Whale
Watching In Cabo San Lucas
Each winter
the California Gray Whales make the 8,000 mile trek from the Bering
Sea of Alaska to the warm lagoons of southern Baja California. From
late January through March these gentle giants occupy the coves and
inlets of Baja. Many of them can be found about 400 miles northwest
of Cabo, however many will continue their journey south to the Cape
where they will birth their calves and feast on the abundant plankton
of the nutrient-rich Sea of Cortez.
Although you won't see as many whales close to shore here as you would farther north (in Pacific gray whale calving bay of Bahia Magdalena), newborn calves and their mothers do swim by on their 'trial run' to the Sea of Cortez. These whales can be seen within a few hundred meters of Cabo San Lucas throughout the year, but the most activity occurs during this gray whale migration season, which is from January through March.
Your first indication of the gray whale will probably be its spout or “blow”—up to 15 ft (4.5 m) high, bushy, and occasionally heart-shaped when seen from the front or rear. It will be visible for miles on calm days, and an explosive “whoosh” of exhalation may be heard up to ½ mile away. The spout consists mostly of condensation created as the whale’s warm humid breath expands and cools in the sea air, along with sea water blown into the air as the whale begins its exhalation just below the surface. Look for 3-5 blows as a rule, 30-50 seconds apart before the whale dives again. (As a rule of thumb, a gray whale will blow once for each minute it has spent in its dive.) Use your stopwatch to time these blows and predict when the whale is due to blow again.
• Gray Whale Facts •
