Local naturalist writes a story about whales – Monterey Herald

For 22 seasons, James Dorsey worked as a resident naturalist with gray whales in San Ignacio Lagoon. He eventually wrote a book about it. (Photo courtesy)

Imagine this: You’re in a small boat, drifting through the lagoon of San Ignacio, a protected area in Baja California, when a 40-foot gray whale swims up to the side of your boat and looks you in the eye. You feel a shiver run down your spine, but you’re not afraid. And neither is she.

You can actually feel a connection from one mammal to another.

The whale, with its calf beside it, is hoping that you will put your hand in the water so it can lean in and feel the gentle touch of the human. It will pause patiently while barnacles are nipped from its trunk or snout, and perhaps it will stick out its tongue to be scratched.

Each winter, gray whales in the eastern Pacific reportedly migrate about 7,000 miles (11,000 kilometers) from the waters northwest of Alaska to Mexico, the so-called “nursery” where their calves are born. There, the mother whales are trained to “be whales” so they are ready to make the 7,000-mile (11,000-kilometer) return journey north.

For 22 seasons, James Michael Dorsey worked as an on-water naturalist and had direct contact with gray whales in the San Ignacio Lagoon. He eventually wrote a book about it.

“When a mother whale dies, her calf starves,” Dorsey said, “because whales don’t adopt orphans. I recognize individual whales by their color patterns, birthmarks and scars from propeller strikes. I’ve even seen whales with old harpoon wounds. And I’ve seen whales approach the boat seeking affection.”

In spring 2023, Dorsey published The Lagoon, Encounters with the Whales of San Ignacio, the latest in a series of four books following Tears, Fear, and Adventure (2006), Vanishing Tales from Ancient Trails (2014), and Baboons for Lunch (2018).

“My first three books are personal accounts of my interactions with the people who work in the lagoon, members of a disappearing culture,” Dorsey said, “who live in absolute wilderness, 35 miles from civilization. They live out there because they love whales and feel it is their duty to protect them.”

Dorsey’s own story began on his 25th wedding anniversary with his wife Irene, when the couple set out on an eight-day long kayaking trip. Within the first hour on the water, a pod of orcas approached their boat, so close they could have touched them. A life-changing experience that, after 15 years of kayaking, brought back the magic they had felt surrounded by pods of whales.

“After we encountered the orcas,” Dorsey said, “we wanted to look for the gray whales. We drove from San Diego to the lagoon, about 400 miles ‘south of the border’ on the Pacific side of Baja. That’s how I started working there as a naturalist.”

Next year, Dorsey will lead a “journey with the author” to San Ignacio, giving talks to educate his passengers and presentations to inspire them.

“My book, ‘The Lagoon,’ is the definitive work on this part of Baja and the gray whale phenomenon. It also covers the natural history of the region,” he said, “including the indigenous people, with great emphasis on the mystical connection between indigenous people and whales.”

Dorsey writes of painted caves with heroic images on the walls depicting religious ceremonies held there involving whales that lived 25 miles away in the sea. In the San Francisco mountain range, one of several along the spine of Baja California, he says there are about 400 painted caves, but only some of them bear the painted images of whales.

“The only way these people could have seen a whale,” he said, “would have been if they had found it dead on the beach. They could not have searched for it in their dugout canoes.”

Affinity and advocacy

James Michael Dorsey, who was born and raised in Los Angeles and has lived there his entire life, was affected by the traffic congestion and uniform weather conditions, as well as the rising real estate prices in Culver City. He and his wife sold their house “for about 18 times what we paid for it” and bought a brand new house six years ago in Marina, where the coastal climate is constantly changing. They love it.

Nevertheless, they are often outside the city and communicate with whales.

“I’ve actually pursued two parallel careers,” Dorsey said. “As a certified cetacean naturalist with expertise in whales, dolphins, porpoises, sea lions and seals, I worked for 25 years as a naturalist aboard whaling vessels in several Southern California ports. I also worked as a naturalist at the Gray Whale Hatchery in San Ignacio Lagoon. I currently work for a whale watching company in Moss Landing.”

And he writes books about his experiences.

Dorsey has given lectures about the sentient nature of gray whales and their affinity for human connection at the Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History, the Monterey Public Library and the Monterey Chapter of the American Cetacean Society. But his latest book, “The Lagoon,” is a mix of love story and memoir about his deep connection to gray whales.

“I didn’t know anything about our connection to whales until I got involved,” he said. “Now I’m just trying to educate people that they are intelligent, sentient creatures and we have no reason to kill them or lock them up in theme parks.”

“The Lagoon, Encounters with the Whales of San Ignacio” is available on Amazon and other e-commerce sites.