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 Any tourist staying in Puerto Vallarta between the
15 th of December until the 31 st of March should
take the opportunity to go out whale watching. By
federal law, this is the season when this tour is
allowed to operate.
Working as a guide on whale watch tours has always
been a dream of me since I was a little kid. When
I moved to Puerto Vallarta 5 years ago, my dream
came true; and now I am one of the privileged persons
who is with the whales almost every day.
Whales, like dolphins and porpoises, belong to the
Cetacean order. They are not fish but mammals, which
means that they are warm blooded animals, and they
have lungs so they have to come up to the surface
to get air. Like every other mammal they nurse their
young, only they live in the water.
Did you know that there are more or less 80 different
kinds of whales in the world? These 80 we can divide
in two mains groups: Baleen whales and toothed whales.
Baleen whales do not have any teeth, but use their
baleens to filter their food. The Humpback whale
(scientific name Megaptera novaeangliae, which means
Great Wings from New England, a name given for the
big flippers they have) is a baleen whale and is
the kind of whale which can be observed in the Banderas
Bay every winter.
 The Humpback whale is one of the most interesting
whales; they sing, lob tail, and breach like no other
whale. And they are easy to identify. Each whale
has a unique fluke; you could say that is it like
fingerprints of human beings. Some times you see
them completely white, black, with spots or stripes
and in different shapes. By taking pictures of all
the flukes we see, we can count after every season
how many different whales we saw. And by that we
can make conclusions if the population is growing,
or maybe getting less. Or if there are any exchanges
between populations. We actually exchange the information
with biologists in the United States to see where
they are going in the summer.
 The humpback whales visit the Banderas Bay every
winter to mate and to give birth. Since the gestation
period is 50 weeks, you could say that the females
come one year to mate, and the next year they come
back to give birth and nurse their calves. You will
be very impressed if you would see how the males
are trying to impress the females by singing, breaching
and fighting.
Maybe if you are going out whale watching these
days, you will be one of the lucky ones of seeing
a newborn calf. Newborn calves can be 4 meters long
(12ft.) and weigh up to 1500 kilo. Calves grow very
fast; not a surprise when you know that they take
75 gallons of milk a day. The mother will loose a
lot of weight, as in the winter these whales do not
eat. Summertime is when they start to eat again.
If you are going out whale
watching during you stay in Puerto Vallarta, you
will notice that there are many companies offering
you these kinds of tours. Of course, the choice
is up to you if you want to go out on a big- or
a small boat. But one thing is very important to
know before you go out: Please DO go out with a
boat with a permit to be close to the whales. Companies
need to pay a lot of money for this permit, and
the money is used to do research of the whales.
So if you care about these mammals, and if you
would like them to come back year after year just
like we do, do not go with companies who only care
about your money -not the whales-.  Their
brochure might look professional, they might say
to you that they do own a permit, but as long they
can not show you their red flag, you are probably
dealing with one of the illegals. Furthermore, there
is a difference between whale watch tours and snorkeling
trips that happen to run in some whales on the way,
and obviously small boats can approach the whales
in a better way. And as you probably will go only
once in you life whale watching, it sure would be
nice to have both a captain and a guide onboard who
can tell you all about the different behaviors you
see. When they even have a hydrophone aboard to listen
to the songs of the whales, you can make sure that
you will have a "whale of a time".
Like I always say to the people; how many people
in the world will never see a whale? You have the
opportunity now, so you better take it.
Note: The only boats
who do own the permits are: Prince of Whales & Nautica
(Open Air Expeditions), Bloodhound, Eco Tours de
Mexico, Vallarta Adventures, Aleta, Searcher II
, Searcher I, Aqua Guy, Mayan Dream, Tangaroa,
La Gaviota 2ª, Vallarta Sol, Luna de Miel,
Catalina III & Adelita.
Astrid van Dam - Open Air Expeditions
astrid@pvmirror.com
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