Last Updated on October 5, 2021 by Natalie
Our visit to La Paz, Baja California Sur, Mexico in April of 2021 was one of my favorite vacations of all time. It ranks high. Really, I think it’s a tie between La Paz and our December, 2018 trip to Playa Del Carmen (here’s where you can read about why Playa Del Carmen was so awesome). La Paz is a gorgeous area with beautiful beaches. Another feature of the area are the whales.
I’d planned to take a whale watching tour, but I keep getting to the region too late in the spring in order to make that a reality. However, I got lucky and got to see them organically and unplanned. Here’s the story!
Accidentally seeing whales in La Paz Mexico
I could talk about La Paz for thousands of words. I wrote about the best beaches in La Paz and I highly recommend checking out one or more during your trip.
When we visited Cabo San Lucas in April of 2019, again, it was too late in the year to head out on a whale watching trip according to our hotel’s concierge. I’ve since learned there are still whales around, just not as many so it’s more difficult for the tour operators to find them.
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Staying with a friend
We planned our La Paz trip at the last minute. Obviously, 2021 is still precarious with governments around the world still restricting liberties and freedoms unnecessarily, violently, without warning, and to a degree that is affecting us negatively in ways we haven’t even begun to see yet. Don’t “but, but the virus!” me – it’s been a tough amount of time even for the lucky ones. It made it difficult for us to figure out our spring break travels plans and then we realized we were priced out of most resort options.
I asked my husband if his friend in La Paz would be able to host us. His friend,Rick, had offered his home to us before, so it didn’t feel an imposition to ask. He happened to be available to host us for a week, so we booked our flights and car rental.
Our table’s view (and the child, who was still dry in this photo).
La Paz with a local
It really was an amazing trip. Rick had a spacious, inviting home, including a private pool. He showed us his favorite bar/restaurant and we got to sit on the beach and drink. No, really! The bar was full, so the waiters added a table for us right on the sand right next to the restaurant. My kids ate and then played on the beach, the older of which fell in up to his chest. I’m not sure how that happens when one enters from the shore, nevertheless, it happened.
We spent our days visiting beaches, cooking food for us and our friend when he was home, and swimming in the private pool. We also met interesting people (expats are often pretty interesting people and occasionally, odd ducks).
I think staying in a private home with its own pool is really what made it great. I think my husband’s friend appreciated that we always made food for him when he was around. We also got out of the house and let him be sometimes. He also took us to a great beach about an hour away, that was virtually private. At one point, we were one of three groups and the third group was out on a boat somewhere and we never saw them. We just saw their vehicle and boat trailer.
La Paz is the dream
I can see myself living in La Paz. I know it’s hot in the summer, with temperatures hitting the 100° F range. Yet, the spring weather was awesome and actually, the water was fairly cold. My husband and I have actually put it on our list of places we both want to live.
One of the two dolphins we saw, again, without a tour and living their best lives!
First, seeing dolphins
On our last full day in La Paz, Rick took us out on his boat. This boat trip was easily my favorite part of the trip. We headed to the marina, used the bathroom at the marina, and hopped on the boat. We headed out of the marina, saw the yacht of the recently divorced billionaire who founded that huge online company that ships stuff for free with a prime account, along with several other large yachts of the rich and famous. That was all cool, but then we saw dolphins in the wild. That trumps rich people yachts always.
Because dolphins.
We came to a stop to watch the dolphins swim and play for a bit. I was excited because I’ve only seen dolphins a couple times and only once ever in the wild. Even with all of my time scuba diving in the ocean or beach vacations, I hadn’t seen any dolphins. I also don’t want to do any “swim with the dolphins” activities because they are so cruel to the dolphins. Just because we CAN doesn’t mean we SHOULD.
Seeing beaches from the boat
After our awesome dolphin encounter (from afar, Rick was careful to not get too close), we went along to check out Balandra Beach from the water. In 2020 and 2021, Balandra Beach was limited to about half its capacity. At the time of our visit, we’d have had to arrive around 4:30 in the morning to snag a spot. Even with the time difference being in our favor, we couldn’t make this work for us.
We couldn’t get in too close to the beach, but I did get some lovely photos of the beach. We also couldn’t swim to it from where we were parked. That’s okay. I got to see it. I think it’s beautiful as viewed from the sea, but if you also have to miss it, check out Tecolote Beach, which is just down the road and it’s also beautiful. Plus, we had some of the best food from a vendor on Tecolote Beach.
We cruised along and in between Balandra and Tecolotes beaches, there’s a little beach called Playa Escondido. I believe it is accessible by land, but we hadn’t figured out how to get there. So, we stopped and hopped out for a swim. Since we were so close, we did end up wading up to it and walking around a bit. Be aware, there are some poky rocks around there! This was one of my favorite beach experiences. There were other people on the beach and other boats parked and let people walk from the ocean to the beach with their things, but even with that, this beach felt remote and uncrowded. It’s smaller than both Balandra and Tecolote.
After that experience, we checked out the view of Plata Tecolote from the water (still gorgeous) and then headed back to the marina. It’s quite a distance and on the way, we saw some stopped boats, with people staring at the water. Then, I saw a whale.
Whales in La Paz, Mexico
However, our first experience seeing whales didn’t start with just one whale. Nor just two. There were actually THREE whales breaching. I’m not sure I have any footage without me saying, “Wow!” or “Oh my gosh!” or “This is amazing!” It was absolutely amazing. I had zero expectations of seeing whales. Rick had said that he does see them often when he’s out on his boat and I still didn’t expect it.
I also didn’t expect how big and how loud they are. Yes, of course, we all know that whales are huge creatures. There’s knowing that academically and then there is seeing it in person. I also didn’t expect how loud their blowing/breathing sounds would be. The three whales we saw were absolutely stunning creatures.
We watched them for a long time. I can’t even guesstimate because I was so busy watching them live their lives being amazing that the time could’ve been 5 minutes or an hour.
If three whales weren’t enough, I spotted a fourth whale a few minutes closer to the marina. This one didn’t put on the show like the pod of three, but we still saw him surface a few times before taking a deep dive.
In conclusion
Seeing whales is something that I’ve wanted to do for a long time. In fact, many, many years ago, I embarked on a whale watching tour boat somewhere in New England. Unfortunately, the boat was having mechanical problems and returned us to shore for a refund or reschedule. We couldn’t reschedule and took the refund.
Seeing the whales unexpectedly, without paying hundreds of dollars to do so, was a highlight of my La Paz, Mexico trip and really of my travel life. I hope to see whales again in my life and even if I don’t, I’m so grateful to have seen these magnificent creatures living their lives in the wild.
Have you ever seen whales? Have you ever visited La Paz? The best feedback comes from my readers. Please leave a comment. Thanks!
