The Bay is 85 km long and not very deep. Therefore, the water is pretty warm and the bay sheltered. It was the right conditionfor grey whales to travel down from Alaska to give birth to their babies. However, the bay provided an easy catch for the whalehunting ships. Mothers and babies were slaughtered  during the birth time until 1937, when a whale protection policy started. It is said that during the whale hunting season, the water in the bay turned red.

In 1947, the whale hunting was forbidden. However, no whales came anymore into the bay. It happened in the 1970s, whena fisherman spotted a whale again. He was so excited that he immediately returned to the community and said, “The whales have forgiven us!” The fisherman were still afraid of the whales, as the mother whales attacked the ships to defend their babies, when they were hunted.

It took a while to build trust again. Now the fishermen are friends of the whales. They take people out to the bay and look for mothers and babies. The grey whales want to show their babies to the humans. They want to connect. We saw many mother whales with babies swimming around our boat, one was even swimming underneath. Sometimes, the mother lifts up the baby and shows it to the people in the boat to touch it. We were not so lucky. But it was very special. Enjoy!

Garyo

Whale watchers from National Geographic with two grey whales

swimming around us

A grey whale breaching in Magdalena Bay.

A grey whale weights up to 40 tons and can reach 75 years of age

Grey whales use all the oxygen they breathe in

and can stay up to 20 minutes under water

A baby great whale looking at us

A mother with baby on the back