Tourists in northern Mexico have a whale of a time as the coronavirus pandemic eases
03 Apr 2021
Whale watchers try to touch a gray whale at Ojo de Liebre Lagoon in Guerrero Negro.
The annual arrival of the migratory mammals, coinciding with a drop in coronavirus infections, has provided a much needed boost to the region's battered tourism industry.
For visitors, close encounters with one of the largest animals on the planet are a welcome respite from a pandemic that has killed more than 200,000 people in Mexico -- the world's third highest toll.
Each year, grey whales travel about 9,000 kilometers (5,500 miles) from their summer feeding grounds off Alaska to mate and give birth in the warmer waters off northwestern Mexico.