Whale Sharks!

Our last full day in Cabo . . . sigh. Normally on the last day of a vacation we like to just sit and relax and grab those last few rays of warm sunshine before heading back to the cold, but this trip we book a whale shark excursion for the last day. This was the only day that was available with the tour company we were working with.

It was a very early start as they were picking us up from the hotel lobby at 5:45a.m. One other family of 5 also was waiting and I was starting to get a little nervous that we had gotten taken for a ride by the guys at the marina selling the tour, but then the van showed up about 10 minutes late. We all piled in and were on our way with the song “Hotel California” by the Eagles playing over the speakers. Tom joked that they were just going to loop that song for the entire 2 hour ride to get us ready for our stop there on the way back. Thankfully this was not the case. We stopped at one other hotel and picked up one more person and started heading North to La Paz. We stopped at a gas station for a bathroom break and the driver handed out bag lunches containing a sandwich and granola bar for the ride. It was still dark so we all pretty much slept on the ride. When we woke we found it was a grey overcast day. Seeing as it was overcast, didn’t make me feel that we were missing out on laying out by the pool. After sitting in some stop-and-go traffic in La Paz we finally were at the marina. By this time it was 8:30 and our driver let us know that the boat would leave at 9:00. We went to the bathroom, got our wet suits on, and climbed aboard a speed-type boat.

Even though we were on a speed boat, we didn’t move very fast, especially when we got into the bay where the whale sharks were. It took a lot longer than I expected to find them, but once we did, we went in the water in groups of 5 with the guide. The boat captain would put us ahead of the whale shark and we would jump in and wait for him to swim towards us. The guide in the water told us when to put our masks in the water and when we saw the whale shark we were to start swimming with him, 3 on each side. I knew they were going to be big, but when he said “Now put your mask in the water!” and I looked down and saw this massive beast right below me, it really startled me in such that I let out a small scream. It wasn’t out of fear, just surprise. So I started swimming along side of him and found that he was moving faster than he looked. I started by just kicking along side of him, but I found after a minute or so that I had to use my arms to keep up. When I got tired and let him go I popped up and found that just myself and the guide were together. We had lost the others a little ways back. I didn’t realize how fast we had been swimming. It was amazing! The boat came and picked us up and we got ready for another round. In again we went and swam with him again. After this round we got back on the boat and the second group took their turn.

Being that it was on overcast day it was harder to see the whale shark from the boat. The guide was telling us that on a sunny day you can see the darkness of the whale shark when looking down into the water much easier. So as the second group went, I mentioned amongst ourselves that if given the opportunity I would go in again. The water was kind of cold (and a little shocking to the system when you first jump in). As it were, the guide did give us another opportunity and Tom and I took advantage of it. This whale shark was slightly smaller than the first one and moved a little slower. What a magnificent animal and I’m thankful to have had the opportunity. I knew several people that had the chance when we were deployed to Djibouti and they all said it was awesome, and I had been super disappointed that I couldn’t do it there. The positive side of having to wait was that Tom and I could experience it together.

After we got back to shore and changed into some dry clothes we headed to a local restaurant for lunch that was included with our tour. We shared a family style platter of red snapper tacos and ceviche. The food was super delicious. We got back in the bus and began the journey back. The driver put Pirates of the Caribbean on the TV and I found myself taking a nap. I woke up as we pulled into Todos Santos. Since we had our personal tour here just a couple of days ago, I decided to pull out the geocaching app and see if there were any that I missed. Sure enough there was a cache .25 miles from where I was that was headed outside of the downtown area. We only had 30 minutes at the stop, so I promptly ditched the family and made my way, paying particular attention to my watch. I made it to the cache in 10 minutes and it took me 3 minutes to make the find (Yay! My luck is changing), and hustled back in another 10 minutes giving me plenty of time to go to the bathroom and stop in the souvenir shop where our tour van was parked. We hopped back in the van and headed back to Cabo.

We stopped at the tour company’s office for a few people to settle up via credit card, and then at the request of one of the other people in the car the driver took us to a local store to buy vanilla. Unfortunately the brand they were selling said “Artificial Flavor” right on the bottle so I didn’t buy it, and I think I talked the other lady out of it as well. He took us to one other store where they said they had the pure stuff, but they had the exact same brand as the first place. I had bought some vanilla when we went to town earlier in the week (although I don’t think that is truly pure either), so I wasn’t too upset, however I would have been interested to see what the locals buy.

We got back to the hotel about 5:00 where Tom and I headed to the room to excitely download our video from the GoPro from the snorkeling. We were happy that it turned out and can be viewed here: https://youtu.be/uf0uJzlAUTU

Laurie and I went up to the main area and secured reservations at the Japanese restaraunt, which turned out to be pretty mediocre. With dinner in our belly time to head back and start packing up. Our transportation to the airport leaves at 9:40 tomorrow morning. 🙁

Stats of the Day

Steps Walked: 18,684 (Not sure how that is possible. I took my watch off while snorkeling and I think the bouncing of the waves may account for some extra steps. I don’t think my side geocache excursion would add up to that many steps)

Number of times swimming with whale sharks: 3

Whale Sharks Spotted: 2