Whale watching? - We will be bringing friends from TX - What is the current status of Whale sightings? (We already have hotel rooms and boat reservations) -- Are there any whales?
Whale Watching - second week of Feb
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Whales
I was on a boat to Las Animas near Los Arcos in June and we saw a whale.
Was in PV for the 1st time starting 2/23. We went on the whale watching tour (vagabundo-get to the boat early for a seat) on 2/24. It was fantastic...we saw a few whales. Please see the photo section for a short video clip. :D
Thats true, the little boats did seem to get much closer to the whales. I was on a larger boat and although it was exciting....it would have been much better getting up close and personal!!
Not necessarily true - earlier this week on the Geronimo Catamaran, we say four or five whales. Clustered all around them were the Princess Yelapa, Princess Vallarta, Vagabundo, Sarape, and Kon Tiki - all big boats - all seeing whales right up close and personal - all took time out of their tours to see the whales and let everyone take photos.
Big boats should keep more distance, and if they where all there it explains why there were no small boats around; only two boats are allowed with a group of whales. In other words; all boats at that time did not respect the law. Most of the mentioned boats to not even have a permit, so they can only stay 10 minutes with those whales, with a distance of 80 meters. Again, no respect for the whales. As for Vagabundo, they are known to stay with the same whales during the whole tour, 4 hours. According to the law they can stay 30 minutes with these whales. So please, stop promoting these boats, they are the ones that have not showed respect during all seasons at all. Thanks to them whales will one day skip Banderas Bay as their breeding area. Not to mention the loud noise they make....the smoke and the awful diesel-smell.
In your response, no I do not work for a whalewatchcompany, but am very involved with research in the bay. I work for a researchcentre in the US but once in a while I come over to several other places, like Vallarta, La Paz but also to Cape Cod and Vancouver, and many others. Not only these boats chase away the whales, also the contruction going on in La Cruz where a new Marina has been made. According to ITMAR; the official company that is responsable for the research of the whales of the Banderas bay the mothers and babies are this year more than ever in the south of the bay, instead of the bay of la cruz as any other year. We have been in the Terminal Maritima the last couple of weeks to find out if tourists had any idea that boats need permits and if they are out on a boat that does not seem to respect the rules, we asked if they would be so kind to inform us after the tour. Believe it or not, but 80% of all complaints that we received of the commercial whalewatchcompanies were about Vagabundo (too long with the whales), and Princessa (crossing the whales in order to give people the opportunity to take pictures.. We bought a ticket for these boats to see it ourselves, for several days, and yes, they did everything wrong that can be done wrong. They have been reported at least 1000 times but the owner is a friend of a friend of a friend of the authorties and bla bla bla, in the end nothing has been done.
Ask any of the companies (i.e. Eco tours, Wildlife Expeditions or Open Air expeditions) that is involved with the catalog reseach and they will all say the same about these boats. We are working hard with Profepa to stop them selling whalewatchtours. May God help us and save the whales.
Ask any of the companies (i.e. Eco tours, Wildlife Expeditions or Open Air expeditions) that is involved with the catalog reseach and they will all say the same about these boats. We are working hard with Profepa to stop them selling whalewatchtours. May God help us and save the whales.
Sandra, thanks for your support. I guess I was not clear enough in my first post, my apologies in case you did not understand.
Katnsocal, let me explain what we did; we gave the people that went out on these tours a sheet with the main rules, like that boats may only stay 30 minutes with whales, the distances, the way to approach them, permits and so on. I know that tourists may not be aware of some things, but it was just to get an idea of what might be done wrong in these tours. We cannot be anywhere anytime. We have done this in several places of the world, to promote responsable whalewatching. Actually, our MAIN goal is to convince the Japanese government to stop hunting after the whales, and that it might be a good idea for them to start RESPONSABLE whalewatching instead of whaling.
The example that you gave is unfortunatly a really bad one of things that happen here in the bay (believe me, not only here, but anywhere with activities like here). There is no reason for a guide to scream to other boats, with or without costumers. She could have advised your captain in a discrete way to pull up the lines, in the case she was convinced that the lines were out, so that your captain could tell her that there all lines were already pulled up.
