Note: I only recommend products I would use myself and all opinions expressed here are my own. This post might contain affiliate links that at no additional cost to you, I may earn a small commission. I would never recommend a product I have not personally tested and loved. 

Seeing the aurora borealis, or northern lights, has been one of the top experiences to have on my bucket list for ages. Recently I was on the phone with my good friend / co-founder of Above & Below, Stan Moniz, chatting about an upcoming solar storm. We decided on a last minute whim to roll the dice and fly out to Yellowknife, Canada to shoot the aurora during the storm. I honestly wasn’t sure what to expect as I had never seen them before and knew very little about the aurora. But Stan had me convinced it was worth a try – and wow, am I so grateful that I did. It was mind meltingly beautiful and unlike anything I’ve ever experienced before. I basically forced myself to learn everything and anything I could in the coming 2 weeks before I hopped on the plane in hopes of not missing a shot. The more I learned, the more intrigued I became with not only the aurora, but Yellowknife and the Northwest Territories. Then when I got there it was like a wealth of new info and knowledge to soak up from Stan, and my awesome friend & Yellowknife native, Lindsay. 

Now I know, this a bit different than my normal ocean content. I love learning new things though and trying to shoot new subjects as it opens up this door to creativity where you can mix techniques and other bits from all your different experiences. Those that are familiar with my underwater work, will see my tell tale love of reflections & playing with light in the shots from this trip. Yellowknife was the perfect spot for it as there is almost more water than there is land with tons of beautiful lakes and rivers everywhere you look.

Why Should You Go?

Let’s start with a bold claim – Yellowknife is hands down the best aurora borealis destination in the world. And it’s actually backed up by facts. On average they see the aurora 240 nights per year! Let that sink in for a second…That’s more aurora chances than many places have days of sunshine. The majority of the Northwest Territories are located right inside the aurora belt – the oval that wraps around the arctic where the aurora borealis is primarily visible. But it’s not only that, Yellowknife has this almost bizarre climate where they see very little precipitation. One data source I found put it at about 30cm (12in) annually – to put that in perspective I live in what’s basically a desert with cactus and we see 25cm (10in) of precipitation annually. But what’s even better, is the months with the highest precipitation are also the ones you most likely wouldn’t be visiting for the aurora. There is literally no better place to experience the northern lights. 

Plus it’s super easy to get there, especially for anyone in the Americas as its right in the heart of Canada. Oh, and did I mention the area is also home to fluffy tanks?! The Wood Bison is the largest land animal in the Americas and some of the last herds left in the world are roaming free here in the Northwest Territories. 

When to Go? 

When it comes to deciding on when to book your trip you have essentially 2 time ranges you want to aim for. First off, we kind of need it to be dark. With being so far north Yellowknife is, in the land of the midnight sun. In other words, from mid April into mid August they do not experience true night. Don’t get me wrong, if you’ve never been somewhere that experiences the midnight sun it is incredibly beautiful and these can still be gorgeous months to visit. The area is packed with outdoor activities to get into; camping, hiking, kayaking, boating, and the list just goes on. And I’m told you can actually even see the aurora in the summer months during the midnight sun – which must be spectacular to see. 

But for those of us looking to shoot astro and see it ignite the sky we’re looking at going in the late winter into spring, or late summer into autumn. I’m personally going to write off the mid winter because reading things like an average daily temperature of -24 C (-11F) in January are numbers my Baja living brain does not even want to try to begin to comprehend. Fun fact- I learned on this trip that there is a temperature where Celsius and Fahrenheit are actually the same number. Want to guess where it is? It’s at -40 degrees. I’m not even going to go into why I know this now, but lets just say winters in Yellowknife can be a little bit chilly. 

For those looking for warmer weather though, you should check out August & September. That’s when I was there and I was actually wearing shorts sometimes with day time temps reaching upwards of 24c (75F), and the lowest night temperature we seen was only 10c (50F) making it super comfortable to be out all night chasing the aurora. Plus you also get to see all the foliage turning bright ambers and reds making it especially beautiful during the day.

