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Baja Sea of Cortez Kayaking / Magdalena Bay Whale-Watching Combo

Kayaking in Mexico with Sea Kayaking Adventures, Inc.

Highlights

  • Unique to us, we have combos to suit every interest and price range from shortest 6-day to longest 10-day including hotel nights
  • Offered each February and early March, which is the window of time for gray whales breeding and calving in Magdalena Bay on Pacific Coast
  • One of our most popular trips
  • We have marine biologist guides from La Paz University guide these tours and give nature talks

 

Full Description

Our most popular wildlife adventure in Baja combines sea kayaking in the Sea of Cortez with whale watching in Magdalena Bay, one of the major calving lagoons for gray whales. This is the ultimate Baja trip, combining one of the most incredible wildlife encounters on the planet with the chance to experience by sea kayak the magnificent beauty of Loreto Bay National Marine Park in the Sea of Cortez.

Go eye-to-eye with gray whales in a calving lagoon on Baja's Pacific coast and then cross the Baja Peninsula to paddle a kayak alongside dolphins and blue whales in the clear waters of the Sea of Cortez.  Our Sea of Cortez Kayaking and Magdalena Bay Whale Watching Combo tours lets participants get close to whales, explore desert islands by sea kayak and snorkel along isolated coves in warm, turquoise waters.

Magdalena Bay is sheltered from the Pacific Ocean by a barrier of desert islands. The sandy barrier islands protect the lagoons from oceanic currents, creating a fascinating environment of twisting mangrove-lined estuaries, chaotic sand dunes and blooming desert plants. January through March, hundreds of gray whales mate and bear their young in these protected waters after traveling over 5000 miles from the Bering Strait.

You can watch gray whales and their newly born calves up close from the safety of motorized skiffs in the deeper parts of the bay, where friendly whales swim up to the skiffs for a head rub!  Breaching, spy-hopping and fluking, the whales will captivate your attention with their behavior and we guarantee whale sightings.

You have the option of either a one-day excusion from a motorboat or staying three days at our exclusive beach camp located in the heart of gray whale activity.  In addition to whales, the lagoon is home to dolphins, sea lions, pelicans, and thousands of shorebirds. Your guides will introduce you to the desert plants, birds and other wildlife of Mag Bay on our Baja whale watching tour.

Then head back over to Loreto for three- to five-days of sea kayaking Baja and camping on remote islands in Loreto Bay National Marine Park, where the surrounding water is a sanctuary for blue-footed boobies, fin and blue whales, dolphins and sea lions.  The Sea of Cortez is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and offers the perfect blend of Baja kayaking, hiking and snorkeling. Abundant wildlife, massive whales, sunny weather and warm, crystalline waters make the Sea of Cortez in Loreto Bay National Marine Park one of the best winter adventure destinations in North America and Mexico.

With each of these tours, your first and last nights will be hotel-based in Loreto with an extra hotel night between kayaking and whale watching.  All activities are led by naturalist guides, who dish out tasty chile relleno and margaritas in tented beach camps at days end.  You'll bring home a lifetime of memories.

Includes:

  • 3 nights' hotel
  • 3 or 5 days paddling
  • 2 or 4 nights camping at Loreto Bay National Marine Park in Sea of Cortez
  • 1 day or 3 days/2 nights camping in Magdalena Bay gray whale watching by skiff with licensed drivers and marine biologist guides
  • Airport transfer in Loreto upon arrival and taxes
  • All kayak gear and instruction
  • All meals while on the water
  • All camping gear including sleeping bags, pads and tents
  • Library
  • Tables and chairs
  • Shade tarps

Excludes:

  • Airfare to Loreto
  • $25 national park fee
  • Tips for guides
  • Transfer back to airport
  • Personal items
  • $20 snorkel gear rental

Day by Day Itinerary

Day 1

Arrival in Loreto by air. At the Loreto airport, you'll be greeted by our ground service and transported to our hotel in Loreto. Check into pre-assigned rooms (included in trip cost). You're on your own for sightseeing or shopping until eve pre-trip meeting (6 or 8 pm) in the hotel lobby, where we'll answer questions and let you know the meeting time for the next day. Dinner is on your own.

