Cabo San Lucas

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We began our day like with a jog around the nearby downtown Cabo San Lucas and the Marina, and were back in time to knock out our obligatory and dreaded 90 minute timeshare presentation. I came up with a character to play for the presentation that would save us time and the aggravating never ending sales pitches. I played a hate to travel, terrified to fly, scared of the ocean bore and we were done a few minutes early after spending an hour eating breakfast with her. Our sales woman politely conceded to her loss of a sale and we were on our way.

We hopped in the car and drove to Chileno Bay, less than 10 miles outside the city. The Bay has a beautiful white beach and calm and clear water that has some of the best snorkeling and visibility in the area amongst the rocks. We spent the remainder of the day drinking and eating to excess back at the resort.

The next day it was an early morning for us, heading to the main beach in Cabo, Medano Beach, for some early morning paddle boarding before the wind and boat traffic really picked up. Dennis and I have never paddle boarded before so there was a small learning curve before we headed out into the main bay and out to finally see the arch. The Sea of Cortez has been recorded in areas to be over an astounding 9,800 ft. deep, this particular bay about 1,500 ft. or so. It was a bit creepy paddling out past the shore watching the water go from a Caribbean turquoise to a sudden inky navy blue. Not like it really matters how deep the water is once you are over your own height, but these waters contain numerous undiscovered and terrifying creatures at deeper depths.

We were about halfway to the arch, having passed several sea lions swimming through the water when I saw a large swell nearby and a dark bluish grey back surface and then disappear. I called to Dennis and asked him if he saw what I saw, and if it was a Humpback whale. Before he could respond two Humpbacks surfaced and swam within 20 feet of my board, incredible! It looked as though it was a large mother and her calf. I suddenly felt very small and vulnerable on my board. They quickly disappeared into the inky depths but not before Dennis was able to grab a few pictures.

We continued to paddle out to the arch and finally made it after about 45 minutes or so. Admittedly it was pretty anti-climatic to finally see it, and we were both way more interested in hopefully seeing more whales on our way back. We took several pictures before heading back, trying to beat the increasing boat traffic and the wakes they produce which make balancing on the board really hard.

We were about halfway back to the beach when we saw another humpback surfacing behind another paddle boarder farther out into the bay from where we were. It didn't appear as though they were aware of the presence of the whale behind them, and then all of a sudden the whale breached up into the air and landed on it's side, knocking the paddler off their board from the waves it created. We continued to watch this whale breach over and over again, spinning in the air and onto it's side, then slapping it's fluke on the water. It was such an impressive display of acrobatics that it seemed as though this whale was putting on a show for all of us to see. Quickly tour boats began speeding towards the area, creating huge wakes. We paddled in, happy we were able to be out before the hordes had arrived.

We shopped for trinkets in the nearby souvenir market and then spent the rest of the day drinking and eating again to excess as we migrated back and forth from the ocean to the hot tub to the pool and back. The beach at the resort was on the Pacific side, and had a deep shelf that dropped off overhead within a few feet on shore. The area was marked with red flags but we disregarded them and still cautiously in the strong undertow until we both saw a very large dark shadow swimming nearby. There was no telling what it was and we both got freaked out enough to not hang out to find out.

While we had been in Cabo San Lucas we had seen dozens of whales from the beach, water and even from sitting in the pool areas and bars of our hotel. It was amazing that whales could be seen almost immediately any time of day giving away their locations offshore by exhaling their mist. I would never have believed anyone had they told us beforehand how many we would see here, it was truly unbelievable.

Our last morning we spent running in the marina area again and taking a quick dip in the ocean and pool. While in the ocean a security guard ran over to us and told us to not swim, as there are apparently many drowning deaths on the Pacific here so they have banned swimming outright in this area. And with that our trip sadly came to a close. Until next time...wherever and whenever that may be we have yet to decide. We both agreed that this trip will be hard to beat.

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Photos

humpback whales