In late February the temperatures start to come up and in March I’m told the area starts to come to life as the sun begins to show its face again. They also have this incredible ice castle built on the lake and all sorts of fun stuff. Our friend at Northwest Territories Tourism tells me, “It may be a bit colder from January to March, but it is one of the best times to visit the NWT and to see the Northern Lights. The nights are longer making it perfect for more time to watch the dancing Aurora over the frozen lakes. Instead of a reflection of green off the lakes you have the crisp snow sparkling and lighting up everything around you. With the lakes frozen and the ice roads drivable, it also makes the NWT more accessible in the winter and opens the door to explore further. There are also numerous winter activities to try including dogsledding, ice fishing, cross country skiing, snowmobiling, and winter festivals.” So I think I’m definitely going to have to brave the spring chill and go check it out soon.

How do I get to Yellowknife?  

Yellowknife is located on the shores of Great Slave Lake (more on this later) about 400km (250 miles) south of the Arctic Circle. But as far away as that may sound, it’s surprisingly easy to get there. Even coming from Baja, I was able to get there the same day. You’ll want to fly into Yellowknife Airport (airport code YZF) which is serviced by a bunch of airlines with direct flights from major Canadian hubs including Edmonton, Calgary, Ottawa, Toronto, and Vancouver. From these bigger hubs you can get to pretty much anywhere in the world. Spectacular NWT has some great travel info as well as a helpful flight plan map that shows which airlines fly which routes. 

Once you’re there, I’d highly recommend grabbing a rental car as it will allow you to explore more of the area and find great spots to watch the aurora at night. You have your normal rental car agencies like Budget, Hertz, and National. Then you have a couple other smaller rental shops. Personally I rented from Yellowknife Motors which is the local Chevrolet / GMC dealership. I randomly came across a film board provider list that listed them for car rentals so gave them a shout. I had a bit of a struggle trying to get in touch with the other agencies but when I called Yellowknife Motors the person I spoke with was so helpful and nice (Shout out to Kimberly, you rock!). It was actually easier than booking online with the normal rental agencies. I highly recommend checking them out, Make sure you tell them Jay Clue says hi! 

As for where to stay, there are a fair bit of hotels as well as AirBnb’s, bed & breakfasts and even  crazy lodges out in the middle of no where. There also campgrounds for those looking to enjoy a little bit more of the outdoors. For more details, the Spectacular NWT website also has a great directory of accommodations in Yellowknife and the surrounding areas. 

Any Yellowknife Recommendations?

Let’s start with the aurora. While you can easily see it in the city, you’ll want to find darker areas to truly see it dance across the sky. Just after landing, we hopped a taxi to our AirBnB and to my surprise the aurora was clearly visibly above us in the middle of the city. For photos, we wanted to get away from light pollution though. So on a quick tip from Lindsay we walked over to Tincan Hill Recreation Area and I was in awe! I couldn’t believe we walked not even 10 mins from the house and I was watching the aurora shapeshifting across the sky. I had only been in Yellowknife for maybe 30 minutes and I was already blown away. The next nights we took the car and scoped out a bunch of different spots. The Ingraham Trail (Highway 4) extends for about 70km out of Yellowknife and is packed with so many great places to just hang out and watch the aurora.  Plus for daytime it’s a great area for hikes and outdoor activities. Lindsay took us on this awesome little hike to catch the sunset one evening from the top of a hill and it was stunning. 

For more daytime activities I highly recommend contacting My Backyard Tours and doing a little city tour. The area has so much amazing indigenous culture, crazy history, and hidden gems with great backstories. We were super lucky, and Lindsay’s father, Peter, who happens to be a guide at My Backyard Tours took us around town one afternoon teaching us about the area, the people, and history. I learned so much in those few hours and seen so many cool spots I would have otherwise missed. The experience was amazing. I’d definitely recommend giving them a shout and trying to request Peter if he’s available. But if not, all the guides at there are longtime residents of the area filled with local knowledge. 

Weather & What to Pack 

The subarctic climate in Yellowknife is highly varied depending on when you are visiting. From polar cold winters to warm sunny summers you can find pretty much all four seasons.  In transition months like September daily high temperatures can go from 24c (75f) early in the month down to 10c (50f) by the beginning of October. So you’ll definitely want to check upcoming forecasts for you trip and pack accordingly. 

