Whale Sanctuary of El Vizcaino

Every winter, gray whales enter the bays on the Pacific side of the Baja peninsula to breed and rear young. The warm water is high saline and shallow enough that an adult whale can often touch bottom with their tails with their heads above the surface. Like giant hot tubs, these blue lagoons are perfect for adult whales to meet up and mate. Like a kiddie pool, these nurseries are perfect for babies to practice holding their breath, to open their eyes underwater and to learn to swim. And like top rated world heritage sites, these bays—named after a Spanish explorer—are perfect for tourists to experience the best whale watching in the world, with a sizable concentration of gray whales including babies, accessible from nearby beaches in small boats, with up close encounters, even touching.  

The northeast Pacific population of gray whales has been decreasing in recent years, but there are still hundreds counted here every winter. I visited in February, choosing the Ojo de Liebre (hare’s eye) lagoon. I drove from California and booked my own hotel for 2 nights, but most whale watchers book package tours including hotel accommodation in Guerrero Negro. Some stay in seasonal camps on the beach for days and go out on the water multiple times. I went out once and fortunately it was a good day with the whales.  

Within 30 minutes, we boarded our small boat, motored out into the lagoon found some friendly whales and let them come up …

I visited this WHS in 2024. Due to its location, it is much easier to visit from the United States and/or Canada (especially overland but also by flight) than it is from Mexico City.

There are flights to Loreto (still a good 3.5-4 hours drive to the San Ignacio base) from the United States (San Francisco, Los Angeles, Dallas and Phoenix), from Canada (Calgary) and from Tijuana (Mexico) but NOT from Mexico City. Wanting to avoid 2 internal flights CDMX-Tijuana-Loreto and back, and since the rental car rates with unlimited mileage as well as domestic flight prices were significantly cheaper on my planned dates, I opted to travel to Mexico City-La Paz (a much longer 8hr drive; a very boring extra 4 hours when compared to starting from Loreto). Still, when adding up the travel time to Tijuana plus the extra costs involved, the time difference, and keeping in mind the added bonus of being able to visit the newly added Gulf of California WHS component of Balandra, I used La Paz as my southern base and San Ignacio as my northern base.

San Ignacio is still a good 1.5 hour drive away (with around 25 kilometres of dirt road driving on compacted sand and gravel; doable slowly with a standard non-4WD vehicle on a sunny day) from the San Ignacio Lagoon area where the boat tours depart from. The Ojo de Liebre Lagoon is also reachable with a further drive to Guerrero Negro and then a much …

I visited the Grey whales at San Ignacio Lagoon, one of the two locations that make up the Whale Sanctuary of El Vizcaino. The B&B where I was staying (Ignacio Springs) booked the whale tour for me – beforehand I thought that you had to book as early as possible, but the lady just phoned in the night before. As always with sea-based tours: the weather & wind can cause cancellations, so it’s best to allow for a couple of days in the area (also to tick off the nearby Rock Paintings of the Sierra de San Francisco WHS, with which it even shared the initial nomination until they were wisely split up by World Heritage Bureau).

From the town of San Ignacio, which lies on Highway 1, it’s another 1-1.5 hour drive to get to the actual lagoon. The first 45km is on an easy, paved road, the last 15 on a relatively bumpy unpaved one. There’s nothing here but a few basic camps and some mudflats. The operator I used was Antonio’s Ecotours, which asks 60 USD per person for the tour. The boats can hold up to 12 people, but on mine were only 5. I was welcomed at Antonio’s, got a safety jacket fitted on and on we went in the small motorboat. The boats are only allowed to go whale watching at the mouth of the lagoon, not inside the lagoon itself as that is too shallow and would endanger the whales.

The …

This is a site that I have visited 3 times, and, for animal lovers, it does not disappoint. I'm based in Southern California, so it's a long but do-able drive down the west side of Baja. In 2017, we drove and enjoyed the incredible "super bloom" in the desert. In March 2020, we flew from Los Angeles to Loreto, and were in the area precisely as the Covid Lockdown was occurring. The lockdown altered the last few days of our trip only.   

Unfortunately, the Baja area can be challenging to find accommodations. There are no chain hotels in the central area, such as San Ignacio, which is the most centrally located for whale watching. There are some bigger places in Guerrero Negro that might be perfect for people driving down. We booked a small house through hotels.com in San Ignacio. Internet was very sketchy there and the accommodations are very basic. Also it can be difficult to plan the boating trips in advance. This can limit the pre-trip enthusiasm, because it's a long drive in from either the West or East Baja coast, and people prefer to know with certainty that they'll be getting on a boat once they get there. Somehow, it's always worked out for us.  

It's a fairly long (30-45 minutes) drive to the dock from San Igancio, and about the same if you're going to the Guerrero Negro sites. The roads are dirt. There's little or no traffic. It's marked but not often.  

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In February 2011, I took the bus from Loreto to San Ignacio, where I spent two nights at Ignacio Springs (www.ignaciosprings.com) and visited the two nearby UNESCO World Heritage Sites. On my first full day, I traveled to San Ignacio Lagoon, the only undeveloped nursery and breeding ground of the Pacific gray whale and part of the Whale Sanctuary of El Vizcaino UNESCO World Heritage Site (http://www.kuyima.com). We spent nearly two hours on the lagoon, and saw dozens of gray whales, often several at one time, some within a few feet of the panga (boat). On my second day, I visited the El Palmarito Caves, part of the Rock Paintings of Sierra de San Francisco UNESCO World Heritage Site. The trip started with a two-hour drive, mostly through an unimproved wash bed, to Rancho Santa Marta, followed by a one-hour hike and 30-minute climb up a rocky incline to the stunning cave -- due to its remoteness and difficult access the cave is not as frequently visited as some of the more accessible caves in the region, and I was the only visitor at the cave. I ended my trip in Loreto, where I stayed at La Damiana Inn, built in the 1930s (www.ladamianainn.com).

This place is truly an off the beaten path treat! Although it is a bit difficult to reach, it can be easily seen along with The Rock art of San Francisco. This reserve is the winter home of more than 12,000 grey whales. They migrate here from the arctic ocean to give birth and enjoy the winter weather.

Vizcaino biosphere is best visited from Guerrero Negro, a small town about 450 miles south of San Diego in California. You can drive the entire distance on a good 2-lane highway.

The whales enter the salt lagoons in January and remain until Mid-March. The lagoons have a very high salt content (in fact, parts are a Japanese owned salt works that UNESCO worked hard to prevent expansion.) Females have their babies here because of a boost in floatation due to the saltiness. Entrance to the lagoons is strictly controlled but you can take a boat out into the lagoons for about 49 US dollars per person for 3 hours. Lots or tours are offered but you can just show up and join a small boat trip.

The boats quickly find the whales who are seemingly everywhere you look. They come right up to the boats and sometimes nudge them. The moms and babies swim together and you will assuredly see them jumping (breeching), diving, and generally playing.

There are about 7 or 8 modest hotels (don't expect much) and some great Mexican seafood restaurants in Guerrero Negro.