Learn about the legend of Kuyimá

“Kuyima was the great gray whale. So spotted with barnacle scabs that she was almost white from the head. Near the mouth, she had a large wart.”

“Agile and friendly was the whale that danced in the clouds.”

“By planktonic bioluminescence, on dark nights, fishermen say that when jumping on the surface of the lagoon, Kuyima was: Light in the darkness.”

The spirit of Kuyimá

The spirit of Kuyimá is present in the majestic gray whales that visit the lagoon every year, it is in the comfort and hospitality of the cabins, it is found in the freedom of spending a night in the tents, it is breathed in the calm and immensity of the mountains, it lives in the sunsets that unite us and that we share, and it is printed like a cave painting in the visits to the ancestral art.

We celebrate 30 years of being officially Kuyimá, it is easy to say but they have been years of hard work of conservation, education and love for nature and the activities we carry out. Thanks to those who have been part of it, our collaborators and visitors.

We carry you always in our hearts, and for many more years, let’s continue living these experiences hand in hand with nature.

What do our customers say about us?

“Honestly, I was not prepared for what I have experienced in the Lagoon of San Ignacio in Baja California Sur (bcs from now on).”

“I had arrived at dawn to San Ignacio from Loreto on a bus that was accumulating delay en route, and the 2-hour margin I had from the theoretical arrival was decreasing, with the danger of missing my transport to the Lagoon of San Ignacio, where they were waiting for me to do whale watching.”

“Finally, the bus made up some time because at night the roads of Baja California are practically deserted, and although at a military checkpoint they completely inspected the bus and we lost more than half an hour, at 7:30 I was having breakfast in the plaza of San Ignacio with the view of one of the most beautiful Jesuit missions in bcs.”

“At 8 o’clock sharp I was at Ecoturismo Kuyimá, the agency with which I was going to stay three days in some cabins on the edge of the lagoon of San Ignacio, and at 8 a.m. I was already on the way to the lagoon a little more than an hour from the town by a half-paved road, and the other half oscillates between sand and compacted and rough land that tests the suspension of [cars.”

“The driver stopped first at the Kuyimita camp, where people who are looking for a more economical option for whale watching stay, and after a coffee he took me to the cabins, a little more than a kilometer away. Both places are right on the edge of the lagoon.”

“As soon as we arrived they told us that we were going to go out immediately for whale watching, since the departures are very conditioned by the tides, the wind and the sea conditions of the lagoon, so after the safety talk and behavior rules, we got on a panga, a boat with an engine, which carries a maximum of 10 passengers plus a captain.”

“I was on the boat setting up the cameras for the sighting, not even 10 minutes had passed since our departure and our guide Sofia shouted whale at 12 o’clock, I looked and I was stunned, an enormous gray whale many meters long (they can measure up to 15 meters) and above all of much volume, accompanied by a not less large calf, almost like our boat (they are born in December so it was already about four months old), they were heading directly towards us.”

“My skin got goosebumps, and my eyes became watery, not because of the reflection of the sun or because salty water was getting in precisely, I simply couldn’t believe what was happening.”

“First the mother and then the baby carefully approached the boat without giving any blow that could have made us capsize, and they poked their head and body out to let themselves be touched and caressed, passing by the side of the boat so that we all had our dose of caresses.”

“I have seen whales in many places in the world, even the largest of all, the blue whale, in Sri Lanka, but I had never seen what I had before my eyes, whales that come directly in search of interaction with humans, and that look at you with those big eyes a meter away.”

“The whales return year after year in their migration of almost 20,000 km from Alaska round trip, where they feed, to Baja California, where they mate, give birth and raise their young, so it is clear that their relationship with humans is friendly or at least curious.”

“The captain of the boat told us that the whales recognized them, and that he knew who were the friendliest ones, and that some would approach some boats and not others. Let’s see if the whales are going to have more memory than elephants, at least they remember the way between Alaska and Baja.”