For the late summer/autumn aurora season pack light hiking / trekking pants as well as some base layers you can swap in and out throughout the day. You’ll definitely want some warmer layers for those long nights outside watching the aurora. For exploring outdoors, casual hiking boots are great, but I personally prefer trail running sneakers or hiking sneakers like those by Altra or Merrel. In early September I was fine with a t-shirt & light hiking pants or shorts during the day. Then in my pack I had a Smartwool base layer, my Dive Ninja hoodie, and Arc’teryx Beta AR shell rain jacket to swap in and out throughout the day as the temps shifted. Having a beanie in the late evenings helped a bit too on the chillier nights. The team over at Sunny Sports can def help out with picking out some great gear for the trip!

What Camera Gear Should I bring to Yellowknife?

For my photographers, you’re going to want a sturdy tripod that’s light and easy to hike around with. Stan recently turned me on to Slik Tripods and I can’t say enough of how great they are. The Silk Carbon Fiber PRO CF-635 with the Slik PBH-635AC Dual Action Ball Head is great for trips like this when you are hiking around and want something super light and easy to carry. The tripod is made from carbon fiber, folds down to 36cm (14in) and weighs only 0.9kg (1.9lbs). The ball head is lightweight and sturdily holds a full frame camera with wide angle lens without issue.

For this trip I brought the Sony Alpha 1 and the Sony a7S III. The Alpha 1 is a workhorse and could easily do everything, but for shooting timelapses the a7S III has a more manageable file size and is a beast in low light. Plus having two bodies allows me to have 2 different lenses & configurations ready to shoot at a moments notice. Lens wise, for the aurora you’re going to want something decently wide to get those nice comps with foreground elements and the aurora firing above. The main thing to consider is having a fast lens such as an f2.8 or below. Unlike when shooting the stars or Milky Way, the aurora is moving quite fast. So if your shutter speed is too slow you start to lose the beautiful details in it. You’ll notice as you get above 10 seconds the aurora starts to look like a blob, so try to stay under that. I used both the Sony FE 16-35 mm f2.8 GM  and the Sony FE 24-70 mm f2.8 GM II and couldn’t have been happier. For shooting timelapses, if you’re shooting Sony, then you are blessed with their awesome in-camera intervalometer. If your rig doesn’t have one, then you’ll want to grab a remote style intervalometer. For tips on shooting a timelapse of the aurora, make sure to check out my article on it here. 

If you’re going to check out the Wood Bison, eagles, or any other wildlife then you’ll want to pack a telephoto. I’d recommend something along the 100-400 mm range like the Sony FE 100-400mm GM lens. This will give you some solid reach while keeping a safe distance from those very large, and very wild, fluffy tanks. 

The Story of Great Slave Lake

Now some of you might have been scratching your head about the name of the massive lake Yellowknife is situated on. When I first seen ‘Great Slave Lake’ I was like, eh, did I read that correctly? I was told it’s pronounced more like ‘slavey’, but that didn’t really make it any better. I began doing a bit of digging as well as speaking with some friends that are of Cree and Dene heritage – two of the local indigenous communities found in Yellowknife. The story goes that many years ago when French explorers began moving through the area they worked with Cree traders. The Cree and Dene were at many times warring nations. During these battles the Cree would sometimes kidnap and enslave Dene people – so the Cree would refer to their enemies in this way when speaking to the explorers. In turn, the French explorers began to refer to the lake as ‘Grand lac des Esclaves’ which eventually translated into English as ‘Great Slave Lake’. 

Fast forward 200+ years and the name still exists today, to the obvious dismay of indigenous peoples on all sides. In recent years many have been fighting to rename the lake as well as other place names from their colonial names to their original ancestral names. To give you just a little idea of how culturally diverse this area is, the lake is known traditionally as Tıdeè in Tłı̨chǫ Yatıì (Tlicho), Tinde’e in Wıìlıìdeh Yatii / Tetsǫ́t’ıné Yatıé, Tu Nedhé in Dëne Sųłıné Yatıé, and Tucho in Dehcho Dene Zhatıé. If you’re like me, you are probably thinking ‘ummm… why wasn’t this changed decades ago’. And I really wish I could answer that. Especially considering the atrocities many indigenous cultures have faced all throughout North America since the arrival of europeans a few hundred years ago. What I have found in my research is that it seems like the process has been started to begin renaming the lake and other places throughout the Northwest Territories, but has yet to be completed. 

