Magdalena Bay

"Close Encounters with Gray Whales The ocean churns as a 36-ton mammal swims up to the boat. With your arm plunged into the cool water, you await the touch of a California gray whale. Like a house cat craving a scratch on the head, the whale pushes its rubbery skin, rough with barnacles and battle scars from boats and orcas, against your palm. From January through March, hundreds of gray whales settle in Magdalena Bay, on the southwest coast of Mexico’s Baja peninsula. From their feeding grounds off the coast of Alaska, they’ve made one of the longest animal migrations—more than 5,000 miles—to mate, give birth, and raise their young here. Visitors who join local fishermen and outfitters in the bay are practically guaranteed to see whales, and the luckiest will encounter “friendlies,” including proud mothers who nudge their wrinkly black calves toward the surface. Sea Kayak Adventures offers a new trip that combines gray whale sightings in Magdalena Bay with blue and fin whale watching in the Sea of Cortez. From $1,495. (800) 616-1943, This appeared in the January/February 2013 issue."

"Magdalena Bay, the largest bay in Baja California Sur, sits near La Paz and is a seasonal haven for the gray whale. Gray whales, which reach up to about 50 feet in length and can live about 70 years in the wild, travel here in the winter to mate. A common sight in the waters off a whale-watching vessel is a mother gray with her calf—an encounter that travelers will never forget. Most of the whale watching tours are run by fishermen who ply their regular trade in other seasons and whose families have been making a living from the sea for generations, although the focus of their work has shifted today towards conserving the sea's resources rather than exploiting them. While the whales are the stars of the show at Magdalena Bay, the area’s beautiful and wild mangrove swamps are also winter homes for migrating birds like Brant geese and about 100 other species. The area also has a burgeoning eco-tourist industry aiming to transform the area into a hub for sea-turtle conservation. In partnership with Adventure Travel Trade Association"