Mark Carwardine Adventures runs four boat based trips a year to Baja California, one of the world's best locations to see whales and dolphins. Normally the trip lasts over 12 days, but this year it was cut short due to the Coronavirus situation, and we missed the last section of the trip - my favourite part in fact - the Sea of Cortez.

However, the trip was a great success, with some wonderful encounters down the Pacific Coast, and in particular the Gray Whales in San Ignacio lagoon where we spent two full days. For those of you not familiar with this location, San Ignacio is one of a number of warm water lagoons on this coast where Gray Whales go to give birth to their calves, starting in December through to March. By April/May, once the calves are big enough, they leave the lagoon and begin a huge migration up the Pacific coast to their feeding grounds in Alaska and the Arctic. These whales are known as "friendlies" for a very good reason - they encourage their calves to go up to the tourist boats - no one is quite sure why - perhaps it's to relieve boredom, probably it's just for fun!

My thanks to Mark and Rachel and all the crew of "Spirit of Adventure" for running such a superb trip, and dealing so well with the difficult decision to curtail the trip due to the Coronavirus crisis.