As a part of our private tour offerings, we get to organize unforgettable trips for all kinds of groups and organizations. Recently, we had the pleasure of offering a private Baja Kayaking Adventure for the Dawson School, a private school in Colorado. Melissa Barker, the Director of Experiential Education for Dawson, shared her students’ experience:
The Baja Sea Kayaking Winterim spent 4 days paddling sea kayaks down the West side of Espiritu Santo Island in the Sea of Cortez, off the coast of La Paz, Mexico. We were able to camp on beaches each night and learned a great deal about the Baja desert and ocean ecosystems as we went. Our students described the area as being where “Moab meets the ocean”.
During our travels, we had the chance to see and learn about sea mammals, fish, sharks, crabs, and birds that live in the Baja area, the role of mangroves and reefs, how tides work, and the geology of the area. From our guides, we heard stories about the night sky while laying on the beach under a beautiful blanket of stars.
A hands-down favorite part of our trip was snorkeling with the sea lion pups who were very playful and even mimicked our actions! We also saw humpback whales surfacing and breaching, dolphins playing, Frigatebirds carefully snagging prey out of the ocean without touching the surface, brown pelicans diving for prey and blue-footed boobies sunning themselves on the rocks.
It was also fun to help cook, clean and do other camp chores to make the trip run smoothly. Students really enjoyed being without technology for the trip which, along with nightly mindfulness and journaling, really helped us to be present during our adventure.
On our final day, we went out with scientists from the conservation organization Whale Shark Mexico to learn about the research they are doing and to swim with juvenile whale sharks (Rhincodon typus) in the wild. We learned that whale sharks are fish, not whales and are filter feeders, so thankfully, they didn’t want to eat the students. The juveniles we saw were about 15 feet long. Adults can be up to 40 feet long and 40,000 pounds or almost as long as a full-sized school bus. It was so incredible to observe this enormous organism in action.
Overall, it was an active week of learning that we will never forget!
