San Jose del Cabo whale watching sunrise tour small group

4.98

(47 reviews)

What’s the experience like?

I didn’t expect to be standing on a dock in San Jose del Cabo before the sun was up, clutching a paper cup of coffee that tasted better than it had any right to at that hour. The air was cool — not cold, but enough to make me zip my jacket. There were only six of us, plus our guide, Ana, who greeted everyone by name like she’d known us longer than five minutes. She handed out cookies (I took two) and told us we might get lucky today — “the whales have been active,” she said, grinning like she had a secret.

The boat felt steady as we pushed off into the Sea of Cortez. I could hear soft music from someone’s phone mixing with the slap of water against the hull. The sky went from navy to pink so fast I almost missed it while fumbling with my camera. Ana pointed out where to look for spouts — “over there, see?” — and then suddenly there was this huge exhale sound, like someone letting out all their breath at once. A humpback surfaced maybe twenty meters away. I actually laughed out loud; it just felt unreal. We listened through the hydrophone for a bit — weirdly soothing, those underwater sounds.

I kept thinking about how quiet it was compared to other tours I’ve done — no shouting or engines roaring nearby, just our little group and the whales doing their thing. At one point we watched a mother and calf roll together in the light that made everything look gold for a minute. Ana told us about the migration routes and how some whales come back every year; she knew which ones by their tail markings. I tried saying “ballena” properly and got corrected (nicely). Still can’t roll my r’s.

We were back on land before nine, sun already warming up the pavement. It felt strange having seen something so big before most people even finished breakfast. I still think about that first breathy whale exhale sometimes when I’m half-awake in the morning — you know?