Where to see Whales?

[Driftwoodgal]

We are sailing on the Radiance in Jan 10. Would love to see whales on this cruise. We will stop in Acapulco, Cabo, Manzanillo, Matalan, PV and Ixtapa.

 

Would love to hear about the whale tour you took and where.

[SDPadreFan]

January is a very good time to see the whales. Cabo is probably the best port because it is closest to Baja's breeding grounds. We believe the catamaran excursions provide the best experience in terms of group size, comfort, amenities, etc. Certainly the bigger boats provide even more amenities but they also have much larger passenger loads as well. Our favorite is the catamaran company Pez Gato. They have been in Cabo the longest and have 3 different cats. Outstanding crew. There are other cat companies in Cabo and these all also have good reputations but I have no direct experience with them yet. They are EcoCat (the biggest and newest in Cabo), Tropicat, Rissalena, & La Princesa. All of these companies have web sites.

 

For zodiac boats, we've done OceanRiders and it was good.

 

For traditional boats - SunRiders will offer a great experience as well. We've only used them for a Sunset Cruise - but they were great.

 

Here are my pictures taken in Feb 2008 from the catamaran Pez Gato

 

http://good-times.webshots.com/album/562535753iirWdb

 

Have a great cruise, Radience is a beautiful ship.

[Ine]

We have done some whale-watch tours in Puerto vallarta and always have seen a lot, sometimes real close.

[Clairescurtains]

Thanks so much for you pictures and advice. We will also be there in January and have been trying to decide who to use. I was seriously considering Ecocat because I don't really want to be out there in a tiny boat.

Were you really as close as your pictures appear or do you have a great telephoto lens?;)

[Caro C]

It is Cabo for sure...

[SDPadreFan]

Thanks so much for you pictures and advice. We will also be there in January and have been trying to decide who to use. I was seriously considering Ecocat because I don't really want to be out there in a tiny boat.

Were you really as close as your pictures appear or do you have a great telephoto lens?;)

 

While my Cannon S3-IS does have a good telephoto, you really can't use it for the whales. The more you zoom, the narrower your field width is. Because you never quite know where they are going to surface, you really have to keep your settings wide. I use only my viewfinder (old school) and not the fancy little LCD display on the back of most cameras. I've also trained myself to look out both eyes. One eye through the viewfinder and the other with natural vision. This gives me the widest field of vision to spot the whales. It just takes practice. It also helps greatly to know how to take multiple shots at once (rapid fire). Most digital camera's are capable of doing much more than the average person takes the time to learn. Like I said, I'm old school (ok I'm old too). I cut my teeth in photography using a Nikon Nikkormat (full manual) 35mm camera with a 1.4 Nikkor Lens. So I had to learn about "depth of field", shutter speed, aperture settings, using a tripod & cable release, bounce flash, understanding film speed & ISO settings and many other things to take advantage of my camera. Basically, the lesson is, why spend several hundred dollars on a camera if all you do is point & shoot. A better camera does not make for a better photographer unless he/she takes the time to learn how to fully use it. In most cases, without the requisite knowledge, a better camera just makes your wallet empty.

 

The last couple of pictures (near the beach) were taken with a high zoom because they were taken from the balcony of our timeshare in Cabo. I think those whales were close enough to the beach to throw a Ritz Cracker at.

 

The 2 primary types of whales you will see in Cabo are the grey whales and the humpback whale. I'm not sure if the grey whales migrate as far south as Puerto Vallarta but the humpbacks do.

[TwinFriend]

Thanks so much SDPadreFan And Househunter for all your info and great pictures. We are booked on the Jan. 18 2010 Elation and Carnival just E-mailed that we get an extra day in Cabo before the ship leaves for Vancouver, lucky for us! We are So. Cal people too,and look forward to your future posts. :)

[Caro C]

January is prime migration season so you should be able to see lots of them from the deck of any ship while at sea.

Don't let the black ones with white fool you. They are not Orca's. They have a name with those who study whales but we, that see them and know that Orca's don't go that far south, just call them "Orca wanna be's":eek:

Maybe somebody on this board knows their real name. Even tho they are not real Orca's they are beautiful to watch and when we have seen them,which is not very often, tend to be in groups of 4 to 7 individuals.

