San Ignacio, Mexico - whales wanting to be touched

Whale Watching - in San Ignacio Lagoon, California Baja Sur, Mexico, in March 2008. These are wild animals, and they are not being bribed to come to the boat, yet the calf of this 35 ton Gray whale comes, of its own free will, and enjoys being touched, stroked and even kissed. This is the only area in the world where whales behave in this way. They stay for around three months to breed or calve and and then return to Arctic waters.

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• Ignacio
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• Gray
• calf
• baby
• watching
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• touching
• kissing
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[facepalm92]

:) It must have been fantastic. I would love to be so close to such a amazing animal.

[travelingcompanions]

It was fantastic, facepalm92. A lot of people, mainly Americans, described it to me before I went and, probably because they were Americans, I thought they were over-selling it! But they weren't. It was a great, eye-opening experience.

[azimawaty]

i love this moment, so cute...

[travelingcompanions]

You're right, azimawaty, it was a wonderful trip. However, this video was shot with my mobile phone, so the quality is not great. If you look through all the other travelingcompanions videos there is a slide show in HD which shows the whole trip in a lot more detail.

[nikkan22]

This is absolutely amazing! I would love to experience this! Can you provide me with any info on how to see these whales? Thank You

[travelingcompanions]

Yes, this was a great trip and the gray whales only behave like this in San Ignacio Lagoon in California Baja, Mexico. We went with Baja Expeditions, who were great. Good luck!

[56beachedwhales]

We had this wonderful experience in Feb 2010. long journey from UK to San Ignacio lagoons but the best experience of my life. We went with Bajairventures and spent 3 nights in beach yurts at Las Animas and 3 nights at Guerra Negre to do the whale watch trips. These wonderful creatures have really touched my heart and as I have a painting on my wall of a grey whale, I think about that holiday every day. Truly magical

[NicolaRedwooddforest]

@travelingcompanions Yes, particularly the baby Gray Whales are a target of Orcas. So the mother whales protect their babies by rotating around the baby over and over again when Orcas are near them. Thank you so much for the beautiful video.

[NicolaRedwooddforest]

Oh, so lovely and cute, the baby Gray Whale. The baby is so trusting. The mother is trusting, too, and allows the people to pet her baby. So much trust and love for humans. The whales are highly intelligent and they know exactly who the kind and gentle people are and who the harpooners are. We all must help to outlaw whale hunting. Whale watching tourism must be supported, because it saves the whales and it helps the local economy.

[travelingcompanions]

Thanks, JD. There are no pet whales, even when you try to buy on Amazon. These ones are really nice to people when they are in the warm and friendly waters of San Ignacio. Mind you, the people are really nice to them, too. But when they leave, to get back up to the Arctic and a Big Feed, they are attacked by Killer Whales, who bite bits out of them. So I reckon they are pretty wild.