Kevin Clement: Baja Whales to a Life of Expeditions
Posted by Kevin Clement
in Americas, Expeditions and Of Interest
There are a variety of reasons I’m excited about the upcoming Sea of Cortez Whale Watching & Copper Canyon trip that I’ll be leading. Some of those reasons, I must confess, are quite personal. It happens that I have deep and longstanding connections with both segments of the itinerary, both the wildlife-rich waters of Baja and the spectacularly rugged Sierra Madre Mountains.
It was in the early 1980s that I landed my first job in the expedition travel industry. Through a combination of ability, perspicacity, and blind luck—not in that order—I landed a berth on an expedition ship. I was hired as a deckhand—I would never have had the temerity to call myself a naturalist in those days. But I was learning.
The ship? Well, back then it had a different name and a different owner, but it was the Sea Bird, the very ship we’ll be voyaging on in a few months. And the destination, the area where I did my first expedition work, was the Sea of Cortez where I worked a full Baja whale watching season, and then another, and then some more seasons in other places.
That first season changed my life. I looked around at the ship, the incredible experiences we were having, the beauty that surrounded us, full afternoons of whale watching in Mexico, and said, “I want this to be my life.” And eventually, it was.
A few years later, having gotten to know northern Mexico somewhat, I arranged a backpacking trip into Copper Canyon country. I was blown away by the ruggedness of the mountains and their people, and by the blank, unsurveyed areas on the map. I started planning a return—a serious wilderness expedition this time.
I talked my brother into coming with me. We were attempting an adventure that included a challenging descent, climbing, rappelling, and floating down a raging river at the bottom of a 7000-foot canyon. So far as I could determine, no one had ever been there.
We soon found out why. It was the roughest, most brutal, and most dangerous route I had ever attempted anywhere. We emerged days later than we had planned, bruised, battered, and half-starved…but with some incredibly exciting stories to tell.
As a matter of fact, I have quite a few stories from the places we’re visiting on our Sea of Cortez with Copper Canyon expedition. These are just the kind of places that produce experiences that become great stories. I hope you’ll join me as we set out to create some new ones of our own!
Create your own stories with Kevin on our Baja Whale Watching Cruise with Copper Canyon
