Whale Season Wrap-up: monthly whale watching report

www.cabotrek.com As the spring breakers make their way back towards northern states so do our good friends the whales. Whale season has come to a close and the waters around Cabo have quieted down. This season was interesting throughout, with animals not seen in these waters for several years making an appearance.  Throughout the four-month season, most likely attributed to the low numbers of calves, humpback whales were found further from shore than in previous years, meaning longer boat rides and rougher seas. As the season progressed, humpbacks were exceedingly more difficult to find, meaning we had to tune our eyes towards any and all animal activity to make our time on the water as exciting as possible. The warm El Nino waters brought in many Olive Ridley’s sea turtles, with 10-30 turtles spotted per week. Long-beaked common dolphin pods numbering 200-400 could be found later in the season grazing around the lighthouse, usually accompanied by our resident sea lions. Throughout the season, our early morning tours were pleased to find schools of breaching mobula manta rays, occasionally numbering in the hundreds. It can be quite a ruckus when they jump out of the water in unison, landing with a big smack. By far the biggest bonus this season was the unusually high frequency of blue whale and Bryde’s whale sightings. We were able to find blue whales on more than 10 tours this year, dwarfing the previous number of once-per-season. What a spectacle to be side-by-side with the largest creature to have EVER lived on our blue planet! Making dives between 10-30 minutes can make following a blue whale quite difficult, but with a trained guide and captain, spotting the glowing teal color in the water makes for quite a fun game. Although the season is over, our cetacean friends are guaranteed to be back next year to bask in the Cabo sun and put on a show for lucky ocean goers from Cabo San Lucas all the way to Puerta Vallarta. So make sure to book an educational whale watching tour on your next trip down to sunny Los Cabos, don’t miss out!*    ]]>