Travels with Paddles

a sea kayaking journal

Axel Schoevers (Photo: A. de Krook) Name:
Axel Schoevers
Location:
Rijswijk, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands

Saturday, May 31, 2014

Baja Pictures

7 people with a total of 11 camera's on an 10-day sea kayaking trip in Baja Mexico from Loreto to La Paz resulted in 4000 pictures. When someones says a picture is worth a 1000 words does this mean I have to describe the experience in 4 million words? Skipping the 'crap' I am still left with 469 pictures. Killing many darlings and I end-up with 155 pictures. Maybe in a few months I could cut back to less than 100? And I could summarize the experience with one word anyway. Amazing!
While February/March has a high chance of seeing whales from the kayak in this area, there is no guarantee. But we were fortunate to see quite a few and a Finn whale VERY CLOSE. Amazing!
What looks like guaranteed this time of year, apart from seeing dolphins, is touching Grey whale mother and calves in Magdalena Bay area at Adolfo Lopez Mateos on the west coast. Reading and hearing about it I was a bit apprehensive about it. Would we be harassing the whales? Anyway when the Grey whale mothers with their calves are literally off the panga (motorboat) dock and they swim towards the pangas for a baby shower and human touch, one can hardly say they are disturbed. And with their size a panga is hardly a match for any corrective slaps. Greys are HUGE! Their skin feels like a very thick wet shammy leather. Amazing!
Only just recently I saw in a documentary how Grey whales feed (in Alaska). They scoop-up ocean floor sediment to filter out amphipods, shrimp-like animals that live in the sediment. Amazing!