Report Back from the Whales
 The morning after our arrival into Loreto - on the east side of the Baja
peninsula in Mexico - we were shuttled by van across the
desert to Magdalena Bay (aka, Mag Bay) on the Pacific coast.
We then kayaked through the mangroves to an uninhabited
island near the mouth of the bay, which was set up as a
tent camp for our group. Our beach was directly across from
Boca de Soledade, where the whales enter the bay, and we
could see whale spouts everywhere. We had one little dog,
Lucita, along as our mascot. Can you see Lucita in this picture?
Cher
Traendly © 2007 |
We
had many encounters with the whales during our three days
on the island and were fortunate to have met with one of
the "friendly" whales. Instead of swimming by our boat like
the other whales, this mother whale was sitting vertically
in the water with her nose pointing to the sky, obviously
waiting for people to come up and visit her and her baby.
Cher
Traendly © 2007 |
Our boat and one other went over. She and her baby then
went from boat to boat, swimming underneath, and coming
up alongside to be touched. This whale was clearly happy
to connect with us. When we talked with her intuitively,
she told us that her job for her clan was to come and make
friends with the humans.
Cher
Traendly © 2007 © 2007 |
Gray whales were hunted and killed in Mexico until as recently
as the 1970s, when whaling there was finally banned. Prior
to the ban, mother Gray whales would try to defend their
babies from attack by slamming their bodies on the whaling
boats. Before the ban, Gray whales were referred to as "devil
fish." Now such friendly whales are called "amistosos."The
encounter with the friendly whale took place on our second
day in Mag Bay. To see a 5-minute video clip of the friendly
whale, go to whale video:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5454535976933061377&pr=goog-sl&hl=en
Cher
Traendly © 2007 |
Our first day out on the bay was the tail end of an annual
weekend whale festival in Mexico and there were many pangas
(small motor boats) watching whales in the bay, as well as
several zodiacs from a small cruise ship that was anchored
just inside the mouth of the bay. We saw a lot of whales,
but they didn't stop to visit and we felt that the whales
were annoyed by all the boats. When we talked intuitively
with the whales, they told us they were tired. Many of them
said they were just arriving in the bay, coming in late for
the birthing season. They said that their migration was delayed
by severe storms. Some of us got an impression of migratory
challenges from noise pollution - the low-level active sonar
that is blasted underwater by the Navy (see box below for
info.) One of the mothers said that the delays caused them
to have their babies en route, in the ocean rather than in
the bay. The naturalist with us confirmed that this could
have occurred. The whales seemed lethargic, and they told
us they were tired. One whale's respiration sounded ragged.
There were lots of whales and babies in the bay, but we felt
most of them were just trying to avoid the boats. As we did
not want to harass them, we asked our panga driver to stop
and just sit in the water quietly. We waited a little while,
and then we went back to our camp on an island near the mouth
of the bay.
Cher
Traendly © 2007 |
One of the things we learned on this trip is that China makes regular offers to Mexico for the right to whale in the nurseries in Baja. The whale watching industry, which is run by cooperatives of native Mexican fisherman, is actually the whale's best protection right now against this threat.
That evening we contacted the whales and asked them what they needed from us, and what we could do to help them. One member of our group, Sue, got a lot of information from the whales. To read Sue's communication from the whales click here.
Energy Healing and Manifesting for the Earth
To learn how to help heal the earth and manifest a better future, click here. |
On the last morning of our stay on the island, we were boating over the shallow water above the sandbar at the mouth of the bay when we saw a
baby whale all by himself. He was confused and upset. Then
at the other end of the sandbar, we saw a mother whale whipping
her tail up and down. Our pangero told us the mother had
come onto the sandbar to find her baby and now she was stuck
in the shallow water. We immediately went into healing mode
and focused all our energy on getting her off the sand bar.
She was flailing badly and we could see blood in the water.
After about five intense minutes, she got back into deep
water. Another pangero, using his boat as a lure, got the
baby to go back to the mom. We were all cheering and happy
when, all of a sudden, the baby went back onto the sand
bar. The mom followed and again became stuck. At that point,
I closed my eyes and told her (in no uncertain terms) that
she had to turn around and get off the sand bar. I told
her she could swim around in the deep water to the other
side of the bar to find her baby, but she could not go up
on it ever again. When I opened my eyes, she was back in
the deep water. Who knows if that helped, but at least she
was ok. The pangero again herded the baby to her, and they
stayed together in the deep water. Our driver thought that the mother might have been young
and inexperienced. It was clear to us that all the pangeros,
at least the ones we met, truly care about the whales and
love the work they do.
