After heading a few hours south from the border we arrived at the little town of San Quintin and realized two things.  The first was that spending the night was silly because all the buses heading south only ran through the night.  The second thing we learned was that Jill’s rule of ‘never sleeping on a bus’ was to be broken very quickly.  We purchased tickets south, found some excellent Mexican food, ate dinner, and then boarded the 3^rd bus that came through.  The ones prior to that would have gotten us to our destination too early, a 5am arrival was as early as we were willing to push it despite the desires of several drivers who wanted to take us onto their bus so they could keep our fare for themselves.

We arrived in Guerrero Negro while it was still dark and hung out with a couple of Mexican tourists who also wanted to visit the whales.  Our only memories from the bus are a vague recollection of policemen walking up and down the aisle at a checkpoint; otherwise we slept the whole time.  As dawn broke, we headed to book what was one of the most amazing activities of our entire trip.

We drifted in our boat for close to 20 minutes before the whales were spotted. Each time a white cap crested in the horizon I gasped thinking it was a whale. Just as I was about to call the trip a bust, a huge burst of water exploded from in front of us. As we drifted closer, the entire boat listed to one side as all eight of us clamored to get a better view of the passing animal. To say these animals are huge is an understatement. To say they are friendly is the understatement of the century.  These whales were like puppies.  They came up to our boat, nudged the boat, rolled onto their backs for a tummy scratch, waved their fins, and even seemed to mug for the camera.  We actually got to touch the whales, several times, as they swam next to our boat. Click here to read more…

Our adventures in Baja didn’t stop there.  After the ride we were approached by a Canadian couple who were heading the same way as us to celebrate their retirement.  They didn’t have space for us in their car but invited us to stay with them once we all arrived in La Paz. We accepted and together we spent several days together.  Some of that time was spent on the beach but we took another boat trip together where we were attacked by pilot whales, clearly not as enjoyable company as the gray whales, but swimming with the sea lions around the island of Espiritu Santu was awesome.

At the northern most tip of the island we stopped to snorkel… at a sea lion rookery…with sea lions. Yes, with sea lions. A surreal sea-world experience, snorkeling with the sea lions was as exhilarating as it was frightening. Click here to read more…

IF YOU GO: The Baja peninsula is a marine biologist’s dream.  If traveling the length of the peninsula on public transport, as we did, you should plan to travel via bus at night.  There are also tons of vacation packages available that will cover lodging, transportation and even food. We chose to visit the gray whales in Guerrero Negro rather than San Ignacio simply because San Ignacio is not easily accessible via public transport.  Once in La Paz, Espirtu Santu trips can be booked from in town or the beach where the tours depart from one day in advance.  In La Paz you can also book yourself on the ferry to take you to mainland Mexico.

The Good

Our first week on the road was an amazing one. Waking up the first morning in Guerro Negro, Mexico, jumping on a boat, and having what is probably the most amazing experience possible with a wild animal was fantastic. The boat tour that we took brought us out into the harbor where the gray whales literally just swam right up to our boat to play with us and allow us to pet them. The newborn calf led his mother and when a second boat stole his attention his mom swam right up so we could continue rubbing her skin. These were wild animals and we never gave them any food. The next few days, further south in La Paz, we took a boat ride around Espiritu Santo where we were visited by (not so nice) pilot whales, a humpback whale, jumping rays and for a finale we snorkeled with some very friendly and playful sea lions.

The Bad

Our trip to the Pantanal saw some practices that we find particularly upsetting. We went fishing for piranhas in the river, a perfectly OK activity and one we’d done just weeks earlier in the Bolivian Amazon, and then returned to the lodge with our catch. Upon our arrival we found the beach littered with caiman (the South American version of the alligator) who were just waiting to eat those fresh piranha…and they were fed, right there on that sandy beach. We consider it a bad practice whenever animals are given the opportunity to link humans with food, the reason we did not go diving with the great white sharks in South Africa. We were also annoyed when bait was tossed into the river for a hawk to come and catch…creating a nice, fake photo opportunity each time that hawk came down to eat.

The Ugly

The whales of Mexico’s Baja Peninsula were wonderful, many of the mammals we encountered in Africa were not quite so accommodating. After spending gobs of money to see the rare mountain gorillas of Uganda, we were more than a bit surprised when our welcoming by these animals was one of dominance by one of the group’s males. The gorilla charged us, actually knocking one of the guides to the ground; it was an authentic experience but more than a touch scary. Runner Up: Also in Africa, one elephant in Kruger National Park just didn’t want us get past him. This elephant just stood in the road, blocking our passing, and when we finally were able to make a run for it, he turned and reared his head….VERY unhappy at our having passed by. Jill wasn’t able to enjoy elephants again, which was problematic because we saw lots more.

This column of ishouldlogoff.com aims to answer those questions that we always get asked. What was your favorite this, or your worst that. Every week we aim to highlight a new topic and will do so until we run out of ideas. If you have an idea for a Good-Bad-Ugly post, feel free to tell us in the comment section below or send us an email. To read all of them, click here.

The ferry itself was much larger than I expected as it was once a cruise ship. While the ship had been renovated for use as a ferry, the passenger area still reflected its past with a disco, theater, restaurants, gift shops, and lobby area. For our comfort several movies were played and we were able to roam around freely as though it was a cruise. For an additional fee, a private cabin could be rented although this was hardly necessary for our afternoon trip; had we been traveling in the reverse direction we may have considered this but given the amount of space on the boat it still would not have been necessary.

The biggest negative point I have to make is that the ferry is extremely expensive. At three times the rate of a comparable first class bus ride (without driving a car aboard) the ferry should have a variety of amenities beyond the bus but at its base it is merely another form of transportation. Still, it is the cheapest and most direct way from Baja to mainland Mexico.

In total the trip lasted just over 6 hours and save for watching a group of Mexican truck drivers giggle while watching Shrek, was uneventful. Upon arrival in Topolobambo the bus was easy enough to locate and charged 30 pesos for the trip to Los Mochis. Arriving in Los Mochis at 11pm was not problematic at all.