While winter months typically mean playing in the snow and wearing warm sweaters, it's a great time of the year for whale watching. If you prefer to curl up on the couch with a good book, remember the
Goodreads Giveaway for "Mystical Aria: Seeking the Gallion Queen."
Jean's Journeys
Gray Whale Spyhop in San Ignacio Lagoon
Jean's Journey to Touch a Gray Whale
Despite a horrendous seasick experience watching sperm whales in New Zealand with my brother over twenty years ago, I decided to journey to San Ignacio Lagoon, Mexico, with one goal in mind: to touch a gray whale.
These gray whales
migrated from the Arctic, where they fed during the summer, to spend winter months calving and mating along the coastal lagoons of Baja California. Limited whale watching was allowed in the pristine San Ignacio Lagoon. Boat captains were prohibited from chasing the whales. But when the gray whales wanted to dive under, swim next to, or bump a boat, no government or environmental group was going to stop them.
I traveled with 18 other adventurous souls, including one of my favorite trip leaders,
Anne Gordon de Barrigon. We piled into three small boats for seven whale watching trips over three days.
Enter Goodreads Giveaway by February 28, 2017 for a chance to win a free paperback version of
Mystical Aria: Seeking the Gallion Queen. Click the
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In 1990, I traveled throughout New Zealand with my brother, Joe, who was studying Agricultural Economics there. We went on a whale watching trip to see sperm whales in Kaikoura. I got so sick on our small boat that I watched the horizon instead of whales. When we finally returned to the beach, I sat on a stump and refused to move. Joe practically forced me to get into a van that was our only transportation back to the youth hostel.
Do you remember Peakte, the Gallion First Engineer in "Mystical Aria: Seeking the Gallion Queen"? The "Mystical Aria" sequel contains a chapter about the craziest day in his life. What happens to him on that day changes his life and--spoiler alert--sets the stage for an important discovery in the third "Mystical Aria" book.
Virginia is for Lovers, and I love humpback whales! We went to see the humpback whales and dolphins today on a school trip for President's Day. It was cold-too astro cold even for Jackie to surf-but I didn't mind because we saw humpback whales jump high in the sky and then flop SPLASH into the ocean. Most astro thing I'd ever seen in the Atlantic since Drake did a 360 on a WaveRunner last summer.
Dolphins followed our boat from the dock out to the ocean and back. They looked like they were having the most fun of anyone. One dolphin looked right at me as if it wanted to tell me something. I wonder if we will ever understand their beeps, chirps, and squeals enough to carry on a conversation.
Aria and Tommy would enjoy interacting with you on their Facebook pages. What would you like to know about these characters? What secrets would you want them to tell?
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