“A Whale of a Birthday Surprise”
As soon as we had departed the Paradise Village Marina at 11:15am, we spotted a large number of boats congregating about 2 miles from shore and at a heading of about 220 degrees, and we motored Hooligan up to 2200 RPM for about 20 minutes before we arrived to where the other tour boats were hanging around a large pod of whales.
The first thing that I noticed about this particular pod was that there were a lot of whales, easily over 10 or 12 of them. The next thing that I noticed was that the whales were moving in a very sporadic and disjointed manner. LonSellsYachts.com was on aboard as crew and as soon as he went forward towards the bow, a large number of whales crested directly in front of Hooligan.
A Frenzy of Whale Activity
We followed the pod for about an hour but it was challenging as the whales were constantly changing direction, and almost in a frenzy. That is when I realized what was going on. This wasn’t a pod of whales so much as it was about 10 young male humpback whales that were all trying their best to mount a big momma whale who was desperately trying to get away from the young bucks that were relentlessly trying to impregnate her.
The water was constantly bubbling and churning as I did my best to try and avoid any collision with the whales, but also stay close enough that we were in the epicenter of the spectacle. This would have been an ideal moment to have an underwater microphone to listen to what was going on just under the surface.
Eventually, one of the larger male humpbacks breached up and out of the water and then created a massive splash just a few boat lengths off to our port side. I can’t say for certain, but it sure seemed as if that was a victory breach, and the excitement of the chase all seemed to calm down after that.
Finally, it was time to sail!
At 1pm the winds picked up and so we raised the main, opened the head sail and then shut off the motor. We almost made it all the way to the south side of the bay and then we tacked and pointed Hooligan up towards Punta Mita and we sailed comfortably across the bay at an easy 5.5 knts with only 7 knts of wind. Such great sailing and the display of whales that we saw earlier was honestly one of the best shows that I have ever seen.
What a fantastic birthday surprise it was for your very own Capitán Gamberro. Thank you Pam, Greg and Michael for choosing Hooligan Adventures!