“Of the three groups of gray whales that have been studied, those of the North Atlantic, the Northeast Pacific and the Northwest Pacific, we humans took care of completely liquidating those of the Atlantic with whaling, we have reduced those of the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia to little more than 100 individuals, and luckily that of the Western Pacific enjoys good health, with more than 20,000 specimens, although genetic studies indicate that they came to be more than 100,000.”

“The mothers, who have been several months without eating, have their pantry of crustaceans in Alaska, mainly krill. Relaxed, because their babies begin to gain autonomy, they let them approach the boats and they themselves also approach to be touched. In the first months of life the mother interposes herself between the boat and the calf like the good protective mother she is.”

“In the census of 4/2/2018 there were 24 mothers with their calves and 6 solitary whales, already at the end of the season. The combined figures of the four sanctuaries in Baja, Magdalena Bay, Concepción Bay, Ojo de Liebre and San Ignacio vary quite a bit from year to year, but they are several thousand specimens.”

“For a whale bigger than your boat to delicately approach it and let itself be touched, kissed and caressed is much more than you can expect, and undoubtedly demonstrates that whales possess many of the qualities that are supposedly exclusively human, such as empathy, or at least that is the feeling that I have gotten.”

“We only lacked a jump out of the water, a whale song and a complete tail to photograph for the show to culminate with a final bang, but the lagoon is shallow, and they only show the complete tail when they are going to make deep dives.”

“About the jumps, I suppose the mothers will teach the calves when they are a little older, it is not yet known if they do them for pure fun, to get rid of parasites, or as communication and/or to mate.”

“Although at first I had some reluctance because I believe that wild animals and humans should interact as little as possible, this is a completely controlled activity, regulated and approved by UNESCO since the place is a World Heritage Site since 1993, and Kuyimá has the sustainability certifications Earth Check and Green Globe.”

“After 90 minutes on the boat, the maximum time allowed, in which we sighted and saw dozens of gray whales up close, we returned to Kuyimá, where we ate in their palapa living roomdining room.”

“Then I went to the cabin to take a restorative nap. There is only electricity at night thanks to solar panels, and the toilets are ecological. The shower is by the traditional bucket system, but yes with hot water.”

“The starry nights allowed to see a clean firmament without light pollution, and the 3 sunsets I experienced in the lagoon were simply spectacular.”

“Every morning we went out after breakfast for whale watching, and in the afternoon we did very interesting excursions in the area, such as visiting the mangroves, the 40’s salt flat and the oyster farm, which is what they call oysters here.”

“On the last day, after dinner, four young men approached, who are working at the scientific base of the lagoon, and who are responsible for the census that is done every few days, and for the work of specimen recognition and behavior monitoring.”

“They told us about the programs that are underway, such as the use of drones and the digitization of the photographic archive of gray whales in the lagoon since the 70s, since the way to identify them is by the spots on the back, which form a drawing as unique and personal as that of our fingerprints.”

“They also told us that some specimens have been identified that have crossed the entire Pacific from Kamchatka, to join the Alaska group, I suppose in search of a larger gang.”

“After what I have seen and experienced in these intense days, the encounter with the gray whales has placed very high in my ranking of close experiences with wild animals, along with the penguins in Antarctica, the mountain gorillas in Zaire, the orangutans in Malaysian Borneo, the whale sharks in Maldives and Philippines, the white rhinos walking in Botswana and the tigers in Jim Corbett Reserve in India.”

“The Kuyima Tours cabins on the edge of the lagoon add a lot of charm and comfort to the sighting. Their staff is highly qualified and in the kitchen they prepare delicious fish and seafood.”

“The 3-night accommodation package in cabins includes 3 whale watching outings plus 3 tours and 9 meals. The maximum group size is 20 people, 2 per cabin, and the boats carry a maximum of 10 passengers. The season goes from 12/15 to 4/15.”

Carlos, from Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico, April 12, 2018

You can see the full article at: