Whales of Baja 2025 Trip Report
Our February 2025 Whales of Baja Expedition was a smashing success! Here’s a recap of all the amazing whale encounters from Loreto, Magdalena Bay, and Los Cabos!
Day 1- Our group, consisting of David and Belinda from Australia and Brona from Ireland, met with Fernanda in Loreto at a lovely hotel on the beach with a beautiful view of the Sea of Cortez and the islands offshore. Fernanda lead the trip briefing over margaritas at the bar watching pelicans diving, getting excited for the amazing days at sea to come.
Day 2- The group headed our from the town marina in Loreto, and chose a course heading south of Isla Carmen. The first whales encountered were feeding Humpbacks, circling around and making close passes right under our boat. They continued south and encountered two relaxed Fin Whales. Carrying on still further south close to Agua Verde, where the group saw a total of three Blue Whales, including one very close to shore resting, that they were able to be with without any other boats for over two hours.
Day 3- The group departed a bit earlier and were rewarded straight away with a pair of Gray Whales; an unprecedented encounter this far north in the Sea of Cortez! Not long after they encountered a mother and calf pair of Bryde’s Whales. For those of you counting, this is now five different whale species in less than 24 hours! The Bryde’s Whales were quite shy so they let them be and carried on to the north, where they encountered the first Blue Whale of the day. This whale was able to be identified as Alberto, one among the registry of regular visitors to Loreto. To top it off, the boat was able to cruise along with a super pod of Common Dolphins. The day was made further amazing when the group encountered a smaller Blue Whale feeding close to the island in shallow water. It circled around, fluked, made close passed to the boat, all in calm clear blue water, and then was eventually joined by a second Blue Whale. They stayed with these whales for the remainder of the day, bird watching on the island while the whale’s were underwater. The boat was then escorted home by a pod of Bottlenose Dolphins. Upon arrival back to Loreto, they packed up and headed to Puerto San Carlos to begin the second leg of our adventure.
Beautiful Blue Whale Fluke
Day 4- Early departure out in to Magdalena Bay and headed south. The group were soon met with Gray Whales in every direction, displaying all sorts of behavior including breaching and spy hopping. Eventually several individuals became curious and approached the boat. For over an hour two very social whales rubbed the hull of the panga and barrel rolled right beside it. Everyone got to give them a soothly scratch to rid them of itchy sea lice. Even Captain Daniel was super excited for this interaction! They were close enough to these two, most likely male, whales to get a look inside their blow holes. Eventually a third larger whale approached and seemed to pick up his buddies to carry on with their day, and away they went! But everyone was left with a mind-blowing interspecies encounter! They then made their way to Isla Margarita to enjoy fresh clams caught in the bay and a beautiful ceviche made by Dani’s wife.
Brona with a Gray Whale!
Day 5- Early start again for a half day in the bay and the gang visited the heart-shaped bird island, a resting point for thousands of sea birds including pelicans, cormorants and gulls. They stopped by to see the Gray Whales again but it being hard to top the previous day’s encounter, they opted to explore more of the bay, including zipping through the mangroves and chilling out in the sand dunes for lunch. They then headed back to port and packed up for the long drive back to Cabo San Lucas.
Details of Gray Whale
On the final day of the expedition, the group was back home in Cabo aboard the Rocinante with Captain Andres at the helm. This time hoping for more Humpback Whale interactions. Close to shore they saw a lot of whales but none that wanted to stick around, so they decided to try their luck further offshore. And sure enough, they found two whales that wanted to play! They were spy hopping, fin slapping, passing under the boat for over an hour. In went the hydrophone, and everyone was treated with a symphony of at least three males singing. David was celebrating a birthday, and it was as if they were singing Happy Birthday to David! The group then headed closer to the coast to look for mother and calf pairings. They found one such duo with three male whales circling, trying to woo the female. The calf was excitedly breaching away during the whole spectacle, and eventually mom joined in the fun, showing off for us breaching together. Off in the distance we then noticed another mother and a calf pair breaching at the same moment!
This trip is such a blast and so incredible to witness so many amazing species and behaviors in a short time and distance. They you to our great guests and captains for making it so memorable!
Whale gang in front of the famous Cabo Arch.
We’re already excited to run this itinerary for February 2026, please send us an email if you are interested!
