| EPIC FLIGHT | Gray whales highlight a flight in Mexico D awn casts the barren Pacific coast of the Baja Peninsula in a soft light as we overfly the dusty airstrip at San Ignacio while numerous spouts-some just a few hundred yards offshore-assure us that the California gray whales we've come to see are here in abundance. Three expansive inlets in this arid, sparsely populated region about two-thirds of the way down the 700-nm Baja Peninsula are a sanctuary for the majestic, once-endangered whales that breed and bear their calves here each winter, then migrate 6,000 miles north to Alaska's Bering Sea in the summer. And the chalky, gravelly, north/ south airstrip at San Ignacio is becoming a popular spot for general aviation pilots and their passengers to come for close encounters with whales that reside here from January until early April. B Y DAV E H I R S C H M A N | P H O TO G R A P H Y B Y M I K E F I Z E R TOP RIGHT, BOTTOM RIGHT BY GEORGE KOUNIS ILLUSTRATION BY BAKER VAIL www.aopa.org/pilot AOPA PILOT | 61http://www.aopa.org/pilot