Tourist service providers have reported the first humpback whale sightings in the Bahía de Banderas region, the “advance” that anticipates the presence of hundreds of huge cetaceans during the following months.
It is usual that from the month of October the first whales begin to be seen in the Bay, some are even just passing through and it is very likely that they will travel to Central America. Banderas Bay is a sanctuary for a wide variety of species and marine life, but for many the humpback whale is the most significant.
Every year from October to April, Puerto Vallarta has the privilege of witnessing the splendor and grace of humpback whales, which travel great distances in search of the calm and warmth of the waters of the Pacific Ocean for the birth of their young. The first ones passing through and a little later those that remain longer in the area.
According to biologists who conduct research on these marine mammals in the region, the whales normally arrive with the California ocean current, which varies its times each year. By the second half of October, the presence of the first whales is now normal, when the dense and less dense waters circulate one over the other, in the sea they become like rivers, then the California current becomes a kind of river of very dense water circulating south.
Specialists point out that the issue of climate change should keep us very aware of what is going to happen in the rest of the world because if the poles are melting they are releasing cold, denser water that is going to take its place in currents and can make current changes.
It should be remembered that the official whale watching season doesn’t start until December 8, and it is important to give them space and not harass the first whales to arrive in Banderas Bay.
In places like Baja California Sur, authorities at different levels are involved in the issue and have already summoned service providers to prepare for the sighting season, an issue in which this region regularly lags behind.
Source: Contra Línea