February 10, 2017 - We arrived at the airport in Reynosa, Mexico, to board a plane bound for Baja. This was a trip I had been itching to do for a long time. I had seen the images of friendly grey whales seeking out attention from people on boats and this was something I had to experience for myself. We were checking in and dropping off my gear, when the ticket agent dropped a bomb on me. My precious Vera was too heavy and had to go under the plane. I was devastated. My camera has always rode shotgun with me on all my trips and the thought of her being in the luggage where anything could happen to her just killed me. I felt sick.
We boarded the plane to fly to Mexico City, which was where we would pick up our connecting flight to La Paz. I watched them put Vera in the cargo hold, so I knew she was going with us. Of course I didn't see her in Mexico City, so the next four hours was murder on my soul. When we landed in La Paz, I watched them unload the bags but I didn't see her. Finally as the bags were making their way down the conveyor belt, there she was. I grabbed her off the belt and the box fell open. I quickly shut her before everything spilled out. I looked inside to see if anything was missing. Thankfully everything was there. I breathed a deep breath and relaxed for the first time since take off. The adventure could now officially begin!
We jumped in our rental car and took off towards San Carlos. It is a 3 hour journey though some absolutely beautiful landscape. Giant cactus plants, golden brown grass peppered the sides of the roads and rolling mountains and hills everywhere…Baja is defiantly eye candy.
February 11, 2017 - We headed out for our first day on the water. It was a beautiful morning. There was a lot of cloud cover, which is typical. But I knew as the sun rose throughout the day, it would burn them off. No words can truly describe how amazing this day was. I knew it was going to be special when I planned this trip, I just did not realize how special. You can talk about it and dream about…but until you are there, with your hands gently touching a whale. Just damn. I am not going to waste too much time writing about this day. Please watch this video blog I have shared, it truly sums up how amazing these moments are. Oh yea sorry about the shaky video at the end of my vlog. I was so on fire I couldn't contain my excitement.
February 12, 2017 - We headed out for another day on the water. Today’s conditions were not as good as yesterday. The clouds were thick and were drowning out the sun. But despite that, it was still a beautiful day. We went to the same area, but today the whales were not in the mood to play. There was more serious business going on. MATING! Everywhere we looked whales were trying to pair up. They were dancing and wrestling. Thrashing tails and lots of rolling. We watched this amazing show completely in awe. I finally brought out my drone. I was nervous and I wished I had more practice with it, because I hovered it over mating grey whales. We got to see this crazy ballet from the air. It was fun and I was excited that I got some footage. If I was a better pilot and shooter it would of been BBC shit that I documented. But sadly, it was another Eli production filmed in 3B (three beers and it looks good!).
I had fun and am looking forward to next season already, becuase we will be returning to this magical place. This trip is definitely going up on our expedition page. I cant wait to get back there.
Next Blog Report - Travel Day - Headed to the Turks and Caicos for humpback whales