 

We do have Orcas here year round but they are mainly further up in the Sea of Cortez between the mainland of MX and the Baja Pennisula. They are known as Resident Orcas. They tend to be smaller than Transient Orcas and are in larger pods. The Orcas you can see most often here in Cabo are usually from November to June...they are known as Transient Orcas. They are larger in size and travel in smaller pods. There is also a type of Orcas known as Offshore Orca which as the name indicates are usually found in deeper water and in very large pods. We see both Transient and Offshore here in Cabo. Yes, they are real orcas not wanna-be's. Orcas are not whales but rather members of the dolphin family. Orcas are found in all of the worlds oceans and most adjoining seas - they are the most widespread of all whales. I will try to upload of the last ones we saw here about 2 1/2 weeks ago!

[Caro C]

I guess I should have also added that we do occasionally see False Killer Whales which do not have the black and white markings but is rather mostly black or dark gray. Also Pygmy Killer Whales, Melon Headed Whales and Northern Right Whales all of which have similar black and white markings can be seen here off Cabo. Dall's porpoises are often thought to be baby orcas but they are not found this far south.

[SDPadreFan]

We do have Orcas here year round but they are mainly further up in the Sea of Cortez between the mainland of MX and the Baja Pennisula. They are known as Resident Orcas. They tend to be smaller than Transient Orcas and are in larger pods. The Orcas you can see most often here in Cabo are usually from November to June...they are known as Transient Orcas. They are larger in size and travel in smaller pods. There is also a type of Orcas known as Offshore Orca which as the name indicates are usually found in deeper water and in very large pods. We see both Transient and Offshore here in Cabo. Yes, they are real orcas not wanna-be's. Orcas are not whales but rather members of the dolphin family. Orcas are found in all of the worlds oceans and most adjoining seas - they are the most widespread of all whales. I will try to upload of the last ones we saw here about 2 1/2 weeks ago!

 

Think you got a little wrapped around your words but I understand what you are saying.

[Caro C]

Yes...I was using the term "whale" as a generic term.

[Driftwoodgal]

Just thought I would repost on this thread about whale watching in two of the ports. We went out in Cabo and Puerta Vallarta. We saw whales in both ports, but saw more on the Puerta Vallarta tour. One tour was on a smaller boat (Cabo) and the other on a large double decker boat. Of course it could have been the luck of the draw that day, but Puerta Vallarta had tons more whales. We were fortunate that we were on the larger boat that day as it was rougher. The smaller boats could not go out because of the sea conditions.

[bzy1]

Puerto Vallarta has tons of whales! They start to move in late November to early December. Official tours start usually mid-December and continue through to about the end of March.

The whales come to our protected bay to feed and birth their calves, so it is very active and we have many, many whales that return year after year.

Vallarta Adventures offers a few different whale watching tours, the best is the whale photo safari that is done on an APex boat which is perfect for whale watching, also the tour Marietas Eco Safari for those that want a bigger boat.

The other nice thing about Vallarta is you can often see the whales from shore, not close of course but you can see them! :)

[luvcdays]

We are sailing on the Radiance in Jan 10. Would love to see whales on this cruise. We will stop in Acapulco, Cabo, Manzanillo, Matalan, PV and Ixtapa.

 

Would love to hear about the whale tour you took and where.

 

We felt really foolish after going on a whale watching tour in Cabo that we booked through the cruise line and only saw one whale from far away. After the ship left Cabo, we saw many pods of whales on each side of the ship almost the whole way back to San Diego!

[jlp20]

PV

[STARFISH*4]

Puerto Vallarta has tons of whales! They start to move in late November to early December. Official tours start usually mid-December and continue through to about the end of March.

:)

 

i just always thought CABO had the most...we might have to think about WHALE WATCHIN in PV when we are there in February...

i know you cant predict but are they usually around mid February?

[JRinPV]

Banderas Bay, where PV is located, is the destination for the migration of the Humpback Whales, the whole bay will be full of them. Boats are prohibited from approaching them before Dec. 8th or after March 23rd.

We do see Orcas here, mostly in the Summer, but seldom in the bay, our resident Dolphins discourage them. :)

[star gazer]

While my Cannon S3-IS does have a good telephoto, you really can't use it for the whales. Like I said, I'm old school (ok I'm old too). I cut my teeth in photography using a Nikon Nikkormat (full manual) 35mm camera with a 1.4 Nikkor Lens.

 

Great photos, I envy you.

I'm probably from the older school than you. My children learned how to cut their teeth on the Nikkormat.