Gray whales feel right at home with admirers in Magdalena Bay

As Pacific gray whales continue their southbound migration, many are already snug in their favorite Baja California lagoons, where some will stay till early March.

Jonathan Roldan, owner of Tailhunter International, e-mailed the accompanying photos he took in Magdalena Bay, where intimate encounters between whales and whale admirers occur daily.

I once camped on a sand island within the sprawling bay and spent three days kayaking with the gentle leviathans, and it remains one of the most memorable trips I've enjoyed during a long career as outdoors writer for the Los Angeles Times.

Roldan's business is headquartered in La Paz on the Sea of Cortez. He specializes in fishing and diving excursions but during the winter his crews drive passengers across the peninsula -- that's a three-hour adventure in itself -- and place them on skiffs for a whale-watching excursion that lasts up to three hours.

"It takes the whales a while to get used to the boats in the shallow calm lagoons of the bay, but once they do, they are hardly shy about coming right up to the boats either out of curiosity or friendliness," Roldan says. "The newborn babies are especially fun."

Tailhunter International is one of many companies providing access to the whales in Baja's lagoons. Scammon's and San Ignacio lagoons may be more popular, but Magdalena to the south is for many more, charming and remote. A journey there is not soon forgotten.

-- Pete Thomas

Photos courtesy of Jonathan Roldan