19/07/2019 – Whale watching, Mancora, Peru

Our alarms woke us up at 05:45, we felt o.k. about getting up because we were so excited for the day ahead. We made ourselves a coffee and some marmite rolls and were picked up at around 06:30 by an otherwise full people carrier. We got driven to the next beach, Los Organos, about 20 minutes South of Mancora, and dropped off at the pier. There were some other tour company guests and some fishermen already floating around. We were greeted by our guides for the day and split into groups. We had chosen to use the company Pacifico Adventures, recommended by both Claires friend Charlotte and our Mancora host Virginia. The company give a 98% guarantee of seeing whales, which seems like pretty good odds, and work to help protect the humpback whales and contribute to research! We walked along the pier, from which we spotted a few giant turtles swimming around, along with some starfish and fish, Josh even saw a puffa fish! There were lots pelicans flying around too.

Pelican.

We boarded our boat and drove out to sea, Josh and I were the only English speakers, the rest of the guests were Peruvian I believe.

Luckily our guides spoke some English, which was helpful when they explained about the whales behaviours and their research. First we went close to an old oil rig, on which resided many pelicans, and quite a few blue footed boobies, which were a pleasant surprise! Although I don’t think the locals and guides realised how special they are and didn’t pay much attention to them, which also surprised us!

As we drove around the oil rig we saw there were lots of sea lions sleeping on the lower platforms and stairs. We saw them playing around at sea a bit later in the day. They were huge and fat, much bigger than the Galapagos sea lions. It wasn’t long before we spotted our first humpback whale. We saw the water being blown up into the air, followed by the backs of the whales as they glided through the water. We saw the tails flick up into the air too, that classic photo shot. It was unsurprisingly difficult to get that perfect shot, although Josh gave it a good go.

Comdey shot.

I had my binoculars (which I didn’t need as the whales were so big and they came so close.) They are absolutely huge and their elegance is completely breathtaking (we didn’t see any belly flops although we did see them jumping from a distance!). It was the first time Josh and I had seen whales and it was so magical! We spent a good couple of hours out at sea watching the whales. Our guides were marine biologists who photograph, track and identify the whales, share the information worldwide and help to plot and understand the humpback whales behaviour and their migration. One of our guides was a university 3rd year marine biologist student, and is doing her theses on the whale song. She dropped a special microphone into the water and we were able to hear the whale song! It was so cool! Apparently the volume of the song can give a human a heart attack if they were in front of the whale! After about 2.5 hours at sea we came ashore. On the pier we saw lots more turtles and some more blue footed boobies and pelicans. We got ushered along after stopping to take some pictures of the boobies, and driven along to the base of Pacifico Adventures. We got a coffee and a brownie before browsing the shop. Josh and I bought t-shirts as souvenirs, it is something I hope I will remember forever! We then got a guided tour of the museum. Our guide explained more about the whales and showed us all the bones and artefacts on display. They had all sorts of whale bones (they were so huge!) shells, sharks teeth and turtle shells on display, all from the local area.

Whale jaw bone

Our guide was from Chile and gave us his whatsapp number in case we can do more whale watching as we head South through Latin America. We got driven back to our accommodation. We got our stuff together and then dropped laundry off (last load til Cusco!) on our way to town for lunch. We managed to find an ATM and then headed to a phone shop to find an ipad charger. This is the 3rd charger we have bought since we left the real apple ones in Banos, Ecuador. There is no-where to buy real apple products, everything here is fake and brakes so easily. It must be such a pain for the locals! It also appears that it may be impossible to replace our headphone splitter, but we will try in Lima, probably our best hope! We went for some lunch and then headed back to our room. Josh was exhausted so stayed in the room and edited photos/relaxed using the wifi, whilst I went and sun bathed in a beach bar with a coffee. I went for a dip in the sea too as it was so hot, and I believe it is the last time we will be somewhere warm for a long time! I watched the sunset and then met Josh at home, we both showered and got ourselves sorted before heading out for dinner. We came back and watched the ipad before falling asleep pretty quickly!