Baja Expeditions

Baja Expeditions is STILL great! Read Cathy B’s review below and put a big DITTO by it for me. I also would say that I was impressed by the respect for the whales and for the environment on behalf of everyone we encountered. The boat drivers decided on their own to put fewer boats on the lagoon at once (just 16 max) than the regulations would allow, and they police the admission and the time on the lagoon for each boat.
Whales are not chased or harrassed, but every day we had close encounters. Everyone on our tour had at least two touches of whales and calves. I came home with thousands of photos, some so close, I have to explain to viewers what part of the whale they are seeing.
Accommodations are rustic, but comfortable and scrupulously clean. Food (3 hot meals a day) ranges from very good to excellent. Be sure you bring sunscreen, a brimmed hat with a chin cord, and some protection from wind and whale spray — yes, you will get showered regularly when they surface and exhale next to the boat!
If you tend to seasickness, request scopolamine patches from your doctor. One behind your ear will keep your tummy calm for all three days of excursions.
If you have a yen to see the whales, look up Baja Expeditions. They do it right!

Want to pet a 30 ton gray whale? How about play with and/​or kiss a 10 ton baby gray whale? If so, Baja Expeditions is the company to contact. I got to pet a mama whale and multiple babies as well as kiss two baby whales right on their noses. I know this sounds ridiculous as the whales are humongous wild animals and we’re sitting in a small fishing skiff, but they are very docile creatures and the babies LOVE playing with the people in the boats.
Baja Expeditions takes advantage of the migration of the gray whales to the San Ignacio lagoon to have their babies and mate by setting up a camp with tents/​cots, shower facilities, a dining hall, and multiple outhouses. Now I am not a camper in any sense of the word. I seriously dislike it. But such was my desire to pet some whales that I decided I could handle it for 5 days/​4 nights. Here’s a bit how it went.
Day 1: Arrive in San Diego and stay at a hotel (Baja Expeditions recommends Hacienda Hotel as that is where they start the tour the morning of day two).
Day 2: You will be picked up with your group (largest group is 20 people) and taken to Tijuana to catch your private plane to the lagoon. These are very small planes, so bring some Dramamine if you get motion sickness as you’ll be in the air around 2.5 hours. You then take a short 10 minute bus ride to the camp where they give you a tour of the facility. That evening you’ll have happy hour and a delicious Mexican meal.
Day 3 – 5: Here is where the real fun begins. The guides give you two tours a day, each lasting right around two hours. You take a short 15 minute ride out to the area in which the government allows whale watching, where you will (hopefully) get to interact with the mamas and their babies. We were quite lucky and interacted with a multitude of whales over the three days. And each night you’ll get a nature lecture on birds and wildlife in and around the lagoon.
Day 6: You’ll get up, pack, have breakfast and then hop on the planes back to Tijuana. Beautiful sight seeing if you want to take photos out of the plane.
I am not even kidding when I say this was one of the most memorable vacations I’ve ever taken. Everyone onsite was wonderful — from the kitchen staff to the guides to the skiff drivers. We could not have asked for a better time. And they now have wifi in the camp and will shortly have paved roads and a sewer system. At this point, though, you’ll use outhouses (the cleanest I’ve ever been in) and solar heated water for showers. Completely worth it for even the most averse to camping.
Although fairly expensive, it’s worth every penny to be able to interact with these beautiful creatures in their natural habitat. Even if you have to camp to do so.