On December 27th Andy, Steph and I traveled with ECOtours to Punta Mita in the North Bay to watch some Humpback whales.


thankfully there were life preservers on board

our fabulous captain

Contrary to popular belief Mexico has it’s own version of winter. Actually at night it has been getting down to the mid-50s and considering we have no way to close our gigantic windows, it’s pretty cold sleeping weather. Well, being on the water is definitely cooler as well and when the clouds rolled in, the hoods came up.


Here is a video of our experience:
This was the only time we saw pectoral fins. Humpback’s are known for their abnormally long pectoral fins.

crooked fluke

one of the very large males just after it breached, wasn’t prepared for the shot so unfortunately I only caught the “tail end”

steph watching patiently

2 large adults, possibly a male and female

Many times after a female has given birth a male will swim beside her to offer protection, gain notice and attempt to be the father of her next baby. Most times they are not successful, however that doesn’t seem to stop them. These males are called “escorts.” If you notice, I have captured all three surfacing at the same time; mom, baby and escort.

and now for the finale. . . .



my favorite shot of the day-


6 comments
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January 4, 2008 at 11:30 am
Stephanie
MAN! You beat me on the video. SWEET! That is off my list. Nice work! I’ll work on the others. . . .
January 4, 2008 at 3:20 pm
innatephoto
Hey girl, sorry about that. . . i just got inspired to do something a little educational. I must be missing the classroom or something. I thought maybe it would work for your site though. I wish I could figure out how to send it to you full size so you could use it during classroom instructional time. Maybe I could just burn it to disc and send it to you 3 months ago, it could be there as early as next week! hahahaha
January 5, 2008 at 3:02 am
Bearphoto
What a treat was your video and stills. Loved your pectoral fin in first shot. I believe they are about 1/3 the body length. Crooked fluke with gull in background is beautiful as is your final breach. we will join you on a watch in march.
January 5, 2008 at 4:29 pm
Stephanie
EXACTLY – Three months previous. and I would get it this week. . .
I tried copying the html code and putting in my site, but YouTube is blocked, so no bieno! Can you load it to Photobucket? I know it will work then!
February 17, 2008 at 11:49 pm
john
well, that was pretty beautiful. And soothing.
Kirsten, the first thing you & I ever talked about was the biology of a humpback whale. ‘member that?
June 10, 2008 at 3:34 am
Puerto Vallarta Condo
Cool blog, I spend a lot of time in Puerto Vallarta and live there part time. I always do a Google search for all the blogs about Puerto Vallarta so I can keep up with what is going on when I am not there. Have a great day. pvkid http://www.puerto-vallarta-rentals.com