Whale Watchers: Episode II

As some readers of this blog may know, Roxi and I made a trip to Mexico in December to attend the wedding of our friends Cari and John. The trip was a great week-long adventure to an all-inclusive resort in Puerto Vallarta. The day after Cari & John's wedding, Roxi and I took an excursion in Banderas Bay for whale watching and snorkeling. I've already posted links to the raw footage that I shot that day, but I've always wanted to edit them into a much more user friendly video. Now that we are in the Netherlands where I can't legally work at this point, I have lots of time to devote to this and other video projects that I have been putting off for more than a year in some cases. Without further ado, here is the first video that I have completed:

Humpback Whales in Puerto Vallarta

The day after Cari and John's wedding, we took a trip out of the resort onto Banderas Bay to do some snorkeling and hopefully to see some whales. We went on a similar trip almost a year ago in Hawaii and liked the trip but were a little disappointed that we didn't see many whales. This trip turned out to be much more satisfying in so many ways.

We sailed from the marina to the Marietas Islands all the while keeping our eyes open for whales on the voyage. It wasn't long before we saw several groups of whales surfacing for air, spouting water and fluking.

At the end of a very eventful morning, we arrived at the Marietas Islands. After some snorkeling, exploring the isolated beaches and having a fresh lunch on the sailboat, we began our trip back to the marina. In between the bottomless margaritas, tequila sunrises, pina coladas, etc., we kept our eyes peeled for more whales. Finally we saw what Roxi and I had been waiting for since we first saw humpbacks in Hawaii earlier in the year: a whale breach! It was preceded and followed by several whales swimming along the surface and slapping the water with their fins.

We really couldn't have asked for much more out of the trip. We saw more than I had hoped to see and had a great time in the process. Hopefully the videos show the majesty and grace of these enormous creatures.