Snorkeling and Whales in Cabo

It seems like so many of our vacations are centered around the water. Life just seems so much more relaxing around the pool or at the beach, and when we’re on vacation we’re usually looking to relax and take a step back from hectic schedules at home. But I think we’d all go crazy if the only thing we did was sit around by the water so we try to plan excursions at least every other day.

We met up with our friends from home and decided to try another excursion with Cabo Adventures, this time snorkeling in the Sea of Cortez.

I pictured us cruising out on one of the nice big catamarans in the marina, but no, we were packed onto a little Apex high speed boat.

We were not even half way to our snorkel destination when our captain stopped the boat and pointed out some whales in the not-too-far distance. Everyone was really excited, we all grabbed our cameras, and then they disappeared under the water. The captain said we’d wait around a couple of minutes to see if they would reappear. We were all watching the same spot where the whales had been when the captain said “whales move, you know. Don’t just look in the same spot.” At that moment, two humpback whales surfaced about 20 ft from our boat and it was exhilarating. The pictures below do not capture just how enormous these creatures were! They circled around our boat and nearby for more than 5 minutes. We honestly couldn’t have asked for a better whale experience and this wasn’t even a whale watching excursion! What made it even more fantastic was that we were in our little apex boat right on top of the water next to the whales and not up high in one of the large catamarans I’d seen. Afterwards it occurred to me how easily those whales could have surfaced right under our boat!

Here’s a picture of our boat to give you a perspective of just how tiny it really was next to the whales!

Even though we were in tropical Mexico, it was still January and the water was a bit chilly. Not cold enough to require wet suits, but I sure wouldn’t have minded one!

My kids weren’t in the water long enough to catch on film so I swam around with our friends Jack & Sam.

Chris checking out the reef. He even saw an eel!

Mike being pulled along by a water scooter.

I always find it ironic that Ben will go on a 1km zip line all by himself, but the thought of snorkeling and being close to fish petrifies him. I wasn’t sure if we’d get him in the water this time, but hoped maybe with his 6-year-old buddy, Max, along that he’d give it another try. Although Max did get in the water for a few minutes, Ben refused. Luckily, they had a couple of other options – kayaking & standup paddle boarding.

Our friend, Danielle, took Ben & Max out in the kayak.

Jackson and Jack tried standup paddle boarding. Jackson refused any sort of instruction and floated away with the current so had to be towed back by one of our guides. Jack made it back without help.

After about an hour at our snorkeling spot, we all got back in the boat to head back. Before arriving at the marina we took some time to enjoy the view and learn a little bit about the Cabo coastline. We went right by the famous Land’s End Arch – also thought to look like a dragon drinking water! This arch separates the Sea of Cortez from the Pacific Ocean.

Resident sea lions and crabs just hanging out.

Floating by Lover’s Beach. On the other side is Divorce Beach (Yikes, don’t go there!). We learned that there used to be a beach under the arch and a sandbar that stretched from Lover’s Beach along the rocks so you could walk, however it was completely wiped out when Hurricane Odile hit in September 2014. Now, the only way to reach this beach is by boat. The sand is expected to return at some point, but it’s clearly going to take some time.

When we got back to shore, we had some time to walk around before our shuttle took us back to our hotel. But first, we were all captivated by this little dolphin back at Cabo Adventures’ main center. This little guy loved to come entertain us through a window and drew quite a crowd. Mike learned that if he threw something up in the air the dolphin would try to “catch” it.