Baja's Pacific coast feels more energetic than the placid Sea of Cortez side. The ocean is most lively at the mouths of the lagoons. Swift current rushing past the beach creates the illusion that you are moving through the water. Leaning into the biting west wind, watching wild breakers crashing over the bar, you feel as though you are standing on a ship's prow headed out to sea. A few feet from the beach, a 30' gray whale steams past spouting a plume of spray, and startled shore birds take off by spreading their wings and rising magically into the air.
The roar of the ocean recedes when you enter the calm green world of the mangroves. Your horizon shrinks to a few feet, the next bend of the channel. You can feel furtive eyes watching you from behind the waxy mangrove curtain. Night herons line the channels like sentinals, abandoning their perches with loud squawks as you glide silently past. The channels are a birder's paradise. Ibises, egrets, ospreys, godwits, curlews, sandpipers, and herons are here along with migratory visitors like black brandt, arctic loons, and surf scoters.
Lately, increasing numbers of kayakers are visiting Baja's west coast lagoons during the winter months when the whales are there. Kayakers should know that launching and paddling on Laguna Ojo de Liebre (Scammon's Lagoon) and on Laguna San Ignacio is prohibited during the time when gray whales are in the lagoons - from late December through March. There are no restrictions to paddling Laguna Manuela, Laguna Guerrero Negro, and Bahia Magdalena. If you are caught paddling in restricted areas (without permission) you may be fined and your kayak might be confiscated. If you visit Scammons Lagoon or Laguna San Ignacio during whale season, be sure to camp outside the borders of the lagoons and confine your whale watching activities to waters outside the lagoons as well.
Sometimes whales do come close to paddlers on the water and kayakers should be careful to keep out of the whales' way. Never intrude on the whales' space by chasing them or paddling towards them, especially if the whales are evasive. Often, when a whale is curious about you it will spyhop - hold it's head out of the water - and look you over for several seconds. If the whale wants to let you know where it is, it may mark its position by rolling over and waving a flipper. When gray whales approach kayakers they often swim under your kayak first, wait several minutes, then slowly approach on the surface.
Separating or paddling between a mother and her calf may evoke an aggressive display on the part of the mother. Kayakers who have cut off a cow from her calf have been splashed by a warning wave of mom's flipper. A fluke landing on a kayak could be fatal. It is true that whales are not prone to violent behavior unless they are cornered or threatened, but beware of projecting feelings of cosmic gentleness and harmony on these big animals. Careless people have been hurt by whales. Cows are circumspect and suspicious; until mom is comfortable in your presence, she will position herself between you and the calf. Gray whale calves are often more curious and playful around kayaks than adult whales. I have seen calves try to climb over their mothers' backs to play with kayakers. Sometimes, to appease her rambunctious offspring, a cow will lead her calf under your kayak. This is an unforgettable, if scary, experience.
Kayakers might want to begin their lagoon odyssey at Laguna Manuela since there are calm launch sites for an eight mile paddle down to Laguna Guerrero Negro. The main channel to Laguna Guerrero Negro is not marked and the channel is difficult to see from the seat of a kayak. Kayakers will find it easiest to enter Laguna Guerrero Negro by running parallel to the beach as close as possible to the shore break. A shallow channel leads across the bar, between the outer breakers and the shore break. When you are paddling into these lagoons, try to do so with the flood current.
In Scammon's lagoon, paddlers can follow the salt barge channel to the entrance. You may encounter heavy barge and tug traffic to the deep water port and salt loading facility on Cedros Island at any time, so stay close to shore. Beach camping at the mouth of the lagoon is exposed to strong winds and blowing sand, so bring a tent and stakes that hold well in sand. Camping at the mouth of Scammon's lagoon is a gritty experience, but the procession of whales steaming past the door of your tent makes the trip worthwhile.
Besides whale watching, another reason for paddling to the mouth of Scammon's Lagoon is to hike Scavenger's Beach. Isla Arena, the barrier island forming the mouth of Laguna Ojo de Liebre is also the eastern shore of the Bahia Vizcaino. Vizcaino Bay is at the receiving end of the Japanese and California currents so exotic flotsam from all over the Pacific washes up on Scavenger's Beach. Isla Arena is still growing. Old channel markers are now a quarter mile from the ocean. Lots of trash and treasures like Japanese hand blown glass net floats lie buried under newly deposited layers of sand, so bring a shovel. Plan on spending a worthwhile day hiking Scavenger's Beach.
