On Friday, January 13th we drove north from our campsite in Mulege back thru Santa Rosalia to San Ignacio where we ate lunch in the town square. Back on the road again within an hour we were on our way to Scammon’s Lagoon just south of the city of Guerrero Negro. Scammon’s is one of the three lagoons in Baja where the Gray Whale (Eschrichtius Robustus) spends their winter after migrating approximately 6,000 miles from Alaska. They make this trip to mate and give birth every year. The mother whales are approx. 40 – 50 feet in length and weigh around 40 – 50 tons give birth to a cutely little baby 12 – 15 ft. in length and weighing 3/4 of a ton. Scammon’s Lagoon is named after Capt. Charles Scammon who discovered this lagoon in the late eighteen hundreds where after blocking the mouth of the lagoon with his fleet he preceded to slaughter the mother and calf pairs in mass. We became modern day whale hunters only our weapon was alert eyes and camera lenses.
We entered the lagoon by traveling 10 miles off the main highway on a dirt road that crisscrosses over the world’s largest salt-evaporation plant, which is a joint business venture of Japan’s Mitsubishi Corporation and the Mexican Commerce Ministry. The lagoon itself is a designated United Nations World Heritage Biosphere. The proximity of international corporate holdings and birthing whales was a poignant living example for our campfire lecture and discussion on Globalization and environmental stewardship.
Our campsite was a beautiful and isolated beach where we watched the sunset, cooked s’mores (though the bathroom facilities left a little to be desired.)
