It is 0550 in the morning and the sun is starting to rise on the horizon. The ETA to Bahia de los Angeles 0800. The sea is calm and silence reigns. Red, orange, yellow, and blue colors mix in the sky, and for those who got up early, the day brings something special. In the distance you can see the water boiling, something is jumping and coming towards us. As the ship’s Mate on watch, I make sure to turn a few degrees to starboard to come face to face with what I know are dolphins. But which ones? We will find out.
They begin to arrive, first, the bravest ones who go alone, and after them, the family groups. They pass so close that you can distinguish the babies swimming with their mothers. Some want to play with the Bulb of the ship, others take advantage of the waves generated by the vessel to jump, and some simply change their course to swim alongside the ship for more than half an hour. It is a large school of common dolphins, and I estimate that there are around 200 of them.
As our ship surged forward, slowly, and without haste, they fall behind. They have things to do, dolphin things. For our part, the whale sharks of Bahia Los Angeles await us, and it is not yet 7 in the morning.
Swimming With Whale Sharks
I love whale sharks and consider them the noble giants of the sea, always swimming calmly, absorbed in their world. Alone, or even when they congregate in large groups, they are always in a peaceful mode, of course, if we respect them and their space.
The Ultimate Whale Sharks Sea trip has as its protagonist the population that lives in Bahía Los Angeles in Baja and my first experience here could not have been better. We arrive early and jump into the smaller boats, Pangas, where local captains who know the area like the back of their hands know where to find the whale sharks.
It takes only a few minutes to spot the first specimens, jump with them and swim alongside the gentle giants. In 4 hours, we jumped several times with different ones, some bigger, others smaller. We return to the boat, have lunch, rest for an hour, and return to the water until 5 o’clock. We say goodbye to Bahia Los Angeles, tired but excited and happy. We have all seen and swum with the whale sharks and we hope to see them again soon.
