The Whales are here!!
A lot was said about Cabo San Lucas as a vacation destination. When winter approaches, so does the Humpback and Gary whales. These very welcome visitors migrate every year from their feeding territories at the north, just off Canada costs along US west cost towards Baja California’s warm and safe water.
In Cabo San Lucas, we start observing the first whales in early November, for the next few months more and more whales are coming to mate and give birth. We usually observe whales in small pods of no more then 5 at a time, 2 or 3 individuals together are common site. The official “whale watching season” in Los Cabos starts in December.
From late January, we start seeing calves as well. The graceful way a mother whale is nursing her new born is a life time memory to watch.
Although blue whales, fin and Orca (killer whale) has been spotted in Los Cabos waters, the most common whales here are Gray Whales and the acrobatic Humpback whales.
Humpback whale, may be the most known whales dew to is “surface activity” of Breaching (up to whole body out of the water), flapping with it’s long side-fins or strong hits with it’s tail. This giants can reach over 40 feet long and weight over 20 tons. No imagine it breaching out about 100 feet from you….
The gray whales are more “shy” ones, with no distinctive surface behavior, we can see their warm breath reaching out of the water and their distinctive tail once they are ready to dive again.
Whale watching in Cabo San Lucas is a growing business. In the past, you could just take a boat and go whale watching. This year, after a joint effort from local tour operators and SEMARNAT (the Mexican officials related to these issues) a serious of courses where given free of charge in order to increase awareness among tourists, boat captains and tour operators in Los Cabos. A special permit regulates the amount of boats that can participate in the activity. As future whale watcher, help us maintain a safe environment to the whales by choosing ONLY companies that got their permits (easily seen for a special flag thy fly high).
Be sure to plan your next vacation to Cabo during winter time, not to miss the opportunity to see nature at it’s best!!
