundance of cacti and other native plants. Because of previous rainfall, the desert was very green and many of the ocotillo, cirio and cardón were in bloom. At about 2:45pm, we took a 15-minute break in Cataviña, a desert garden with unusual rock formations. Although our bus was equipped a restroom, it was pleasant to use the facilities at the hospitable Hotel La Pinta and spend a few moments relaxing next to its courtyard fountain.

We continued south past El Pedregoso, a prominent landmark formed by a mountainous pile of granite boulders, and Laguna Chapala, an extensive dry lakebed of cracked clay. We passed the time chatting, dozing or listening to music on portable CD players that many of us had remembered to bring. It was very pleasant to leave the driving to someone else.

A little after 6:30pm, we reached the 28th Parallel where a 140-foot-high monument depicting a stylized eagle marks the boundary between the northern state of Baja California and the southern state of Baja California Sur. We reset our watches as we moved east from Pacific to Mountain Time. After a brief inspection at the station, we continued into the town of Guerrero Negro where, a half hour later, we checked into our rooms at Motel Don Gus. Several people decided to call it a day, but most of us opted to dine at Don Gus Restaurant, where we savored shrimp, scallops and other delicious seafood and Mexican dishes at very reasonable prices. By 10pm (11pm Mountain Time), we were all tucked into our comfortable beds with visions of whales dancing in our heads.

After a 6:45am wake-up knock on our doors, most of us had a fast bite to eat at the restaurant. We walked across Guerrero Negro’s main street, Blvd. Emiliano Zapata, then down a half block to the office of Laguna Tours, where Beatriz Bremer and her friendly staff greeted us. After a brief presentation to familiarize us with the gray whale (Eschrichtius robustus) and official whale watching regulations, we boarded Laguna Tours’ buses and departed for the tour docks located near the mouth of the lagoon. The ride through town and along scenic back roads took about half an hour. At the docks, we donned life vests, got into 10-passenger outboard skiffs (pangas), and headed into the deeper waters of the lagoon.

Guerrero Negro is the Spanish translation of “Black Warrior,” the name of an American whaling ship that sank near the coast in the 1850s. It was during this era that Captain Charles Melville Scammon discovered a prolific whale breeding lagoon that became a choice hunting ground for Yankee and European whalers. Known as Laguna Ojo de Liebre (“eye of the jackrabbit”) and also as Scammon’s Lagoon, it is now a protected sanctuary and the primary mating and calving lagoon in Baja. In the 2004 and 2005 surveys by the Vizcaíno Biosphere Reserve, more than 1,950 males, females and their calves were counted during the peak of the whale watching season in mid-February.

We Meet the Whales
We idled past sea lions lazily sunning themselves on a buoy. Within fifteen minutes we could hear and see whales’ spouts in the distance. Spouting, also called blowing, occurs when the warm air exhaled from the whales’ lungs meets the cool ocean air and creates a noisy cloud of vapor and water droplets that can rise up to fifteen feet.

All of a sudden, a whale propelled itself out of the water then fell back in at an angle with a tremendous splash! This is known as breaching. We were all so awed by this spectacular sight that no one even thought to shoot a photo.

We observed whales spyhopping, lifting their heads vertically above the water to view their surroundings (and us). We watched whales mating, an impressive feat that involves a lot of tricky maneuvering among the 40-ton bodies of two males and one female. But the most thrilling experience was when we were approached by a “friendly,” a mother whale who brought her calf to our panga to be admired. For almost twenty minutes, she laid sideways beneath our boat watching us with one eye as we oohed, aahed, photographed and petted her baby, which cautiously nuzzled the side of our panga a half dozen times before deciding to become acquainted with other skiffs in the vicinity.
 

Whale watching in Scammon's Lagoon

All too soon it was time to return to the dock. We munched on our box lunches while marveling at the wildlife and peaceful scenery: sunning sea lions, migratory and shore birds, sand dunes and a huge salt barge.

We returned to the Laguna Tours office and boarded our Bajarama bus, where we were joined by Antonio García, a representative of Exportadora de Sal, S.A. de C.V. (ESSA). Although Guerrero Negro’s largest tourist attraction is whale watching tours, its prime industry is salt. In 1954, Exportadora de Sal was founded by Daniel K. Ludwig, a wealthy shipping magnate from New York who received a federal concession to construct thousands of acres of salt evaporating ponds. Now owned by the Mexican government and Mitsubishi Corporation, this operation is the world’s largest salt production facility, producing seven million metric tons of salt per year.

We drove along ESSA’s private roads, marveling at the shimmering white solar evaporating ponds and the huge red 60-ton trailer trucks with gondolas that convey the salt from the ponds to the washing plant. After washing, the salt is transported by barge to Cedros Island, where it is shipped to its final destination in Japan, the United States, Canada, Korea, Taiwan or elsewhere in the world.
 

Exportadora de Sal truck, facilities and barge

By mid-afternoon, many of us were grateful to retreat to our motel to freshen up and/or take a siesta. Others spent their free time strolling around town. By 6pm, all of us were more than ready for the succulent seafood dinner that Tillie had arranged for our group at the legendary Restaurant Malarrimo. Established in 1974 by Enrique Achoy López, Malarrimo is a favorite dining destination and meeting spot for travelers from around the world. After the delectable meal, we browsed in the adjoining gift shop, El Viejo Cactus, which features t-shirts, postcards, Guerrero Negro salt, candles, jewelry and interesting objets d’art, many with whale and marine motifs. We then retired for the night.

After a sound sleep and an early breakfast, we hit the highway north. (Since then, Tillie has added a second morning guided whale watching excursion to her “Whale of a Time Tours.”) It rained lightly until we reached Cataviña, but the sun was shining by the time we stopped at Mama Espinoza’s for another tasty lunch. We arrived at the San Nicolás Hotel at dusk in a state of culture shock as the bright lights, traffic and noises of the “big city” assaulted our eyes and ears which, for almost three days, had been filled with serene expanses of desert scenery, the white quiet of salt ponds, and the incomparable sounds and sights of majestic California gray whales.
 
 

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