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A whale-watching cruise along the coast of Baja California Sur stokes LIZ VACCARIELLO’S curiosity about the natural world—and her place in it.

- LIZ VACCARIELLO

IT WAS DINNER hour aboard the National Geographic Sea Bird (nationalgeographic. com), and Lindblad Expeditions founder Sven-Olof Lindblad had the rapt attention of the guests at his table. As the ship skirted the western coast of Baja California Sur, the conservationist and explorer riffed on the idea of exhilaration—specifically, the thrill that washes over people when they experience and understand wildlife in a new way.

“For one person, the exhilaration might come from seeing a massive animal in the wild for the first time. For another, it might be learning the physics that allow a 40-ton whale to move through water like we walk through air,” he explained. “Once you have that feeling, you want to have it again and again.”

Lindblad was speaking from a deep well of professional and personal experience. He’s led the expedition cruise company for more than 40 years. His father, Lars-Eric Lindblad, is widely known as the man who helped bring conservation-minded travel to Antarctica and the Galápagos Islands in the 1960s. The elder Lindblad regularly invited his young son on scouting trips around the world, sparking a lifelong interest in ecotourism.

I had joined Lindblad for a trial run of the company’s new whale-watching itinerary in Baja’s Magdalena Bay. The trip is part of a collection of five- to nine-day programmes designed for travellers who find longer voyages difficult to schedule. I was also scouting for a future trip with my own family. Since we had kids, my husband and I have missed the mind-expanding moments we experienced on safaris in Africa, and we have been looking for new adventures to share with our marine-life-loving teens.