Laguna San Ignacio is the most difficult of the Baja lagoons to reach safely by kayak. There are two possible launch sites for the paddle into Laguna San Ignacio: Punta Abreojos and Laguna Escondida (Laguna Coyote). To get to Abreojos, you'll have to drive a bone rattling 85 km (53 miles) on a graded washboard road. Any vehicle can make the trip, but you have to drive slowly. The signed turnoff to Abreojos is 74 miles south of Guerrero Negro. It takes three to four hours each way to drive to the village of Abreojos. You can take comfort from the fact that there are friendly people and a restaurant at the end of the road. The turnoff to Laguna Escondida is about 5 miles east of Abreojos.
The paddling route into San Ignacio lagoon crosses the Bahia Ballenas, and whales can be seen anywhere along the way. Paddlers can launch from the town of Abreojos, paddle downwind about 15 miles and enter San Ignacio through the north channel. This entry is quite exciting because you can't actually see the narrow channel until you are lined up with it and there are huge breaking waves close at hand on both sides of the channel. Entry into San Ignacio lagoon should be made on a rising tide to take advantage of the flood current and calmer conditions in the channel. The channel is easy to find. As you approach the entrance to San Ignacio, run parallel to the shore keeping outside the shore break. You'll soon see breakers forming over the bar offshore, on your right. Stay outside the shore break and inside the bar break and you've found the entrance to one of the most pristine and beautiful places in Baja.
If the fifteen mile paddle (and the upwind return trip) from Abreojos is too daunting, kayakers can leave from Coyote Lagoon (Laguna Escondida on some maps), shortening the trip by five miles. During whale season, you can camp outside the boundaries of the lagoon by landing through small surf on the points. Camping is exposed to the frequent strong winds but the whale procession makes the trip worthwhile.
The boldest and most inquisitive coyotes in all of Baja live near San Ignacio lagoon. I have had coyotes unpack my kayak and steal my diving mask (which I recovered after a fifteen minute moonlit chase through the dunes). One night under a full moon, I woke up to find a coyote a staring at me from a small sand dune. Suddenly, the creature decided he wanted my dewy ground cloth. He trotted over, bit the cloth next to my head and started tugging, paws churning sand, growling in my ear. I yelled and the coyote returned to his spot a few feet away and watched me until I fell asleep.
Boca de Soledad, about 6 miles north of Puerto Lopez Mateos (Matancitas on some maps), has some great beach camping. Swift currents have cleared a deep channel through Boca de Soledad. Gray whales cavort in the channel, close to the beach. At Soledad, no fish camps, buildings or lights come between you and your view of the sea and the stars. Imagine waking up on a still night, seeing the constellation Orion burning brightly overhead, hearing whale blows close at hand.
Beware of leaving or entering Boca de Soledad from the Pacific if a big swell is running. The bar break is formidable and currents run strongly in the channel. Whale watching kayakers, oblivious to the shoreline rushing past them, have been carried out with the current and have had a difficult time getting back inside Boca de Soledad. The mangrove channels in Bahia Magdalena are the most extensive in Baja. Carry a good map and memorize your route, the channels can be confusing.
Puerto San Carlos is the easiest place to get to in Bahia Magdalena. The 36 mile long paved road to Puerto San Carlos heads west from the north end of Cuidad Constitution. There is a Port Captain in Puerto San Carlos, but kayakers are not required to follow the protocols for foreign yachts and motor boats, so you don't need a "permit" for your kayak, and you don't have to obtain permission to launch. You should have a Mexican fishing license if you are fishing, or if you have fishing equipment with you, however.
Kayakers have several options when they launch from Puerto San Carlos. Paddling south to Punta Entrada takes you to the best vantage point for whale watching. Others head north to lose themselves in the mangrove channels. Or you can paddle southwest from San Carlos for three miles to portage across the sand spit into Bahia Santa Maria. The portage option is my favorite. It takes about two hours to carry the boats and gear across the dunes. Bahia Santa Maria is a great paddling spot, seldom visited by kayakers. A nice thirty mile, two to three day loop trip takes you around Punta Entrada and back to San Carlos.