In Spain, in the early 16th century, there was a widespread legend that an island nation known as California existed off Mexico’s Pacific coast. This mythical island was reputedly inhabited by black women warriors who wielded weapons of solid gold and were ruled by a powerful queen named Calipha. The murderous, greedy Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés, who had just toppled the Aztec Empire in mainland Mexico, saw in Calipha’s supposed wealthy kingdom a further opportunity to enrich himself, so he commissioned an expedition to find the island and assess the potential to overthrow Calipha, steal her empire’s gold, and subjugate her island’s female warriors. The expedition was an abject failure. The pillaging Spaniards found no island, no black women warriors, and no golden weapons, only scattered encampments of primitive hunter-gatherers eking out an existence on a desert peninsula.
Today, the Mexican peninsula we now know as Baja California, the world’s second longest peninsula, has biological wealth far beyond its pecuniary value. The famous ocean explorer Jacques-Yves Cousteau called the Gulf of California the “aquarium of the world” in recognition of its rich biodiversity. Scientists have counted 32 different marine mammals in its subtropical waters, 5 species of sea turtles, 800 species of fish, and more than 2,000 varieties of marine invertebrates. Some call the multiple islands in the Gulf of California “Mexico’s Galapagos.”
On our photo tour of the peninsula and its adjacent coastal waters we focus our cameras on many of the natural wonders of this exceptional destination: towering cardon cactuses, the tallest in the world; giant blue whales, the largest creatures to have ever inhabited the planet; great flocks of migratory shorebirds, curvaceous golden sand dunes, and photogenic 18th century Spanish missions. However, the greatest reward that the peninsula has to offer, and the primary focus of the tour, is the opportunity to photograph and personally interact with mother gray whales and their newborn calves as they overwinter in several sheltered coastal lagoons. It’s a natural history experience unique in the world.
When I first met the group in Loreto on the first night of our tour, I realized I had previously traveled with nine out of the ten participants, and I knew them to be personable and easygoing, so I expected everyone to get along nicely, and indeed, they did.
After a welcome dinner of Mexican culinary delights at one of my favorite restaurants in Loreto, we started the next day with a boat tour of Loreto Bay National Park. Strong, gusty winds can always throw a wrench in the works for any boat trip on the ocean, and luckily, we got out on the water early and were able to succeed in the first of the tour’s six ocean outings. The national park is an important area for several of the great whales and on the boat trip we saw five impressive blue whales, as well as two humpbacks, two fin whales, and unexpectedly, three gray whales which normally do not stray into the Gulf of California and remain on the Pacific side of the peninsula.
In the days that followed that memorable tour beginning, we enjoyed sunny days, warm temperatures, friendly camaraderie, traditional Mexican hospitality, and photo opportunities like none had ever had before. Some of the highlights included:
- A seabird feeding frenzy where dozens of pelicans, boobies and endemic yellow-footed gulls strafed the ocean surface to feed on a dense ball of anchovies.
- Four of the peninsula’s historical Spanish missions, built in the 1700s, one of which, San Javier Mission, is considered by many to be the most beautiful because of its magnificent altar pieces and wood and stone sculptures.
- Cooperative reddish egrets and mud-probing long-billed curlews searching the shallows at low tide.
- The abandoned gold mine of Pozo Aleman, where impoverished locals lived in caves to escape the searing summer heat.
- The well-preserved cave rock of Mazeta del Carmen, dating back several thousand years, where male and female shamans came to etch on the walls and give thanks or seek council on the vagaries of their challenging lives.
- A roost of several hundred turkey vultures, jokingly designated the national bird of Baja California, where we photographed fractious interactions, preening, and the ritual sunbathing in the hours after sunrise.
Of course, the show we all came to eagerly witness, participate in, and photograph was the unique world experience of being approached by a 30-ton adult gray whale whose friendly intentions seemed like nothing more than innocent interaction. On the four outings onto the Mexican coastal lagoons, which hundreds of these filter-feeding behemoths use as a winter refuge, the whales did not disappoint. They repeatedly breached, spy-hopped, fluked, and spouted, all within camera range. The experience, however, that left everyone incredulous was when some of the whales surfaced beside our pangas, close enough for everyone to touch and caress. There is no other wildlife experience in the world that can match this interspecies interaction.
I am leading the trip again in February 2026, so if you need a rejuvenating, inspiring, and photographically productive winter getaway, this is a trip to consider.
