Friday, July 18, 2025

Whale-watching dates announced for 2022-23 season

Whale-watching dates for the upcoming season were published in the government’s official gazette on Oct. 19, as well as rules that apply to observation spots and restricted zones in eight states on the western coast of Mexico: Baja California, Baja California Sur, Nayarit, Jalisco, Sinaloa, Sonora, Oaxaca, and Guerrero.

The whale-watching season will go from mid-December to April in most states, though in Baja California the whales can be observed all the way to mid-May and in Guerrero the season ends as early as March.

Every year, as the northern ice pushes southward, whales migrate from the cold Bering and Chukchi seas near Alaska to Mexico’s warm Pacific coastal waters to breed, attracting a great number of tourists to watch the migration.

According to the International Whaling Commission, Mexico is now the most popular whale-watching destination outside the United States.

Whale watchers in Mexico @Mexico Twitter

Whale-watchers can spot grey, blue, and humpback whales on their journey along most of Mexico’s Pacific coastline. To protect the natural habitat of the whales, the Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources (Semarnat), in accordance with current Mexican environmental laws, has restricted access to certain areas.

In the Baja Peninsula, whale-watching is banned in a 2-kilometer zone around the Arch of Cabo San Lucas as well as offshore from Punta Ballenas in order to prevent excessive conglomeration of boats.

For the same reason, the Bahía de Acapulco and the Bahía de Puerto Marqués – both in the municipality of Acapulco de Juárez – have also been designated as off-limits.

To prevent disturbing whales with newborn calves, an area from Punta Mita to the mouth of the Ameca River has been made a restricted zone.

With reports from Aristegui Noticias

Have something to say? Paid Subscribers get all access to make & read comments.
A man stands by an open suitcase in an airport revision area

Foreign national caught with over a million pesos of ketamine in Cancún airport

0
Officials confiscated 2 kilograms of ketamine, a controlled substance in Mexico.
Nuestra Señora de los Remedios church in Cholula, Puebla, with Popocatépetl volcano smoking behind

10 fun facts to know about Puebla before you go

0
From hidden tunnels to historical monuments, the highland city is a trove of treasures, treats and tianguis.
two people walkin gby a for rent sign

Can rent control stop gentrification? Mexico City officials plan to find out

9
Political leaders in the nation's capital have reached into their anti-gentrification toolkit and come up with an approach that goes straight to the heart of the problem.
BETA Version - Powered by Perplexity