Location: La Ventana
Weather: Clear Skies, ESE Light Breeze, Swell (1ft)
We arrived at the Cerralvo channel area around 0700 and spent a couple of hours cruising around the south end of the channel searching for whales and orcas while watching mobulas jump and a pod of bottlenose dolphins playing in our wake. Shortly after we anchored, around 0930, we got word there were orcas north of Cerralvo island so we boarded the RHIB and headed out. En route the RHIB with the guests came across a blue whale and ended up spending over an hour alongside the 80ft whale, enjoying a very close-up encounter. The Gallant Lady carried on to the last known position of the orcas according to our spotter plane, they were pretty far offshore but were in the company of 6 other local pangas by the time we got to them. There had been many more pangas prior to that but they had left the area. We kept an eye on them from a distance and by the time our RHIB arrived there were only 3 other pangas around. Eventually, they left for home as well and we spent the last couple of hours of our day
alone with the orcas, which was a pod of approximately eight, including a big male and two calves. We had several great in-water encounters with the orcas where they approached the guests and circled back around a couple of times, oftentimes coming face-to-face with the snorkelers. At times the orcas played in the wake of the RHIB as well. Incredible day. Here on the NGL we got to see the big male with the 6-foot dorsal fin come alongside the NGL, take a peek at us, and cross under our stern wake. By around 1800hrs the orcas were showing signs that they didn’t want to interact with the RHIB anymore, so we left them alone and got the guests back onboard after 8 straight hours out in the RHIB. On the way back to the anchorage we found another big pod of bottlenose dolphins and spent about 45 minutes cruising with and watching them perform their aerial acrobatics in our wake.
Water temperature: 66°F
Visibility: 100ft
- Captain Gordon Kipp
