Whales, Whales and More Whales

A few days ago while walking along a dock in Puerto Vallarta, I overheard a woman talking to the skipper of a tour boat. She and her family were heading out for a day on Banderas Bay. The skipper must have asked what she was hoping to do or see that day because I heard her say that no matter what, they wanted to see whales. I could skipper a whale watching boat on Banderas Bay. Finding whales here is that easy.

This time of year, the bay is full of humpback whales. We see them every day we go out. We feel very fortunate. One time we didn’t even have to leave the anchorage to see whales. A pod of humpbacks swam through the anchorage between all the boats! Two passed within 30 meters of us! I’ve always assumed that whales would want deep water but that wasn’t the case. The water was only about eight meters deep.

When out on the bay we keep a watch for whales. We regularly have to stop or alter our course to give them more space. Avoiding them can be hard because they will dive for long periods of time and come up far from where they went down. Just yesterday one surfaced about 50m from us. It didn’t stay on the surface long before diving again. Thankfully, it was swimming away from us. We adjusted our course to take us well clear of its path just to be safe.

I understand that whales are regularly hit and injured by boats. I imagine the boats are not sailboats moving at 5 kts like us but we’re careful all the same.

Some boats have reported hearing whale song through their boat’s hull while at anchor. It usually happens late at night or early in the morning. We haven’t heard whales singing yet but hopefully we will.

Just one more example of how fortunate we are to be out here.