Gray Whales and Whale Sharks! - Bahia Concepcion Week #1

Sunday, 6 April 2014

We left La Paz on March 26, about 1.5 weeks ago, and arrived in Bahia Concepcion on March 29^th, dropping the anchor under Casa de los Suenos, at La Posada anchorage around the corner from Santispac, at around 7:15 p.m. in the last, dim light of day. 

Cinnabar motors into her anchorage just before it gets dark - photo L. Teoman

We learned our lesson last year, no more overnight pounding to weather (into the wind and waves)! This year we meandered north, stopping at a pleasant anchorage each night. Here was our itinerary:

Day #1: La Paz to Isla San Francisco = 44 nautical miles (nm), sailed about half the time. Dropped anchor next to a boat we knew from Alameda, sv Westerly.

Day #2: SF to Bahia Candeleros = 67nm motoring; shared the big bay with one other super yacht. The skipper said all the other cruisers left due to predicted northerlies coming into the bay, but the night was windless with the water like a millpond. A very relaxing night!

Day #3: Candeleros to San Juanico = 44nm motoring. This was a good, protected anchorage from the northerly winds and swell.

Day #4: San Juanico to Santispac = 55 nm, sailed 6 hours out of 10. After a couple of somewhat gnarly hours, boat heeled over and things flying about down below, the boat and conditions settled down and we had a glorious day of sailing in a stiff breeze with reefed mainsail and jib, more or less toward our destination. 

A great day of saling!

Since our goal was directly upwind we took a couple of long port tacks out to sea, then back, and had to turn on our motor as we neared Point Concepcion so that we would make the anchorage before dark.

Turns out our friends Deniz, Lissa and daughter Amanda, and Bobby and Denise, also arrived in Bahia Concepcion that day so it was a great gathering of friends. They kayaked out to bring us a tandem kayak so we could join them for a feast of freshly speared Yellowtail and Grouper. What a welcome!!

If you know our friend Mike McGuire, or remember the McGuire family from last year’s posts, you will know that Mike has activities planned to pack a 28 hour day. Since Mike and Stephanie had to spend the day in Loreto the day after our arrival, our first day in Concepcion was a “day of rest”, hanging out with our friends, kayaking, snorkeling, and getting some boat tasks done. 

Our friends kayak over for coffee - photo D. Teoman

Good thing because the next day was a full one, driving to Laguna San Ignacio on the other side of the Baja peninsula for some up close and personal gray whale watching. 

Every year gray whales travel from Alaska to San Ignacio to give birth, and when the calves are old enough the mother and calves come right up to pangas to get scratched and and rubbed, which they seem to love. 

Whale calf gives us the eye.

Leave it to Mike to challenge everyone to KISS a whale! 

Amanda kisses the calf. - photo D. Teoman

I don’t know of anywhere else in the world where the whales like to come right up to the boats, rub under them and push them in circles. It’s quite an amazing experience!

The whales love the contact.

The next day the guys left early for a day of spearfishing. They came home with some yellowtail, grouper, and other reef fish. Delicious for that night’s feast of sashimi, ceviche and grilling!

Great job on the day's catch!

While the guys were gone the ladies enjoyed a day of provisioning in Mulege and stopping for shrimp cocktails and lemonade on the beach.

We enjoy the fresh limonada at Arturuo's.

Some of our friends had never seen a whale shark, and we heard there had been a sighting in Bahia Coyote, a few coves down from us. Mike was determined that they would have a whale shark experience. So the next morning most of the group jumped into kayaks and started paddling toward Coyote.  Tom, Lissa and I motored over in the dinghy and we all converged in Coyote, on the lookout for the telltale double fins of the whale shark. It was windy and choppy that day, so no fins, but eventually we could make out some large dark shapes moving through the water and sure enough, some whale sharks had come into the cove!     

Amazing shot of whale shark face - photo D. Teoman

We spent the morning looking for and snorkeling with these gentle giants. Deniz and his daughter Amanda couldn’t get enough, and since they were leaving the next day Tom took them out one more time for a snorkel with these fascinating beasts.

Amanda is tiny next to this giant! - photo D. Teoman

The next day, April 4, everybody packed up the truck and van to drop the Teomans off at the Loreto airport, while the rest of the group (except Stephanie and I) drove over to Scorpion Bay on the west coast of baja for a surfing trip. 

Kelston and Tom pack up the truck.

Stephanie and I stayed behind so we could catch up on some work and reading, and so I could keep an eye on Cinnabar for some high winds that are supposed to blow through today and tomorrow.

Last night Stephanie and I stood on the porch of her villa, and exactly at 7:10 pm the space station appeared as a bright, fast-moving orb out of the SW. It traveled straight over head and disappeared into the NE six minutes later. It was truly a serene and magical moment. (I’m glad we enjoyed it, because we were both extremely sick last night, we think from some local cheese we had for dinner. Oh well, that sort of thing is to be expected when one travels. I’m sure a day of rest will set us to rights, and that’s all I’m going to say about the matter. Ugh)

On Tuesday the Scorpion Surfing Safari group will drive back to Loreto, picking up our friend Mati at the airport on the way in. Then my sister and Erik arrive the next day so it will be back to activities at a breakneck speed for another couple of weeks. 

More pics of our first week in Bahia Concepcion are HERE.

Cinnabar "on the hook". - photo L. Teoman