The minimalist-packing junior biologists have arrived

Well, we’re here! We had three days on our own in San Diego to prep for our marine biology debut. The sunset above is from right in front of our Del Mar hotel.

Our first warm-up whale watching activity was to drive to a Patagonia store and clear the 40% off sale rack. Then, to cement our skills, we stopped at the Torrey Pines golf course Pro Shop, where Ron tried on various fleece golf gear, and purchased his third baseball cap of the trip – Patagonia, Vuori, and Torrey Pines golf. He is averaging one baseball cap per travel day so far.

As ever, we’re traveling with small carry-on bags and we are already in suitcase peril. Ron’s 3 caps are the least of our problems: we acquired 5 bulky Patagonia sweatshirts at the clearance sale and there is no chance whatsoever that our bags are big enough for this stuff.

Instead of getting to the Courtyard Fashion Valley with our slick small bags, we arrived, instead, with two suitcases, two small day bags, and a massive reusable Marshall’s bag – the kind you get when you purchase an entire King size bedding set – and it’s full of assorted Synchilla fleece items that should prove handy in the 80 degree weather we’re getting. On top of that – we’re carting around a large Tupperware container of freshly-baked oatmeal raisin cookies – the kindest gift from some of our San Diego-based friends from the Fall 2023 trip to the Baltics.

We had our initial Road Scholar tour meeting and the first activity was a 60-minute lecture on Gray whales. Our tour guide, Artemio, wanted to know why each traveler had chosen the trip. There were some people focused on Mexican culture, a couple of geology types, and a few fellow whale-seekers. Ron distinguished himself immediately by announcing that he was only here because (pointing towards me) she wants to see whales, she spends her mornings looking for whales, she’s here for the whales, and I just came along.

Here’s a shot from the first lecture (from an actual marine biologist!), where I was reminded that I can’t actually name the 5 things that define a mammal and that there is much for me to learn:

So, the basics: The Gray whales migrate from the northern reaches of Alaska to Baja California for their annual mating and birthing. This is the route:

This is a nice guide to the variety of whales out there. The largest is the blue whale – our Gray whales are right in the middle of the pack, even though they can weigh up to 80,000 pounds! (A Blue whale can weigh 300,000 pounds.)

I’m throwing these weight figures around and it’s making me nervous that this is the ultimate goal for our trip:

The Gray whale migration ends at San Ignacio lagoon, where, under tightly controlled access, the “friendly” whales sometimes approach boats of marine biologists/Patagonia purchasers like us.

I’ll report back soon – it’s time to board the bus and cross the border into Mexico.