Rich in Local Cultures & History

Yellowknife and the surrounding areas are rich in indigenous culture and history. Over 50% of the population of the Northwest Territories is indigenous. The city’s name actually derives from the copper bladed knives a group of Dene were known for – with traders giving them the nickname Yellowknives. Yellowknife itself is a very young city, being less than 100 years old, but the local history here spans back thousands of years. The area was traditionally known as Sǫǫ̀mbak’è. I highly recommend learning more about the local cultures here when you visit as it is one of the things that truly makes this area incredibly beautiful. There are lots of opportunities and tours to learn about the beautiful heritage that has existed here for millennia. But if you can only fit in a couple hours, at least make time to stop at the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Center. Admission is free and it’s filled with exhibits documenting the history of the area. The small lake that it sits on also has a nice trail that wraps around it which makes for a beautiful walk after visiting the museum.

Any Insider Tips?

One of the coolest thing I’ve learned is how scientists can predict solar storms to some pretty close accuracy quite a ways out. So if you have some flexibility and can swing a last minute trip, you might want to check aurora forecasts and if a few weeks out it looks good jump on it. You’re looking for a few days at a kp3 or higher (it’s actually way more complicated than this, but I’ll save nerding out on that for a later article). Astronomy North has a great daily forecasts specific to Yellowknife and Space Weather Live has overall long term forecasts. 

When planning your trip, definitely put a day to the side to head out searching for Wood Bison. You can grab a tour or if you have a rental car you basically want to take Highway 3 heading towards Behchokǫ̀ & Edzo. Once you cross the Frank Channel Bridge by Edzo you’ll start seeing signs to slow down and watch out for Wood Bison. It’s a little over an hour drive from Yellowknife. Then from here just keep your eyes peeled for these awesome behemoths of creatures just hanging by the sides of the road. The further south you go towards Fort Providence the better chances you will have of seeing more of them.  Just keep in mind there are no gas stations out here, so fill up before leaving Yellowknife and make sure you have enough to return, or to get to the next fuel station in Fort Providence. 

While, these beautiful creatures might look quite chill, they can be quite dangerous. So please do not be an idiot and try to get close to them. It’s recommended to always keep at least 25m (80ft) away at all times. Even though they are gigantic, they are still prey animals and will not hesitate to ram you with those sharp horns if they feel even slightly threatened. You’ll also want to keep in mind that Wood Bison can run at 40kmh (25mph), jump high fences, swim, and quickly spin 180 degrees. Living up to my new nickname for them, fluffy tanks. 

Yellowknife Aurora Trip Quick Recap – TL:DR

When to go: March-April for winter shots, or August to October for warmer autumn shots. 

What to see: The Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights), Wood Bison, bald eagles, beautiful landscapes & more.

Temperatures: Highly dependent on the season. Can be polar frigid in winter, and comfortable warm in summer & early autumn

Photo/Lens Type:  Wide angle for aurora viewing & astro, and a telephoto for wildlife. 

Experience Level: Anyone. This is an easy trip.

More info: Spectacular NWT has a wealth of information on their website. 

Note: I only recommend products I would use myself and all opinions expressed here are my own. This post might contain affiliate links that at no additional cost to you, I may earn a small commission. I would never recommend a product I have not personally tested and loved. 

The lagoons of Mexico’s Baja California peninsula have long been a natural sanctuary for gray whales. The grays make one of the longest migrations on earth every winter to reach these special waters and find mates or give birth & raise their newborn calves before starting the long journey home. In this weeks travel guide I’m going to take you through how to visit one of the most amazing whale watching experiences on our planet, as well as give you a little history on why these are whales are so special and how to come home with some awesome photos of the encounter. So let’s get started! 

Why Should You Go?

