“The Sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever.” – Jacques Cousteau, Oceanographer

February is prime humpback whale time in Puerto Vallarta as they have migrated from their feeding grounds further north to mate and give birth. On a whim, Phil and I booked a tour hoping to catch a glimpse of these fabulous creatures in real life (Planet Earth is awesome, but it only gets you so far). We were warned as we boarded the boat that El Nino has reduced the visibility of the whales this year because they stay in deeper, colder water beyond the boat’s reach. That morning in fact, the earlier tour had only glimpsed whale blows (water spouts) but no whales.

So, we zipped out of the bay, saw some spotted dolphins and a lot of sea birds and I thought that would be our day, and a pretty good one at that, until…

We happened upon two male humpback whales competing for a female’s attention. They smacked their flukes and pectoral fins on the surface trying to intimidate each other and eventually resorted to full breaches, much to our delight. A third male eventually joined the fry and we watched their performances for almost 2 hours. Apparently the lady whale can take 8 to 10 hours to choose her mate, so by the time we left she was still evaluating her suitors… I don’t envy her decision, based on what I saw they were all quite impressive!!

— Erika