It is good to hear that your boats respects all rules, I just wish any other boat did too.
It is not our goal that tourists will be judges, however, it is our goal that PROFEPA will go out more to check. We do not want to report anyone as much as possible, all we want is more responsability in approaching whales. If only that would be possible without tickets or reports, that would just be great. After all, the whales do not profit of the $ made by tickets.
I know that it will be difficult to train all captains, but, as Sandra said, for some of them tips after the tour seems to be more important than protecting the whales. That is why it would be great if tourist can advise the crew that after 30 minutes it is time to leave, and they will recieve there tips anyway. Years ago, we did the same in Yucatan where Flamingos can be observed in Celestun national Park. By that time, almost all captains got closer than allowed to these birds, just to make them fly. People enjoy flamingos more when they fly instead of just standing in the water was their opinion. We advised the people before the tour that they should warn the captain that they want to see the flamingos in their natural habit, and not chasing them. We have been there several months, with huge succes. We hope we will have the same succes with whales, not only here, but in other places as well.
Also, I do not want to create the idea that whalewatching is better in a small boat. For sure smaller boats can approach them closer as they make less noise, but there are bigger boats that do handle the whales in an excellent way too. We went \"undercover\" several days with several boats, and with the interviews that we did in the Terminal Maritima, we can make the conclusion that for example the Cielito Lindo did a great job, and that is one of the bigger boats. They always respected the distance and timelimit.
Katnsocal, let me explain what we did; we gave the people that went out on these tours a sheet with the main rules, like that boats may only stay 30 minutes with whales, the distances, the way to approach them, permits and so on. I know that tourists may not be aware of some things, but it was just to get an idea of what might be done wrong in these tours. We cannot be anywhere anytime. We have done this in several places of the world, to promote responsable whalewatching. Actually, our MAIN goal is to convince the Japanese government to stop hunting after the whales, and that it might be a good idea for them to start RESPONSABLE whalewatching instead of whaling.
The example that you gave is unfortunatly a really bad one of things that happen here in the bay (believe me, not only here, but anywhere with activities like here). There is no reason for a guide to scream to other boats, with or without costumers. She could have advised your captain in a discrete way to pull up the lines, in the case she was convinced that the lines were out, so that your captain could tell her that there all lines were already pulled up.
It is good to hear that your boats respects all rules, I just wish any other boat did too.
It is not our goal that tourists will be judges, however, it is our goal that PROFEPA will go out more to check. We do not want to report anyone as much as possible, all we want is more responsability in approaching whales. If only that would be possible without tickets or reports, that would just be great. After all, the whales do not profit of the $ made by tickets.
I know that it will be difficult to train all captains, but, as Sandra said, for some of them tips after the tour seems to be more important than protecting the whales. That is why it would be great if tourist can advise the crew that after 30 minutes it is time to leave, and they will recieve there tips anyway. Years ago, we did the same in Yucatan where Flamingos can be observed in Celestun national Park. By that time, almost all captains got closer than allowed to these birds, just to make them fly. People enjoy flamingos more when they fly instead of just standing in the water was their opinion. We advised the people before the tour that they should warn the captain that they want to see the flamingos in their natural habit, and not chasing them. We have been there several months, with huge succes. We hope we will have the same succes with whales, not only here, but in other places as well.
Also, I do not want to create the idea that whalewatching is better in a small boat. For sure smaller boats can approach them closer as they make less noise, but there are bigger boats that do handle the whales in an excellent way too. We went \"undercover\" several days with several boats, and with the interviews that we did in the Terminal Maritima, we can make the conclusion that for example the Cielito Lindo did a great job, and that is one of the bigger boats. They always respected the distance and timelimit.
Lupita,
Thanks for your explaination. What group are you with? Just curious since you are not only focusing on whales but other speices as well!
Thanks for your explaination. What group are you with? Just curious since you are not only focusing on whales but other speices as well!
Lupita did you start your migration north already? :?: I was waiting for your reply, still curious which organization you are working with?