In my travels I have yet to find another whale watching experience that comes even remotely close to the encounters you can have with gray whales in Baja. Imagine playing peekaboo with a curious 12 meter (40 ft) long ocean giant that is within arms reach of you. So close that you can see the details in their beautiful eyes as they look right back at you. The gray whales that visit Baja showcase a strange behavior that is not seen anywhere else in the world. For some reason they seem interested in humans and what is going on above the water. Boats will sit with the engine off and curious gray whales will come to check it out. If you splash the water a little with your hands they’ll sometimes even place their head under your hand and lift it from the water. It’s surreal. But what’s even more incredible is that these whales only show this behavior in the lagoons of the Baja California peninsula in Mexico. Once they leave the lagoons they stop doing it. They don’t do it while migrating to Baja or on their way home. They don’t it at their feeding grounds in Alaska or Canada. It’s remarkable and so beautiful that I have personally seen it bring numerous humans to tears. There’s a bit of local legend and history behind it which I’ll cover later.

But it’s not only these up close encounters either. Grey whales seem to really like spy hopping – where the whale sticks its head out of the water to essentially check out what’s going on at the surface. They also breach, launching themselves into the air and splashing back in. Plus we’ve seen mating behaviors, calves nursing & playing with mom, feeding behaviors, and much more. I’ve even witnessed a mother lifting her calf out of the water on her rostrum as if she wanted to introduce us to her new baby Lion King style!

When to Go? 

The gray whales normally start to arrive in January and by late in the month there’s already a good amount of them at the lagoons. But keep in mind, they are making a roundtrip migration that ranges from 16,000 to upwards of 22,000 kilometers (10,000-14,000 miles) long. It is one of the longest migrations of any animal on earth. In 2015 a grey whale broke the previous record for mammals by traveling roughly 14,000 miles from Russian waters to Mexico and back.  Even crazier is they take this entire journey within only a few miles of the coast line – providing a new standard for truly ‘taking the scenic route’. With that being said, some years they do arrive a little late or a little early. The gray whales will remain in the area though until usually early April. If you’re looking for greatest chances of seeing a lot of whales I’d aim for anytime in February or the first half of March. With that being said there are usually grey whales in the area from usually early January until mid/late April. 

How to get there?

There are quite a few areas to see the gray whales including Bahia Magdalena (Puerto San Carlos), Bahia Almejas (Puerto Chale), Lopez Mateos, Guerrero Negro, San Ignacio, and more. For this article I’m going to focus on the Bahia Magdalena Complex, which covers the 3 areas closest to the major airport of Los Cabos International Airport, La Paz International Airport, and Loreto International Airport. The Bahia Magdalena complex is the technical grouping of the area which runs from Bahia Almejas (Puerto Chale) in the south, up through Bahia Magdalena (Puerto San Carlos), to Adolfo Lopez Mateos in the north. This area is insanely rich in biodiversity and ecosystems and one of my favorite regions in Baja. Not only do you have these massive waterways you also have some of the most important mangroves in Baja as well as sand dunes, mountains, and low lying plains. It plays host to an incredible amount of birds from osprey & bald eagles to numerous migratory sea birds.

The Bahia Magdalena complex is located about 5 hours north of Cabo San Lucas by car, or 3 hours north from La Paz, or roughly 2 hours west from Loreto. There aren’t any closer commercial flights, so unless you are looking at booking a private charter flight those are your 3 closest jump points. Los Cabos International airport in San Jose del Cabo has by far the most options in terms of flights both internationally and within Mexico. It’s one of the top 5 most connected airports in all of Mexico. From Cabo or La Paz you can catch a bus to Ciudad Ciudad Constitución or Insurgentes and then a smaller bus or taxi into Puerto San Carlos or Adolfo Lopez Mateos or Puerto Chale – the latter being a bit more difficult. The issue with this is the buses into these smaller times run at odd times and schedules tend to change often. They also usually only run once or twice a day. So while this is probably the cheapest option it’s also the most difficult. A better option would be to rent a car and drive there or go with an operator that runs Grey Whale watching expeditions & tours like Dive Ninja.