Cher
Traendly © 2007 |
Another thing we noticed that day was that some of the motors used on the pangas are 2-cycle rather than 4-cycle. The panga drivers leave the motors on all the time and 2-cycle engines have oil mixed in with the gasoline. When the gasoline burns so does the oil; creating thick black smoke. Needless to say, these exhaust fumes are noxious, disgusting, and can quickly make one quite sick. Yet, these whales, especially the baby whales, are inhaling these fumes - every day. From the moment these babies are born in Magdalena Bay until they begin their first journey (at about 3 months of age), they are constantly followed by pangas with outboards belching out poisonous fumes. The baby's first breaths are imbued with carbon monoxide courtesy of all of us - the well-meaning whale lovers. One person in our group, Kirk, is investigating a solution to this problem. To find out more and assist him go to Kirk's story.
 Intermixed in all these whales was a stray dog we met at our kayak launch area when we first arrived at Mag Bay. When we boated back from the island, the dog was still there, still stray, pink all over from some skin infection or condition, and looking miserable. (Insert Photo 7) He was so alone and we all knew he would not last long with his skin condition. Julie from our group asked the fishermen in the area to feed him, but we left feeling bummed about the whole thing. After about twenty minutes of driving en route to the Sea of Cortez, a plot was hatched for rescuing the dog, who had told Julie he wanted to be called Charlie. By the time we arrived at the Sea of Cortez, the plan was gaining momentum. The next day, Julie continued planning and most of the rest of us went out on a panga to whale- and bird-watch, visit a tidal hotspring, and go snorkeling. We were all manifesting for things to go really smoothly with Charlie's rescue.
Our pangero for the trip was a young man who'd grown up fishing on the Sea of Cortez. He said that there had been no whales seen yet this season, and told us not to get our hopes up of seeing any that day. He said the whales were all further out in the marine sanctuary and he wasn't allowed to get closer than 100 meters to them there, so we wouldn't even be able to photograph them. Nonetheless, as we headed down the coast, we were silently calling the whales, telling them how much we wanted to meet them, that we were here to do energy healing, etc.
Cher
Traendly © 2007 |
Pretty
soon, two Minke whales showed up very close on the right
side of our boat. They stayed with us going from one side
to the other and gave us some great views of their fins
and tails. When we arrived at the hotspring, we went snorkeling
and had a great soak right by the sea. There were tons of
birds and fish, and we had a great time interacting with
them all. Just before we left to come back, I explained
to our pangero that we were talking mind-to-mind to all
the animals. He looked pretty skeptical and said he had
never heard of such a thing. We all got in the boat and
began calling in the whales again.
Cher
Traendly © 2007 |
Before we could even leave the inlet, we spotted a pair of
humpbacks straight ahead of us. We followed them and they
led us to a nearby island. They swam almost to the shore and
then went alongside our boat and under the boat, weaving back
and forth, and all around us. They were clearly there to say
hi and show us what they looked like. Then they stayed with
our boat for a while, as we headed out around the island and
back toward the beach where we were staying. It was an amazing
experience. We all realized the power of communication and
manifestation. I think the pangero was also suitably impressed.
While we'd been gone that afternoon, two pangeros from Mag Bay had agreed to go to the launch site, find Charlie (the stray dog) and bring him to us that evening. When we got a closer look at him, Charlie turned out to be covered in fleas and severely sunburned. The next day Julie took him into town, gave him a good bath, took him to the vet and then left him with a pet rescue group who was willing to treat him and care for him until Julie could have him flown to the U.S. where he could join her and her family of animals. Charlie's happy fate was sealed and it was obvious that he knew it.
We met on the evening of our last night to drum around the fire and send
healing to the mama whale and to the earth. All of us from
the trip feel a commitment now to continue to do what we
can to help the earth and the whales. To that end, I am
planning to set up a chat for earth healing and we will
have regular live chats to do healing sessions. Watch for
an email about that and join in if you like. If you'd like
to participate in a future trip to the whales (perhaps in
February 2008!), please let me know that too. With sufficient
interest, we'll reserve dates and begin taking reservations
soon.
Best wishes from Marta and the whale watch group: Sue,
Julie, Cher,
CJ, Kirk, Deb, Jana, Gail, Chris, Tressa, Ed, Karen, Lucita
and
Charlie.
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