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PUERTO VALLARTA’S WHALE WATCHING SEASON IN FULL SWING

Humpback Whales Make Banderas Bay Their Port of Call from December to April

It is the time of year again when Puerto Vallarta provides visitors with front row seats to a beautiful spectacle of nature – the play of the humpback whales. Every year, between December and April Humpback Whales migrate to the calm waters of Banderas Bay to mate and give birth. Numerous hotels and tour operators in Puerto Vallarta offer special whale watching packages and tours, giving visitors the opportunity to get up close to these gentle giants.

The Humpback whale is the species that breaches most frequently, up to once every 40 seconds for several minutes making them easier to spot. As many as 300 whales have been sighted in Banderas Bay during one season alone. According to marine biologists, the leaps may be for courtship, a challenge or a display of strength. The whales start leaving the bay towards the end of March to make their way up to their northern home for the winter months. The recently impregnated females leave first followed by the young and more mature adults. The mothers with their newborn calves, conceived the year before, are the last to leave, as the calves need to spend some extra time in warm waters to develop a thick layer of insulating fat before they head up north.

According to oceanographers, there are about 1,000 Humpback whales left in the Pacific Ocean.