What’s the easiest way to see grey whales?  

Of course driving is not what everyone is looking forward to doing on vacation. Plus you might not want to drive in foreign country or deal with handling all the logistics like renting a car, finding hotels, etc etc.. For this, I’d recommend going with an operator that runs gray whale trips to Bahia Magdalena. Personally I think Dive Ninja Expeditions runs the best trip to see the gray whales. They handle everything and make it super easy – including transportation, accommodation, whale watching, visiting the mangroves & dunes, and so much more. Plus its all done with sustainability in mind while supporting local research & conservation programs. They take you to all 3 of the different areas in the course of a 5 day trip. Plus their guides are super knowledgeable and teach you fun facts about the area and whales on the drive up there. If you can’t make one of their regularly scheduled 5 day trips, they also offer private mini trips that can be as short as 1 night or as long as you’d like to spend with the whales. 

Where to stay

Of the areas we are focusing on, Puerto San Carlos has the most amenities, but keep in mind all of these locations are small fishing towns. In San Carlos check out Villas Mar y Arena or Lore for accommodation as well as for their onsite restaurants. Hotel Alcatraz also has great food too. There are also a couple whale camps out on the island, but I personally have not yet tried them and have heard mixed reviews ranging from horrible to awesome. So for the time being we’re going to leave those out of this guide until I can check them out myself. In Lopez Mateos I like Whales Nest hotel but there are some nice spots on AirBnB as well. For lunch in Lopez Mateos I’d recommend grabbing food at the whale watching marina. There are a few spots side by side here, but my favorite is the one furthest to the left. It can be a bit of mission trying to sort accommodation in these areas during the gray whale season as there aren’t a lot of options so they fill up pretty quick. This is another great reason to go with an operator like Dive Ninja that offers multi day gray whale watching expeditions and trips. They already have everything sorted so you can just enjoy the whales and not have to stress the rest. 

Weather & What to Pack 

Baja’s gray whale areas in the winter can get a little bit chilly. The mornings tend to be cool and the afternoons pretty warm. Some days there can also be a dense marine layer covering the water. But as soon as the sun starts to get higher in the sky the fog will burn off and the clouds open up to bright sunny days. For this reason I highly recommend dressing in layers that are easily removed. Normally in the morning I will board the boat wearing shorts with my windproof & water resistant Rainier pants over them. Then on top I layer a t-shirt, hooded sweatshirt, and my Arc’teryx jacket to block the wind & any moisture. I’ll have a beanie to keep my head warm and a Buff to protect my face from the sun and wind. A layered set up like this is perfect for the cool damp mornings. The windproof & water resistant outer layers keep you from getting chilled or wet early in the day – especially when that morning marine layer is around. By late morning usually it’s already much warmer and I’m down to just shorts and t-shirt. 

Do I need any dive gear?

No need to pack any dive gear for this trip unless you are planning to do some diving in Los Cabos or one of the other jump points. One thing to note here is that it is HIGHLY ILLEGAL to target getting in the water with any whale species in Mexico. All whale species are protected here. Mexico follows similar regulations to the Marine Mammal Protections acts that you find in the USA and Canada. “But how do you get these underwater shots then Jay”, I hear you asking… Well, this is the fun part! Wildlife photographers are a clever bunch! The underwater photos you see of gray whales are taken by leaning over the edge of the boat and holding your camera just under the surface. The whales get close enough to the boat that even a super wide fish eye lens can sometimes not be a wide enough.

What camera gear should I bring?  

Lets start with topside – personally I really like the Sony 100-400mm G Master lens for the gray whales as well as Bahia Magdalena in general. It’s a great combo of reach and being able to hold it steady on a small boat. I find 600mm lenses a bit too much to comfortably shoot from the panga style boats we see in Baja. I also carry Sony’s 1.4x teleconverter in case I want to get a little bit more reach. When the whales are close to the boat I’ll switch to the Sony 16-35mm as it gives me a bit of range. 

