Whale Watching

Whale Watching

San Diego, Cabo San Lucas, Maine, Boston, Nova Scotia and Puerto Vallarta are names that come to mind when I think of whale watching. Once while in Puerto Vallarta, as we sat at an outdoor cafe, someone pointed and said, "Look, whales!" I looked but the tiny pin point tails of the whales were too far away to even say they were whales.

In San Diego and in Cabo San Lucas, a boat took us out to catch a glimpse of "the most spectacular mammal in these waters!"  We saw nothing, not even a ripple in the water.  The boat Captain said, "Most of the time we are lucky, and we see the whales burst out of the water but it doesn't look like it will happen today." In Cabo, I did see plenty of smelly seals coughing their little hearts out!

A cruise to the eastern part of of the United States which included Maine, Canada, and Nova Scotia had passengers running from one end of the ship to the other when we heard, "Over to the right you will see a magnificent group of whales!"  I never saw a thing.  Some persons would say, "Oh, look, see, over there," as they pointed but I never saw anything.  Sometimes, I wonder if those persons were telling the truth when they said they spotted whales.

Visiting my brother in Boston and when we were out on his boat, I looked for whales though it may not have been the season for them to migrate because I never saw any.

On a whim, when I was visiting friends in Nuevo Vallarta, someone suggested going to Punta de Mita. It was only an hour away and a perfect spot for surfing (which I did not do); scuba diving or snorkeling, (which I do not do); golf (which I don't play); and visiting the Marieta Islands (by boat which I will do), and seeing the many different varieties of birds and fish.


We hired a small boat and went bouncing along toward the islands.  Mist hit my face, the sun was hot on my back, and because of the loud motor, I could not talk to my friends, so I just enjoyed watching the sea and the white, foamy wake behind the boat. Sometimes, a seagull would land on the stern and enjoy a free ride. We saw a school of dolphins gracefully dipping in and out of the water.

Blue Footed Booby

Hector, our "tour guide" mentioned that sometimes during the migration period, whales can be seen in the area. My thought was, sure they can.  The Islands were interesting and we saw seagulls, pelicans, cranes and a Blue footed Booby.  Hector told us that only the male has blue legs and feet. We also got a glimpse of the Pajaro Bobo Cafe, a penguin type bird.  The island is made out of volcanic rock covered with lots of white bird poop!

After admiring the many colored fish in the clear water, observing Lover's Beach (when the tide is up, the only way to get to it is by swimming) and listening to the many squawks and squeals of the birds, we started back to shore.  Not too far from our boat, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a huge dark body suspended in the air.

Spouting water

On its way back into the ocean

The tail of a humpback whale

 As I rushed to get my camera, the huge sight was gone. Hector was yelling, "Did you see it?  Did you see it?" We said we wanted to see more so he circled back and turned off the motor. The interesting thing about whale watching is that if you look in one direction they will pop up behind you or another way to put it, is that no matter where you look, it is never the right spot!  In total, we saw about four sightings, not as close as the first one, but fairly near.  Well, as near as I had ever been to one! 

I found out that the old saying of:  You'll find a whale when you're not looking for one," (yes, I changed it a bit) is true!