Laguna Ojo de Liebre

On Friday afternoon after signing off of work, we headed out of town a few miles. No cell reception, no problem. It was time for us to get up close and personal with some gray whales… if they’ll let us. Hello there, Laguna Ojo de Liebre!

There is a $5 US entrance fee to get into the national park. Instead of handing you a boring receipt, the ranger hands you a drink ticket for the bar/restaurant on site instead. The $5 gets you not only access to the national park and free parking but also to a beer or margarita. Haha. Awesome.

We ended driving to the furthest campsite along the edge of the lagoon and parked near the cliff with our pals, the Wandrly crew.

The kids immediately kicked off their shoes and ran towards the water.

The beaches were littered with so many shells.

The dads started scouring the beaches for live clams.

Looks like we might have some seafood for dinner tonight.

We didn’t have any garlic or butter or really enough time to soak the clams, but the dads still sucked those sandy clams down with beers in hand.

Kids wrestling near the cliff. Maybe not the best idea.

We are excpecting to see gray whales tomorrow but were greeted by some in the waters seen from our site.

Mama Renee and Wylder.

The girls inside of the camper. Mila with her barbies and Ava reading a new book on her Kindle. All of our bedding piled on the kids’ bed.

Luka and the other boys preferred playing cliff side.

Our first sunset over the Pacific in Mexico.

Why sit back and enjoy the quiet sunset when you can fly a noisy drone instead?!?!

The boys thought it was fun to try to outrun it.

Tristan helping Dan out by holding the FPV monitor.

Last bits on daylight left at our free spot in Baja.

After the sun went down, Mila continued with her dolls, Luka requested a liverwurst sandwich…

… and Ava is still reading in our pile of bedding. Maybe I should make the beds now? It’s going to be an exciting day tomorrow for this crew.

Laguna Ojo de Liebre is a preservation area protected by the Mexican government. The high salinity in the lagoon water helps newborn whales learn to swim and protects them from predators lurking just beyond the entrance to the Pacific. A grey whale sanctuary of sorts.

Let’s do this!

We were told there are hundreds of cows already here to give birth to calves and that number will double by next month. Visitors are not allowed to enter the lagoon on their own so you must go with a certified tour boat. And when I say a certified tour boat I mean a 2-person operation with 2 panga-style boats that were designed for local fishermen. Our awesome captain was Luis. Not to the confused with the other captain who was also named Luis. Not a coincidence. He is his father.

Minutes after we boarded our panga, we could see whale spouts going off all around us. One of the first whales we saw was a super rare albino mama. We could not believe our eyes!

During most of our 2 hour tour we were literally surrounded by whales. We didn’t know which way to look. THEY WERE EVERYWHERE.

The kids got good a spotting the whales.

Good job, little man.

WHALES!

Waiting for a mama and baby to come up to us. It’s still really early in the season but we have high hopes.

The whales are actually more likely to visit this early in the season if there are kids on the pangas. They are just as curious of our kids as we are of theirs.

Hundreds of mother and newborn gray whales surrounded our boat as we waited patiently for one pair to approach. Being in their presence and hearing them spout was a beautiful experience. Being allowed to touch the mama and her baby that swam to us was an honor.