Underwater I’m shooting with my Sigma 15mm Fisheye in a Nauticam housing. You want as wide as possible for this. The visibility usually isn’t the best in the lagoons so you’re aiming for shooting when the gray whales are close and as we mentioned before they aren’t the smallest of animals. Plus keep in mind you will be essentially shooting blind so you want solid autofocus  and a close focus distance. Also highly recommend a Go Pro on a telescoping stick. This is probably the only time you’ll ever hear me say this as I hate humans running around with cameras on sticks shoving them everywhere. But this is one of those very rare occurrences it’s actually quite good to capture video. 

Last but not least, let’s talk drones. Some of the gray whale areas have banned drones and others are ok with it and some require permits. So definitely check the local regulations before you take off. Also if you haven’t flown from a small boat you may want to skip trying for the first time here. There are a lot of birds in this area – including some that see drones as prey like magnificent frigate birds, osprey, and bald eagles. With that being said there are some really incredible landscapes that really can only be captured via drone such as the mangroves or sand dunes. I’m currently using the DJI Mavic 3 Pro. I love the long battery life and the slightly bigger size makes it easier to take off / land from your hand while the boat is rocking or coasting with the wind. 

Why are these whales so special?

During the golden age of whaling, ships descended on these lagoons and hunted the Californian Gray Whale almost to extinction. They actually stopped hunting them only because there were so few left that it wasn’t commercially viable to hunt gray whales in the eastern Pacific Ocean any longer. You can find old accounts of the whaling activities in these areas that describe the waters of the lagoons turning red from all of the blood of these poor creatures being devastated for profit. It’s mind blowing and heart breaking to think that this was still going on in the last century. All of the gray whales that you see in these areas are the direct descendants of the few that survived the horrific whaling era. But bizarrely it’s almost as if they have come to forgive humans for the atrocities of our ancestors and are now very curious of us.

There’s a legend you will most likely hear of how a local fisherman back in the 1970’s reached out to the water and a gray whale lifted its head to meet the hand. Creating the proverbial peace treaty between the gray whales and humans. The story is quite sweet and will always be told that it happened in whichever area you are in at that moment. But it is a beautiful example of how humans and whales could potentially coexist in a positive way. The story requires a bunch of background as well as learning the history of Baja’s ‘devil fish’ to really understand why this moment was truly really special, so I’ll save that for a future article. In good news, the California Gray Whale’s populations have remarkably rebounded and are considered to be stable now. Currently the IUCN’s Red List of Endangered Species sets their conservation status as ‘Least Concern’. So when you are out on the water and lock eyes with one of these majestic ocean giants just in front of you, take a moment to appreciate how hard their journey has been to get to this moment — and how lucky we are to be able to encounter them.

Local Insider Tips

I highly recommend taking some time to explore the landscapes and ecosystems in the area. Some of the most important mangrove systems in all of Mexico are in this area. Cruising through the mangroves on the boat is reminiscent of being in the Florida Everglades and feels like you are in another world all of a sudden. There are also beautiful sand dunes to explore. Keep an eye out for little paw prints too and maybe you’ll get lucky and see one of the local coyotes that inhabit the area. Stop by Villas Mar y Arena for sunset as it has one of the best views for sunset this time of year. Make sure to send a ‘hello from Jay Clue‘ to the team for me too! Lastly, if you enjoy eating seafood everything in this area is actually artisanal caught right in the area. The area is very productive in terms of fisheries and that is the main industry. A lot of the whale watching captains work as fishermen when not taking out tours.  Make sure to ask your guide or captain to take you for lunch on the island if you are based in San Carlos. There’s a tiny restaurant right on the beach that is run by some of the local fishermen who live on the island.

Gray Whales Trip Quick Recap – TL:DR

When to go: Mid January through early April. My personal favorite is February and early March. 

Marine Life: Gray whales, humpback whales, dolphins, osprey, bald eagles, tons of sea bird species, and sea lions.

Air Temps: Average highs: 24-27C (75-80F), average lows: 14-18C (57-64F)

Photo/Lens Type:  Fish eye for underwater, then a wide angle & telephoto for topside. 

Experience Level: Anyone. This is a non diving trip.

Who to dive with: Dive Ninja Expeditions runs awesome 5 day gray whale expeditions as well as private trips & experiences ranging from 1 night to 10 nights.