Whale watching & Marieta Island

       

We set off Saturday morning for a 10:00 a.m. launch.   Well, a 10:20 a.m. launch, because the girls have mastered Mexico time and we were late.   The trip was fantastic, our captain and whale spotter positioned us for some great views and pictures.   They certainly earned a tip......add another 400 pesos to the cost of the excursion!    Emotion coupled with great service makes Lara & Gray very generous it seems.  

We saw whales, dolphins, turtles, flying rays, jumping fish, birds and a beautiful island.   I wasn't able to capture most of it on film, but what I did manage to photograph is pretty awesome.      

Our whale spotter found a humpback and her calf within the first 15 minutes.    We watched them swimming along at a distance for about 20 minutes before they decided to swim right up beside our boat....TWICE!!!!    It was awe inspiring and really quite emotional.   We all had tears in our eyes.

It didn't take long for all the other boats out on a whale watch to realize that we were having an awesome encounter, and suddenly there were a dozen boats surrounding us.   We had the best boat (with a shelter from the sun) and lots of room to move around.   The other boats were filled with people, sitting like sardines and no shelter.    We decided to go check out the island and look for more whales after a snorkel.   

After the whale watch we went to Marieta Island for a snorkel.     I was getting pretty sea sick by then, so I was very happy to hop out of the boat and into the chilly, refreshing water.    It is a very popular spot.  You snorkel through that little hole you can see in the rock and it takes you into a tiny sandy beach inside the island.    The islands are protected, and you are no longer allowed to go on it except for this small section.    It belongs to the birds, as is apparent by the incredible amount of bird poo.

Our whale spotter, whose name I never did quite master.   I believe it is Alandro, but I am sure Lara will correct me on that. 

Joni, our captain.   

Jumping fish.    I don't know what kind, but there were hundreds of them.

We saw one dolphin on the way back, but by the time I pointed my camera at her this was the best shot I could get.    She disappeared, and we went back to dock.    Unfortunately, after the snorkel there were no more whales hanging around for another encounter.  

3 years ago we went on a whale watch while in Sayulita.    It cost $200 U.S to rent the boat and a captain.    The boat seated up to 8 people.    We thought it would be around the same, but were appalled to find out it is now $300.00 U.S.  That felt too rich for our blood.   Gray did some googling and found a tripadvisor post that said you could get better prices if you go down to the marina in Punta Mita, so Gerry and I headed over there on Friday.  We both really wanted the girls to be able to see the beautiful humpbacks.    

Punta Mita  is about a half hour drive from Sayulita.    Punta Mita is actually closer to the Marietas Islands, so the boat trip is shorter.    We found a captain willing to take us out for $160 U.S., or $2,200 pesos for a 3 hour tour, which is about $200 Canadian.    Without a whale watch it would only cost $120 U.S.    We took his card and headed back to Sayulita to see what the girls wanted to do.

If you want to contact our captain his name is Jonathan Reyes, he speaks English very well.   info@tranquilosurf.com  His cell number is 011 52 1 322 199 5711.   From Mexico you need only dial the last 10 numbers.    They also give surfing lessons.

All the boat tours sell the package as a trip to the Marieta Island.   I think they do that so they don't have to guarantee a whale sighting.

Gerry has been under the weather, so he decided he wasn't going to go with us.  He felt that our experience 3 years ago was good enough for him and we have already blown our budget four or five times over and it just wasn't worth it to him.      On top of that, he got another migraine yesterday, so it was a good call.      

Lara and Gray were going to try to find some people who would like to join us, but that was a bust, so we had to split it 3 ways.  $733.33 pesos each is much better than $100 U.S. each!      Well, 1/3 for me and 2/3 for Bernita who picked up the girls tab because it was still a bit too pricey for them and whales being her favourite animal, she just couldn't let Lara miss this opportunity.   

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marieta_Islands

Sayulita Monkey Mountain

Sorry I have not been blogging I was just to sick. I do think I got sick from the water I was talking to some guy and he has been sick for a few months and he came up with the water from the one water guy was where he got it from. My luck to buy from the same guy. Brenda and Lara didn't get it because they drink beer and juice all I drink is water so I do think it is possible that is where I got it from. It took a batch of antibiotics to feel better still not feeling 100% but a lot better.

The first bunch of pictures was back a few days ago we walked to a couple of different beaches.

After walking to the end of the first beach we climbed over some rocks and came to this beach.

I took a picture down the beach and could see a couple more beaches.

After that beach we walked through the jungle and I got this picture nice bird never saw one before.

This is Plya de Los Muertos this is the swimming beach to get to it from Sayulita you have to walk through the Cemetery that is why its called los Muertos (the dead)

These are all new homes built since we were here last time. Its a place where the rich Gringos buy.

This is the biggest Pelican I have ever seen.

This was yesterday we went looking for the trail up Monkey Mountain. We found the road that headed towards it so we took it. It ended up that the road just followed a river bed.

We ended up driving down it for about a kilometer It was a lot of fun but it was the wrong direction so we had to drive back through it. We found the right road and followed it to the bottom of the mountain we had to open a few gates and drive through farmers fields till we came to a locked gate so we headed back to the main road and asked the people if they would be our guides the guy agreed for 800 pesos. In town the cost is 2400 pesos so we booked for tomorrow at 10 AM.

So this is us heading up the mountain.

We walked up a dry stream bed and this is Brenda holding up one of the boulders.

Some of the trail was just cow paths and it was completely grown over.

More of the same trail.

This was a strange flower it felt like the petals were rubber.

The first view about half way up.

This next picture is about a half hour later.

And this is the last 100 meters you had to climb up over boulders.

Some places you had to hold on because it was along way down.

And this is from the top. You get a 360 degree view

The girls had to climb the highest boulder up there buy they made the guide do it first.

They were brave I wouldn't go up there this is one of those fun things you can do in Mexico but if this was in Canada there is no way they would let you up here. Some of the boulders were just hanging over the edge waiting to fall and to me this was one of them.

Gray slipped and almost fell that was a bit of a scare. See the Vultures they showed up instantly. If you look at the rocks you can see all the bird crap so I think they are always up here.

Gray and Lara wanted a picture in front of the bird crap rock.lol

And down we go proud of brenda she only had to sit and slide on her butt a couple of times.

This is a better picture of the rock you had to walk up.

Gray slipped and grabbed the wrong bush she ended up with a hand full of thorns. 

The only wild life I saw besides a couple of birds.

The guide took us down a different way to show us the water falls.

This is where the farmer dammed up the river and ran a pipe down to his place it was still about a half a kilometer to his small farm that was a lot of pipe. 

Following another cow trail.

Grey trying to pet a calf this was as close as she could get.

Told you we were on a cow trail.

So this is what we did today it was fun and took about  4 hours.