Whale watching tour in Banderas Bay
On whale watching day, I got an early morning taxi to the main marina of Puerto Vallarta. It’s the same marina where cruise ships dock, along with many different private cruise operators with lots of tour options.
I went with Beach Boys https://www.facebook.com/crucerosbeachboy, for 1000 pesos ($63) plus a 29 peso ($2) marina fee once I got there. I booked with my hotel front desk guy, who said all the tours were the same price, but I saw more expensive ones advertised.
On board the catamaran were staff to feed us breakfast and drinks, the captain of course, and a marine biologist.
Whales were tracked down right away, and we set off far into Banderas Bay to watch them. The first whales were a male and female pair, the next set were one female with six males competing for her, and the last was a mom with her baby. We got so close to them, it was breathtaking!
The biologist made the tour so much more interesting. Some of the things I learned:
- The humpback whales come here every winter to mate, swim farther north in the spring, then come back here the next winter to have their calves.
- Males are smaller than females.
- Moms will get underneath their babies so they can lift them up to the surface to breathe (whales need to breathe every 6 – 8 minutes).
- The humpbacks that eat small fish and krill are many times bigger than the orca, or killer whale.
- Killer whales hunt in packs, like wolves. They will prey on the weak, the young, and the old humpbacks. They will even hunt sharks.
- The killer whales will separate baby humpbacks from their moms, then sit on top of them so they can’t reach the surface to breathe, and drown.
- Killer whales are assholes!
We also saw a school of dolphins, so close that they swam under the catamaran.
We returned to the marina after almost five hours out on the water.
This tour was so much better than I expected it to be! If you have a free day in Puerto Vallarta from November until March I highly recommend.