There are times in your life when you know that you are experiencing something extraordinary–something truly special. Something that is so amazing that you can’t believe it is happening–surreal. Something I would describe as a spiritual experience that almost made me want to cry with joy. That is what we experienced with the gray whales in Laguna Ojo de Liebre. They are referred to as the “friendly whales” for a reason.
Laguna Ojo de Liebre is in and of itself a beautiful, almost magical place. You pay very little for the privilege of camping here. We paid 100 pesos (about $5) for a campsite without a palapa (with a palapa it is 200 pesos). You have this amazing view of the lagoon with whales all over in it. You see their spouts, tails, fins and occasionally a whale breaching from your campsite. But you also enjoy the Osprey and Coyotes and the beautiful sunrises and sunsets over the water. It is magical.
First you drive about 25 kilometers through one of the world’s largest salt mines to get to this magical place. That in and of itself is an experience which most people don’t have. It was cool to see the salt crystals that were formed along the road.
And then you climb into a 20-22ft boat and the magic goes up several notches. You speed out to the lagoon and then the captain idols up the engine and eventually shuts it off. And the whales come to you. They come because they are curious. They come right up to the boat and put their massive snouts up in the air so you can pat them. They see to really enjoy the petting, patting and interaction. They gently push the boat around and use the bottom of the boat to scratch. They pushed us in circles and up and down a bit. It was one of the most awe-inspiring experiences of our lives. Up there with the northern lights and the solar eclipse. I’ll stop talking about it and just share some of the photos and videos of the experience. As per usual, the video and photos don’t do it justice, but you can get a little bit of how it was.
We have paid much, much more for “whale watching” tours in the past where you are on a large boat/ship and you view the whales in the distance. This was much cheaper ($55 per person) and I would call it a “whale encounter”. We loved it and will definitely do it again and recommend it to others highly.
One of the fascinating things about this nature preserve are the Osprey. There are several pairs nesting on platforms and roofs around the campground and dock. They are beautiful and graceful birds and amazing fishers. I sat in my RV and watched one of them devour a fish it had just caught. We had other bird visitors to our rig as well. One seagull perched on our roof for over an hour. He left his business behind for us to clean off of the solar panels.
On our last night it was like the area was saying good-bye to us. We had an amazing walk along the sandy beach. It is an amazingly clean beach. In fact, we went to pick up trash a couple of days before and had a hard time finding any. The sunset was spectacular and a family of three coyotes paid us a visit at twilight.
Laguna Ojo de Liebre wasn’t finished giving to us. On the drive out, back through the salt mine, we happened upon some fellow RVers from Canada who had their Jeep tire completely shred. They were having trouble because the jack they had was corroded and so wouldn’t work. We made quick work of getting their tire changed for them so they could get back on the road. They were so appreciative. It is always such a blessing to be able to be of service to someone. I am always thankful when we have that opportunity. I think we get more from it than they do. It reminded me of one of my favorite concepts in the Book of Mormon, from an amazing prophet and king, King Benjamin. He said, “When ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God.” (Mosiah 2:17) God wants us to serve, help and love each other. I was so glad that He gave us this opportunity because a few days earlier in San Felipe, I felt that maybe I had potentially failed Him when we had another opportunity to help but we didn’t do it.
We had just locked up our rigs to head down the beach to the Malecon, when a fellow approached us asking to do some work to earn money because his baby had a fever. He wanted to wash our Jeep. We didn’t really want the Jeep washed because we didn’t want it to look that nice while we are in Mexico. (It got washed a day later because we forgot to put out the “No Lavar” sign.) We’ve been pretty jaded by all the professional beggars and scam artists in Salt Lake City who aren’t really in need. The times we have helped some we thought were genuine with similar stories to this fellow and a similar desire to do jobs for us, we later found out they were not genuine but were scam artists. Needless to say, with all our former experience with dishonest people and not wanting the Jeep washed, we hesitated to help this man. But our friends, who are really great people, jumped in and gave him some money. He showed genuine appreciation, but with all the great actors we have met in the scam artists in Salt Lake, even that may not be genuine. However, as we walked down the beach, I found myself thinking about that fellow and wishing I would have helped him. That seemed to indicate that maybe he was genuine and the Spirit was helping me learn a lesson. So I prayed later that if he had a genuine need that I might see him again and be able to help him, or that we would have another opportunity to help someone while here in Mexico. Maybe the tire change was that opportunity. I don’t know, but it did feel good to assist someone in need.
We will not forget our time spent in Laguna Ojo de Liebre. Hasta la vista Laguna Ojo. We will definitely be back.
