A guide to whale watching season in Los Cabos, plus swimming with orcas and whale sharks

What a quality a period makes. In the 19th century, the Pacific Coast of Baja California Sur (BCS) was a hunting crushed for whalers. Indeed, immoderate of the astir notable aboriginal immigrants to what is present Los Cabos were deserters from whaling ships who joined into section families. As historiographer Pablo L. Martinez pointed retired successful his “Guia Familiar de Baja California, 1700-1900”: 

“In the confederate extremity (of the Baja California peninsula), astir of the immigrants were fugitives of the whale sportfishing ships who escaped from the unspeakable beingness they endured aboard specified ships. Nowadays, the determination inhabitants call them pirates, which is not correct. Many years ago, six young fellows deserted their whaling ship. They were of the pursuing household names: Hastings, Collins, Leggs, McClish, Gavarine and Robinson.” Others bearing surnames similar Green and Ritchie followed.

Virtually each benignant of circuit vessel successful Los Cabos offers regular whale watching excursions during the wintertime season. (Visit Los Cabos)

By the precocious 20th century, however, determination had been a oversea alteration successful attitudes and a nascent whale watching manufacture had taken basal successful Los Cabos. Rather than being hunted, whales were present protected by instrumentality and adjacent the play during which tours could hap was regulated. 

How agelong does whale watching play successful Los Cabos last?

Yes, that play has arrived. The 2025-2026 whale watching play successful Los Cabos begins connected Dec. 15 — meaning that’s the time erstwhile section circuit operators tin officially statesman taking retired tourists aboard boats to spot whales — and runs for a afloat 4 months, until April 15. The whales themselves, which typically provender successful Arctic waters during the summertime months earlier heading southbound during wintertime to breed successful shallow h2o coves astir BCS, person been seen successful section waters since aboriginal November, and whitethorn beryllium gone by April. 

But the dates for whale watching play stay the aforesaid careless and it’s present a large concern locally, with tens of thousands of tourists participating successful immoderate benignant of whale watching acquisition each year.

When are the highest months for viewing?

No guarantees are fixed erstwhile it comes to whale watching tours. The whales bash what they want. But from January to March, the highest of whale watching season, it’s a uncommon circuit that doesn’t spot immoderate of the whale taxon that transit Los Cabos this clip of year, which see blue, bryde, fin, gray, humpback, minke, orca and sei whales.

Gray and humpback whales are the astir commonly sighted, however, and humpbacks are the astir memorably photogenic, acknowledgment to their propensity for spectacular breaching behavior, successful which they assistance astir the entirety of their up to 40-ton bodies retired of the h2o earlier splashing down.

What are the restrictions for circuit operators?

Rest assured: whales aren’t harassed by circuit operators, adjacent though astir each circuit vessel successful the Cabo San Lucas marina has the due permits to connection regular whale watching excursions, arsenic bash immoderate from the Puerto Los Cabos marina successful San José del Cabo. But legal restrictions guarantee that each boats stay a definite region from the whales (60 to 80 meters, oregon astir 200 to 250 feet, depending connected the boat’s size), and bash thing that mightiness frighten oregon annoy them. 

A humpback breaches spectacularly adjacent a zodiac vessel filled with whale watchers successful Los Cabos. (Cabo Adventures)

Of course, the whales are unfamiliar with specified regulations and tin occasionally travel up for aerial overmuch person to boats. But Los Cabos is not Magdalena Bay, wherever grey whales volition sometimes attack tourists for much intimate interactions. 

Still, Los Cabos is simply a singular spot for whale watching — arsenic galore arsenic 5,000 whales transit the country annually — adjacent for those who aren’t connected circuit boats, arsenic tremendous cetaceans tin often beryllium seen from coastal restaurants oregon play courses, similar those captured on-air during the caller World Wide Technology Championship. 

Swimming with orcas successful La Ventana

Whale watching successful Los Cabos is simply a bucket-list enactment of the archetypal order, but hardly the lone seasonal 1 wrong a mates of hours of thrust time. This year, for example, BCS became the archetypal authorities to legalize swimming with orcas, though lone successful La Ventana, a tiny municipality astir 30 miles southeast of La Paz connected the Gulf of California, oregon arsenic it is known locally, the Sea of Cortés. 

This benignant of tourism is restricted, too, with the portion disconnected La Ventana for orca encounters encompassing 110,000 hectares and the fig of boats capped astatine 24 daily, present done this summer, erstwhile presumably restrictions volition germinate based connected however the aviator programme for this play goes. Tours and round-trip proscription from Los Cabos are disposable via companies similar Cabo Adventures, although owed to the question time, it bears noting that this is astatine slightest a six-hour clip commitment.

Swimming with whale sharks successful La Paz

For years, swimming with whale sharks — not really a whale, but a monolithic plankton-eating shark and, astatine up to 30 tons, the world’s largest food — has taken spot disconnected the seashore of BCS’ superior city, La Paz, and has besides been a bucket-list abrogation enactment for tourists. But owed to declining numbers of the taxon regionally, these tours were suspended successful February 2023, and again from January 2025 done the completion of past play (whale shark play runs annually from October done May). 

The activity has reopened, however, for the caller play aft capable whale sharks were spotted successful November to conscionable the threshold for tours to commence. But conservancy remains a precedence for what is, aft all, an endangered species, truthful there’s ever the anticipation that these tours are suspended again, thing visitors should support successful caput earlier booking excessively acold successful advance.

Swimming with whale sharks play is unfastened successful La Paz … astatine slightest for now. (Go La Paz)

Here, too, determination are legally mandated requirements for boats and radical size (no much than 36’ successful magnitude and 5 per group, respectively), and for distance, with swimmers obliged to enactment astatine slightest six feet distant from the assemblage of whale sharks, and for their ain safety, astatine slightest 10 feet distant from the tail.

Chris Sands is the erstwhile Cabo San Lucas section adept for the USA Today question website 10 Best and writer of Fodor’s Los Cabos question guidebook. He’s besides a contributor to galore websites and publications, including Tasting Table, Marriott Bonvoy Traveler, Forbes Travel Guide, Porthole Cruise, Cabo Living and Mexico News Daily.