Day 11 – Gordo Banks

We headed south towards Cabo San Lucas, off where the Sea of Cortez and Pacific meet. Drifting off remote beaches of San Jose de Cabo, I observed a number of white shiny objects bobbing in the sea. Ah, they weren’t the underside of Humpback flukes, but an ensemble of luxury and fishing vessels.

At 9am, we spotted a Humpback female with her calf spout, glide in and fluke. The calf making a shallow dive. More Humpback whales joined the party and kept us company until the sun set. Under calm waters, a competitive group of male Humpbacks surged forward, breathed and dove back in, aggressively chasing the alpha dude chasing the one female he wanted to serenade or protect. Flukes up! Led by the proud one who did all the showing off, she swam away. We observed and chased all day.

Females and their young often hung out in pairs. A show of pectoral fins and frequent splashes added a breath of life to the large mansions dotted around the beaches of Camino Cabo Este. La Sierra de Laguna mountain range in the background, cacti sprinkled over, it was no Malecon.

Meanwhile, the Humpbacks flirted a bunch. We giggled and applauded. Males attacked one another under water. When they raised their heads, fresh red injury marks were visible. They occasionally played peekaboo, poking their gigantic heads out of the surface, checking us out. They circled our boat, exposed their gigantic flukes, each with unique pigmentations and marks, rugged tips, and disappeared under the boat. They surprised us surfacing in all directions, we didn’t know where to look. They left footprints everywhere in the form of glassy round patches.

Now and again, they lifted and spinned their gigantic bodies out of the water, landed on their backs or sides inducing a mini tsunami. The energetic whale vibe kept us on our toes. We were not only running around the boat, but the captain often revved it up towards the ones slapping their tails and kick feeding on the horizon . By the time we reached to take photos of their antics, they stopped and just displayed their rounded backs. It was only a matter of time and sunburns until we saw it over and over again right next to our boat.

Females were outnumbered and apparently don’t pair with other females. They hang out with males for up to a few days. It really depends on what kind of music she’s into that day, I don’t know. It was Spring Break for everyone!

Later in the evening, we anchored at San Jose del Cabo, city lights flickering. Just like that, it was all over.

Day 12 – Cabo San Lucas

At 8am, we docked at the Cruise Ship Terminal and hung around the Marina for a few hours before leaving to the airport, omnipresent cafes, shops and pharmacies. The exotic vibe was very different from Antarctica and Baja California Sur.

“Mayan Monkey”, “Senor Frogs”, “Wizzie’s Bar & Grill”, “Fish On”, “Bla Bla Bla Silver Shop”,”Tipsy Bar”, “Wicked Pizza”, “Chubby Noodle Cabo”, “Flip Flops Cantina”, “The Giggling Marlin”, “The Sin Lounge Club Cabo”, Oh my word, the list was endless. The visual part of my brain went crazy. The whole place lacked class and i wanted to GTF Out.

On the plane back to LA, freshman students talked non stop about Spring Break in Cabo, scrolled down social media feeds and spent ages looking at their selfies and beach poses. I was back on earth.