An Update on Whale Migration Season From La Orca de Sayulita Nico Randsome - La Orca de Sayullita
December 20, 2021

We are very excited that the whale season has officially started on December 8th. This year the whales arrived very early, with the first Nayarit sighting on the 29th of September. That means that there are very high densities of whales already and very early in the season. We are sighting anywhere between 10 and 30 whales per three-hour trip, including lots of large competitive groups and much surface activity.

We have recorded two calves already, one of which we believe was just hours old, with the peak of births expected in January. Four days ago, a large male orca was spotted near La Lancha, in the Bay of Banderas, and large pods of dolphins feeding are being sighted daily. We are quickly identifying our daily sightings of humpback whales. The pattern and shape of the underside of humpback whales' tail flukes are unique to each individual.

We have a catalog of 2100 individual humpback whales identified in Sayulita, which we started in 2012. Interestingly, many of this year's sightings are from Baja California Sur and have never been sighted here before in Nayarit or Jalisco. With a La Niña predicted for the Pacific Ocean this winter, we expect to see high densities of humpback whales until the end of March.

Much like last year's La Niña event, when sea surface temperature (SST) briefly dropped beneath 19°C, it was the coldest SST recorded for over 10 years!

Read the Sayulita Life newsletter here

Related: Scientists Identify a New Whale Species in the Gulf of Mexico (Steve Mashuda - EarthJustice)

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