President's Whale
Last weekend, armed with Lauge - the semi-professional Baja-Bum, three 4-wheel drive trucks, and an astonishingly courageous and competent Dodge Intripid, we successfully steered clear of Gringo Hotspots, overpriced Margarittas, and went straight for foot-deep mud puddles and deserted beaches. It was a journey filled with adventure (getting lost at the Tijuana boarder), danger (Dodge Intripid + 17 mile of a flooded dirt road), suspense (Lauge's trip to the Police Station for running a red light), beauty (it's Baja!!), delicious food (fresh clams from the lagoon, eggplant asada and guacamole made by the campfire), surprise (getting spat on by a whale and touching the soft barnicles on its back), discovery (we found a pelican skull and whale bones on a deserted beach), and a special bonus prize (Mario proposed to Monica after 10 years of being together).
It was my first proper trip to Baja. We drove all the way down the entire length of Baja California, and into South Baja to Guerro Negro. It was hours in the backseat of Nicole's Great White Beast, swaying to Tom Waits, head-banging to Stone Temple Pilots, and singing along to (yes, I'm admitting it...) Brian Adams' "Summer of '69". Our main goal of the trip was to see some grey whales at Scammons Lagoon, they go there every year to give birth and nurse their calf. The landscape that we drove through was just amazing. It ranged from the lush rolling hills south of Ensenada, piles of bolders scattered in a desert plain, to mountains covered with strange twisted shadows of cacti, and all the while we had the Pacific glistening to our side.
The highlight was definitely when we went out on the little boat, expecting to see some whales from afar, but instead met this incredibly curious and friendly whale that just circling and diving under our boat for a good 20 minutes... and eventually allowed us to pet it. The skin was tough but soft to touch and of a spongy squishy texture, I guess its what you would imagine an elephant would feel like after spending a day in the spa being rubbed with exfoliating sea salt and kelp.
We camped on the beach the second night by the lagoon. Supposedly you can hear the whales breathing at night, but I think Nicole and Amy's Margarittas might have hindered my sensory acuity... The moonlight was so bright in a clowdless night sky, reflecting off the water and the sand, we took an evening stroll and didn't even need any man-made luminating device... The third night we camped among the bolders in the desert, surrounded by cacti of all sizes (which lead to a rather painful extraction procedure involving my right thigh, Lauge's pliers, and a mean and stubborn piece of cactus).
We an a great time. Bass wrote down all the turns and dirt roads we took so perhaps someday we can find our way back.
A picture is worth a thousand words. So I'll leave the rest to them.
It was my first proper trip to Baja. We drove all the way down the entire length of Baja California, and into South Baja to Guerro Negro. It was hours in the backseat of Nicole's Great White Beast, swaying to Tom Waits, head-banging to Stone Temple Pilots, and singing along to (yes, I'm admitting it...) Brian Adams' "Summer of '69". Our main goal of the trip was to see some grey whales at Scammons Lagoon, they go there every year to give birth and nurse their calf. The landscape that we drove through was just amazing. It ranged from the lush rolling hills south of Ensenada, piles of bolders scattered in a desert plain, to mountains covered with strange twisted shadows of cacti, and all the while we had the Pacific glistening to our side.
The highlight was definitely when we went out on the little boat, expecting to see some whales from afar, but instead met this incredibly curious and friendly whale that just circling and diving under our boat for a good 20 minutes... and eventually allowed us to pet it. The skin was tough but soft to touch and of a spongy squishy texture, I guess its what you would imagine an elephant would feel like after spending a day in the spa being rubbed with exfoliating sea salt and kelp.
We camped on the beach the second night by the lagoon. Supposedly you can hear the whales breathing at night, but I think Nicole and Amy's Margarittas might have hindered my sensory acuity... The moonlight was so bright in a clowdless night sky, reflecting off the water and the sand, we took an evening stroll and didn't even need any man-made luminating device... The third night we camped among the bolders in the desert, surrounded by cacti of all sizes (which lead to a rather painful extraction procedure involving my right thigh, Lauge's pliers, and a mean and stubborn piece of cactus).
We an a great time. Bass wrote down all the turns and dirt roads we took so perhaps someday we can find our way back.
A picture is worth a thousand words. So I'll leave the rest to them.
posted by Cindy at 11:11 PM
2 Comments:
Hi Bass!
Wow! You look like you're having way too much fun.... So tell me again how much you miss the snow, dreariness, and cold of Princeton?
All the best,
Paul.
That looks like a beautiful trip. Isn't it kinda dangerous to be that close to a grey whale? I thought they weren't always dreadfully aware of their size when it comes to smaller boats floating above them.
-Joel
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