My Walkabout

My first night in Cabo was peacefully uneventful. I acclimate to my new surroundings, enjoy watching the sun set over the infamous Cabo Arch, and map out the next day’s adventures. This marks the first time that I’ve driven a car, by myself, in a foreign country.With the breaking dawn I rise and make my way to downtown Cabo San Lucas. The charm of the tiny one way streets end up confusing me, and I circle the area a few times before figuring out where I’m suppose to park. The joys of solo travel.

I walk past the Wyndham hotel and search for the Whale Watch Cabo outfit, which was located at one of the docks of the marina. I find that I’m going to be the only one on the tour, except for the guide and captain. This suits me perfectly, and before I know it, we are on the water….

My guide is a young lady by the name of Liria, a marine biologist from Spain. It is her first season here in Cabo. Our captain is Santos, a friendly chap with limited English, but his jokes in Spanish keep a smile on my face. Liria and I both have a passion for travel and Nature, and we talk as the panga boat heads out.

We start by seeing the beach of Love & Divorce, the Arch of Cabo close up, and a colony of sea lions resting upon the rocks this early morning. One in particular is alone on a small rock, and I can see the bloody injury on his back.

“Probably a boat propeller, but you never really know….”

The mighty Pacific ocean is before us, and as we all look toward the horizon, dotting the watery landscape are the pillars of exhaling air of humpback whale blowholes. It’s an incredibly exciting sight to witness, and both Liria and I are wide eyed and camera ready as Captain Santos tells us to hold onto the boat railing as he races towards the mammals.

Within the first thirty minutes, we witness two amazing full whale breaches. No one really no knows why the whales do this, although there are many theories circulating. I prefer the not knowing, as some things in this life are better off unknown. It creates a magical mystery.

In addition to the whales, a family of dolphins join us for the fun. They race alongside the boat, jumping into the air with ease. I drop my camera into the clear Sea of Cortez waters to see them from a different view.

As we start to head back, a Mother and her calf are spotted fairly close to shore ( in water about 30 meters deep). They show off their flukes before splashing their tails against the oceans surface and dive down and out of sight.

Being a witness to such gentle giants in a space as vast as the ocean truly puts one in their place in the universe.