Africa Safari 1

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Keith (Baja) Jones is an avid writer about Baja travel and about gray whales. Every winter you will find him in Baja, somewhere near the Gray Whales. As the founder of Baja Jones Adventurers, Jones Adventures, Tigress Tours in Thailand and Butanding Tours in the Philippine Islands, he has led thousands of people to Mexico and other interesting locations around the world.

Since 1992 Baja Jones has logged over 3000 hours observing the whales of Baja, while sitting in pangas, on the various lagoons and ocean waters of Baja California, Mexico. Keith has also logged more than 100,000 miles driving the Baja Highway #1 and the many side roads along the way. We believe our leader is the most knowledgeable person currently working as a gray whale watching guide in Mexico.

His writing and photos have been published in a dozen countries and scores of magazines, newspapers and websites. He corresponds with hundreds of writers, environmental activists, biologists, researchers, scientists, students and other whale enthusiasts each year. Each issue of our newsletter is read by several thousand people. Keith recently wrote the Gray whale section for the "Lonely Planets Guide to Cabo and Baja" and the Baja Desert section for The Sanford Travel Guide.

Final Baja Jones Winter Whale Season Report 2012

Here is the final Baja Jones Winter Whale Season report for the 2012 season:

Hi everyone, the gray whale migration this year was terrific for those of us whale watching at the Baja nursery lagoons.  Every one of the three bays had hundreds to thousands of whales present inside the lagoons.  

For those of you who don't know, there are three protected bays or lagoons on the West Coast of Baja California, Mexico where the Gray whales migrate to each year from the cold Arctic water of the Bering Sea.  While not all the whales go inside the lagoons, normally about 10 to 15% of the gray whale population does go inside the lagoons each year; to give birth or to mate or perhaps just to rest before beginning the long swim north.

This year there were more than 750 baby whales inside Laguna Ojo de Liebre the northernmost of the gray whale lagoons and located on latitude 28.  Laguna Ojo de Liebre is a large bay with lots of shallow water, but a few deep channels and holes.  The whales like to swim in the currents that flow in the deeper channels as the tide flows in or out of the bay.

San Ignacio Lagoon had a couple hundred baby whales this season.  San Ignacio lagoon is the location that most magazines and newspapers choose to write stories about.  It is the middle lagoon in location and the smallest in size.

Magdalena Bay also had a couple hundred baby whales this year.  Magdalena Bay is the most southern of the 3 lagoons.  Because of this the weather is usually a little bit warmer and in general nicer than at the other two locations.  This is the nearest lagoon to La Paz and to Cabo San Lucas.

Between the three lagoons there were more than 1,000 confirmed baby gray whale births this year.  This is a large number almost double the "average" number of counted baby whale births.  

What I noticed this year was that there seemed to be fewer adult whales inside the lagoon engaged in mating activity.  It will be interesting to see what the baby whale count is next year.  Perhaps a lot of mating activity took place outside in the open ocean, rather than inside the protected lagoons as it usually does.

That concludes my report for the end of the 2012 season.  Until next year enjoy good whale watching wherever you may go.

Keith Jones

Baja Jones Adventure Travel

www.greywhale.com

www.jonesadventures.com

office phone in USA: 562-889-4016

email: keith@greywhale.com

Skype ID: bajajones

Yahoo messenger ID: rowman1998@yahoo.com

Baby Gray Whales: Know A Bit More About Them

I know all of you get excited when you think about baby graywhales. Or at least i think you are probably interested in knowing some things about the babies that you might not read anywhere else (except in my book).

                                                  This is a young baby whale - mouth open

Baby gray whales are usually born beginning around mid-December through late January.

•The chance for survival is greatly enhanced if their mother can arrive at one of the Baja California, west coast nursery lagoons before she gives birth.

Just what are the survival chances for those newborn gray whales? Scientists have only been able make guesses – call them educated guesses based upon a wide range of observations – but still only guesses at this point in time.

The most widely accepted view of survival rates for gray whale babies at the end of one year is perhaps 80% to 90 % survive the first year if they are born inside one of the 3 major nursery lagoons.

That statistic flip-flops and is likely to be only a 10% to 20% survival rate for those unfortunate baby gray whales that are born in the open ocean while the mother is in the process of migrating south. 

                                        This baby gray whale is relatively young, perhaps 2 weeks.

Notice the uniform dark gray color. As the baby ages he will quickly develop light colored scar tissue all over his body from rubbing constantly against his barnacle clad mother. Her barnacles leave surface scratches that turn a lighter gray color.

Another characteristic of the very young gray whale is the shape of his head. Notice there is a hump like shape to the upper head in silhouette. A shape sometimes reminds me of a Chinese pug nosed dog.

I can tell this baby is more than a week old because the pre-natal folds of skin that hang around a newborn baby whale’s face, reminiscent of the breed of dog known as Sharpei, have already filled out. He has grown into those deep folds that are only visible during the first week or so after birth.

Another telling characteristic in this photo is the lack of barnacles. All gray whales begin developing barnacle growth almost as soon as they are born. After 2 weeks the young barnacles are obvious to the naked eye. In this photo I cannot see any developing barnacles.

My guess is this photo is of a baby whale between 7 and 15 days old.