Baja Expeditions - Plan your adventure to Baja California: Special interest: Swim, Science or Family Adventures

SEE Turtle Monitoring & Whale Watching Expedition

A two-fer on the Pacific side of Baja: get up close and personal with gray whales and sea turtles in the dreamlike landscape of Magdalena Bay – one of the 10 most important wetland systems in North America.

We’ll take skiffs within arms-length of gray whales and their calves. Gray whales alternate between feeding and breeding. In summer, they fatten up on food strained from Arctic mud. In the fall they set out on a 12,000-mile journey. For two or three months, they swim day and night to reach Baja, where they mate and calve. In the warm, protected waters of Magdalena Bay, they flirt and breed, while the females impregnated 13 months ago give birth. You’ll see a lot of whale action: breaching, rolling, spy hopping, and spouting

Later we’ll help monitor sea turtle populations with community conservation groups. Green sea turtles feed on the bay’s sea grass year-round. We’ll help a local monitoring team weigh, measure, tag, and release sea turtles. Helping locals with on-the-ground projects addressing the main threats to turtle survival also helps the local economy. Turtle watching is an alternative to fishing or poaching for local residents, and helps save these ancient animals. In between you’ll have time to stroll, paddle, swim or snorkel by sand dunes, unspoiled beaches and mangrove estuaries. The perfect family adventure!

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Trip Map

Itinerary:

SEE Turtle Monitoring and Whale Watching

DAY 1 ~ ARRIVE IN LA PAZ, MEXICO

Arrive to La Paz, use your taxi voucher for the transfer to your hotel. Upon check-in, ask the front desk staff for a Baja Expeditions Welcome Letter that contains information pertinent to your trip. After, spend some time exploring the colorful city of La Paz, with its charming boardwalk and many fine restaurants and shops. Dinner is on your own this evening. (No meals)

DAY 2 ~ LA PAZ TO MAGDALENA BAY

Meet in the lobby of the hotel at ~7:30 AM in the morning, packed and ready to go. (Check your Welcome Letter for exact departure time). We will transfer to our La Paz office for a light breakfast of cereal, yogurt, juice and coffee. You may leave a bag of "city clothes" behind, and shop at our store for T-shirts, suntan lotion, etc. A four-hour van or bus ride transports you to Magdalena Bay, with lunch en route or at camp. Once we arrive at the Bay, a short boat ride delivers us to our base camp, where you'll have an orientation, assignment of tents and a safety briefing. Tonight you’ll enjoy a beautiful sunset over the Bay while the staff prepares a delicious welcome dinner. There will also be an evening presentation. (B/L/D)

DAY 3 & 4 ~ MAGDALENA BAY

The surreal landscape of the ever changing sand dunes provides a dramatic backdrop for exciting excursions to see the gray whales! There are two excursions each day using motorized skiffs, each lasting up to three hours. Our experienced naturalist guides will point out many behaviors of the whales, including spy hopping, mating, breaching, and nurturing their young.

In between whale watching excursions, you'll have time for walks along the beach or hikes in the dunes. You can also go kayaking on guide-led forays into the mangroves or other permitted paddling areas using our fleet of kayaks. You may opt to go bird watching, or just enjoy some "down time" as you relax with a book from our camp's library.

Happy hour brings an opportunity to compare notes with fellow travelers and you sip both alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages and sample tantalizing appetizers, while watching the sun disappear beneath the horizon. Dinner is buffet-style, and often includes fresh fish and home-made tortillas. After dinner, one of our experienced guides will present a natural history talk to help you learn more about the Baja Peninsula, its local people and the marine wildlife protected in Magdalena Bay. Be sure to take advantage of the opportunity to star-gaze while you are here, too. (B/L/D daily)

DAY 5 & 6 ~ TURTLE MONITORING IN MAGDALENA BAY

After breakfast we will take a 60 minutes boat ride to change camp sites. Members of the Cooperativa Eco-Tortugueros -a local conservation group working to protect the turtles in the area- will welcome us in their Turtle Monitoring camp.

Turtle watching offers an alternative to fishing or poaching for local residents who want to see a future for turtles and themselves in the region. We will help to put out the nets and monitor turtles in the following 24 hours, where we will check the nets and bring the turtles ashore for study, other activities as kayaking, bird watching & traditional fishing are also possible. (B/L/D)

DAY 7 ~ SAN CARLOS AND MAGDALENA BAY TO LA PAZ

Explore the area and perhaps do some bird watching before we check the nets one more time for green turtles. After a final lunch in San Carlos, the group returns to La Paz in the late afternoon for a free afternoon shopping or exploring the town. Dinner is on your own tonight. Overnight at hotel. (B/L)

DAY 8 ~ LA PAZ TO HOME CITY

Depart to your home city with incredible memories, reflecting on your incredible opportunity to work directly with the turtles. There are taxis available 24 hours a day in front of the hotel for service to the La Paz airport and the cost is approximately $20. (No meals)

This is a general itinerary and subject to change. Hotels on nights 1 & 7 are included in the trip fee

Trip Fee:

$1,795 pp dbl occ

Discounts of 30% for kids 8 - 15 years old and 50% for 2 - 7 years old. Kids will be staying in a kelty tent beside their parents' or guardians' tent.

Includes:

Hotel on nights 1 and 7; comfortable, catered camping: walk-in tent on nights 2, 3 & 4;(small camping tent on nights 5 & 6); B/L/D on Days 2, 3, 4 5 & 6 and B/L on Day 7; sleep kit (Therm-a-rest mattress, sleeping bag, liner and pillow), single or double kayaks in the Whale Watching camp; taxi vouchers to hotel from La Paz airport on Day 1; ground transfer to San Carlos on day 2 and return on day 7, services of knowledgeable guides and caring crew members; detailed pre-departure information to help you plan your trip.

The Conservation Fee of $30 is not included in our trip fee. This covers the use of Mexico's new conservation passport and the support of the Fund for the Protected Areas in Southern Baja California (FOSANP). The Passport was designed by the National Commission of Natural Protected Areas (CONANP) to raise funds for the continued protection of the shorlines, inlets, beaches and covers that make this area so extraordinary to visit. The passport allows you to visit Mexico's Protected Areas as many times as you wish for an entire year.

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