Day 2

Please eat breakfast and be packed by the meeting time. We'll board a van and drive to the put-in site. After loading the boats, we'll teach you the basics of paddling and thoroughly review safety procedures. We won't leave shore until all participants feel comfortable in the boats. Kayak to our first night's campsite. We’ll be making 50-minute, 2 to 3-mile crossings to the off-shore islands of Carmen and Danzante in Loreto Bay National Marine Park.

Days 3-5

Our days begin with spectacular sunrises and end with delightfully cool evenings enjoying sunsets, stars, moonrise, and even bioluminescence. We'll spend our time paddling and exploring the scenic cliffs and coves of Danzante and Carmen. We'll be camping on sandy beaches allowing for superb snorkeling, swimming, tide pooling, and strolling. During the trip there will be three or four different camps on the islands with one or two layover days (ie we paddle out and back from the same camp). We’ll generally paddle 4 hours per day (with breaks). We'll sleep in comfortable and roomy dome tents, although with Baja's lack of insects you may be tempted to sleep out under the stars. Several campsites have a desert arroyo hike which will give us spectacular views as well as a great opportunity to explore some of the desert flora unique to Baja.

Day 6

After a final breakfast, we break camp and paddle to our take-out site around 2 PM. At the take-out, we unpack and proceed to our hotel in Loreto to (ah showers!) clean up. In the evening we go to a favorite local restaurant for a fun dinner (no-host; ie not included in trip price). Here we toast our new found kayaking skills and friends. Hotel included.

Days 7-9

We head to Magdalena Bay on the Baja California peninsula's west coast - wintering grounds of the California gray whale for two nights camping and three days of whale watching. Meals, camping gear and daily skiff whale watching sessions, marine biologist guides included. Day 9 hotel included; dinner is on your own. PLEASE NOTE that sometimes, the gray whale tour may preceed the Sea of Cortez portion.

Day 10

You are on your own for transportation to the airport for your flight homeward. You can use C&C English-speaking, air conditioned van transport for $8 each, or taxis (Spanish-speaking) are easily found, approximately $5-6/person; BUT depart for the airport no later than 2 hours before flight.

About The Operator:

Sea Kayaking Adventures, Inc.

Headquarters:

Coeur d'Alene, ID

Since the beginning, Sea Kayak Adventures has created simply outstanding sea kayaking trips and incredible wildlife encounters for outdoor-minded travelers by offering not only fun and excitement, but also inspiring adventures designed to rejuvenate your body and spirit. We're all about getting away from everything, learning new things, observing wildlife, meeting great people and introducing you to a new way of travel. So that you can experience the dream vacation you deserve, we emphasize unparalleled customer service, superb sea kayaking and whale watching destinations, and unbeatable support and camaraderie from each of our SKA guides. We serve gourmet meals and provide all the equipment needed.

Sea Kayak Adventures is actually three companies- we are fully licensed and permitted by the Mexican and Canadian governments to operate in their waters, including national parks in Mexico and provincial parks in BC Canada. We maintain offices in these countries, pay all the required fees and taxes and we are committed to the hiring, training and development of local personnel. Our office in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, USA handles your reservations and takes care of you before and after your trip.

In 1993 Terry Prichard and Nancy Mertz Prichard, after working as sea kayak guides for many years in Baja and the Pacific Northwest, created Sea Kayak Adventures. We wanted to share our love of nature and exciting work with others in our own way. Meeting great people, kayaking close to whales, sleeping under the stars. Being intimate with nature. It's an incredible experience.

We operate at all times with environmental ethics in mind. We hire local highly trained guides exclusively in Canada and 90% local in Mexico (some of our Canadian guides lead our tours in Mexico) well on track to our goal of grooming fully certified marine biologist guides and Mexican trip leaders for all tours in Mexico. We put as much money as we can into the local economy of our destinations. We were the first company to design and implement porta potties for double kayaks, which is now standard in the industry in Loreto, Baja and first to go carbon neutral. We run mostly self-supported tours (ie no motorboat support) thus rely on the greater carrying capacity of double kayaks. Some of our Baja tours are motorboat-supported - i.e. a motorboat goes along, usually going ahead to camp each day with the camp gear, which can carry more amenities than a self-supported trip, so you do have your choice there. We have 1-2 single kayaks on each trip for guests to rotate into (we do not guarantee exclusive use of single kayaks). Our guides are eager to help you learn and develop your paddling skills.