On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
Good Morning All,
This weekday feature is for Juicers who are are on the road, traveling, or just want to share a little bit of their world via stories and pictures. So many of us rise each morning, eager for something beautiful, inspiring, amazing, subtle, of note, and our community delivers – a view into their world, whether they’re far away or close to home – pictures with a story, with context, with meaning, sometimes just beauty. By concentrating travel updates and tips here, it’s easier for all of us to keep up or find them later.
So please, speak up and share some of your adventures and travel news here, and submit your pictures using our speedy, secure form. You can submit up to 7 pictures at a time, with an overall description and one for each picture.
You can, of course, send an email with pictures if the form gives you trouble, or if you are trying to submit something special, like a zipped archive or a movie. If your pictures are already hosted online, then please email the links with your descriptions.
For each picture, it’s best to provide your commenter screenname, description, where it was taken, and date. It’s tough to keep everyone’s email address and screenname straight, so don’t assume that I remember it “from last time”. More and more, the first photo before the fold will be from a commenter, so making it easy to locate the screenname when I’ve found a compelling photo is crucial.
Have a wonderful day, and enjoy the pictures!
I’m on the road today and had planned pictures but weather changed my plans so that will happen soon. Today I’m moving up Wednesday’s post. Enjoy!
Today, pictures from valued commenter J R in WV.
This is the third set of photos from a whale watching voyage around Baja California, and is mostly from Magdalena Bay on the southwest coast of the peninsula. This is one of three large bays on the Pacific side of Baja where Gray Whales breed and give birth, and where in modern times the whales are quite curious and friendly with people in small boats. There are interesting desert islands, mangrove swamps and volcanic layers of colorful rock everywhere. This is the southernmost part of the Sonoran Desert which surrounds Tucson AZ in its northernmost extent.
LowFlying A-10 Pelican
Taken on 2018-03-06
Magdalena Bay, Baja California Sur, Mexico
This bad boy was flying just an inch above the water, not moving so much as a pinfeather, working to get somewhere rather than hunting for lunch.
f/4.0 for 1/1300 sec 316mm with a Panasonic DMC-FZ1000
Mother Gray Whale — up close and personal
Taken on 2018-03-06
Magdalena Bay, Baja California Sur, Mexico
The small boat is a local guide’s boat, our small Zodiac boats each had a local guide as well. You have a great view of the Mom’s head, her dual nostrils and some of the barnacles which grow on the adult whales. There’s quite a bit of vapor from her recent exhalation, too.
f/4.0 for 1/640 sec. at 170mm using a Panasonic DMC-FZ1000.
Mother and Child Gray Whales
Taken on 2018-03-06
Magdalena Bay, Baja California Sur, Mexico
The same mother as in the previous photo, but her child has joined her at the small boat.
f/3.8 for 1/640 sec. at 96mm FZ1000
NG Sea Bird Zodiac with two Gray Whales
Taken on 2018-03-05
Magdalena Bay, Baja California Sur, Mexico
Everyone is either awed or delighted, or both. Mother and child, which is evidently very common here. Very friendly and curious
f/4.5 for 1/320 sec. at 49mm this time with an Olympic TG-5
National Geographic photog, distracted a llittle bit.
Taken on 2018-03-05
Magdalena Bay, Baja California Sur, Mexico
People did kiss the whales. Not me!! I swear!!
f/3.2 for 1/320 sec. at 32 mm. Olympic TG5 camera
Sea Bird Flying
Taken on 2018-03-10
Sea of Cortez north of La Paz
This may be a cormorant, or not.
f/4.0 for 1/2500 sec. at 336mm
Panasonic DMC-FZ1000
Gray Whale in its World
Taken on 2018-03-06
Magdalena Bay, Baja California Sur, Mexico
I just reached into the water with the TG-5 and there it was for me. Shoot enough and you sometimes find good things. f/2.8 for 1/250 sec. at 25mm with an Olympus TG-5
Thank you so much J R in WV, do send us more when you can.
Travel safely everybody, and do share some stories in the comments, even if you’re joining the conversation late. Many folks confide that they go back and read old threads, one reason these are available on the Quick Links menu.
One again, to submit pictures: Use the Form or Send an Email
eclare
Great photos!
Schlemazel
That looks like such a fun meeting, thanks for sharing
Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho
Awesome! Thanks so much. A wonderful antidote to looking out at a dusting of snow, which is predicted t be followed by 2 days of thunderstorms. Happy Monday to all.
satby
I never knew you could get so close and that the whales were so friendly! Amazing experience and photos, thanks for sharing them with us JR.
arrieve
This trip is definitely on my list now. Great photos — thanks for sharing!
Quinerly
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KS in MA
Neat photos! Thanks!
p.a.
Great stuff!
MomSense
Wonderful!!
Aleta
That first photo took my breath away. Something about it.
The whale pictures are amazing.
Major Major Major Major
Wow. Thanks.
Elizabelle
Thanks, JR. Lovely trip, and thank you for sharing. Whales rock.
J R in WV
Thanks, all, I’m so glad you enjoy these. The trip far exceeded my expectations, which was more that we would see whales, “Look, over there!” but nope, they really were as curious and friendly as advertised. The third day as we entered the Sea of Cortez we got to see Humpback whales from the Sea Bird’s decks, and while there were plenty of them, and they weren’t shy, they weren’t interested in the same kind of up close meetings that the Gray Whales seem to enjoy so much.
But the Humpback whales were more active swimmers, and so we got great pictures of whales surfacing very enthusiastically, and then diving with their flukes above the water, in the next set of photos. Then there will be a set of scenery, the rocks above the ocean, more birds and sea-lions, which are like really big active puppies. They do nip and bite, because they’re used to exploring things with their mouth, they aren’t vicious, just interested. Several folks would up with minor bandaid type wounds – no one would have declined to snorkel with the sea-lions again. I did not get bit. Although Mike did. I have a great photo of Mike after being sneezed on by a whale, let me know if you’re interested… it’s pretty funny.
Whales do rock! They are far more interesting than I expected! Much like meeting ET
or some other more robust friendly visitor from another world.
If you all don’t already know it, Alain has this set up so that you can click on any image and get a full sized picture with much better detail.