Gray Whale-Watching for the Gray-Haired

Learn sea kayaking with Sea Kayaking Adventures

I was a little taken aback when I received a press release from  a company called Sea Kayak Adventures titled “Baja, Mexico Gray Whales For the Gray-Haired,” promoting a whale-watching base camp trip in Baja intended for travelers aged 50-plus.

While I myself would more qualify for the “Baja Hairless Whales for the Hair-Impaired” trip — having turned gray (prematurely, of course) some years ago, and then deciding to go more for the mostly shaved-head look — I wondered whether 50-plus folks who retained dark hair (natural or otherwise) might feel offended or even forego the trip for that reason.

(Hey, stranger things have happened when it comes to deciding how to spend vacation dollars.)

So while I don’t recommend that promotional approach, exactly — is the play on “gray” really worth possibly costing business? — I have to say the trip itself looks pretty good, especially if you aren’t all that keen about setting out in a sea kayak in search of whales.

While Sea Kayak Adventures has plenty of actual sea kayaking trips, including whale-watching, this “Gray-Haired” one has a “relaxed” five-day itinerary that involves going out whale-watching in motorized skiffs. So there’s no need to get trussed up in a spray skirt and worry about a whale tipping over your kayak, playfully or otherwise. (The whales do often come within a few feet of the skiffs.)

The company keeps a licensed base camp on a secluded barrier island located in the heart of whale-watching activity, where the Pacific Ocean meets a lagoon. Whale-watching takes place in two-hour segments at various times for three of the five days. Hiking in the sand dunes, swimming, beachcombing, and birding are other possible activities to pursue.

Bilingual marine biologists lead the whale-watching sessions, which take place from mid-January to late March, the season when the gray whales are calving in the lagoon.

Sea Kayaking Adventures points out that they have “hosted boomers on adventurous trips for decades, and still find the boomer market a crucial part of [their] business.”

They’ve also recently paired with the excellent adventure travel company ROW Adventures, which has a long history of catering to boomers. You can check them out in my previous post about ROW Adventures here.

So I’m willing to overlook the “gray-hair, gray-whale” promotional tactic, and trust that those of us boomers with dark hair — or no hair — will be equally welcome.

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