Baja Wildlife Trip Report 2026
- Week 3 -

La Ventana, Mexico
May 16 - 23, 2026

May 17, 2026. Day One.

We headed out this morning into a lumpy, wet bay.

The winds were supposed to ease off by midday, so we made the decision to head south early and see what the ocean would allow us to do.

For the next two weeks we have Becky Kagan and her buddies joining us out here.

I’ve known Becky since 2003, back when we first started Shark Diver Magazine.

Twenty-three years now.

Becky and her crew spend most of their time diving Antarctica, and the Arctic and deep cold-water wrecks around the world.

Hardcore stuff.

Rebreathers. Trimix. Freezing water. Photographing leopard seals, and walruses, just epic stuff

Wild people doing wild things.

This is actually their first warm-water trip in a long time, so it’s going to be fun sharing a completely different side of the ocean with them.

Unfortunately, today didn’t really go according to plan.

The winds were supposed to calm down, but they never really did… at least not when they said they would.

Eventually we decided to call the day early rather than keep beating ourselves up in rough conditions.

Still… we did get one cool surprise.

We spotted an Atlantic green sea turtle, which is actually fairly uncommon for this area. Most of the turtles we see around Baja are olive ridleys.

And somehow, making the moment even better…

the turtle had a booby standing on its back while it swam.

I absolutely loved that.

Fer had told me a couple days earlier that they had seen a turtle carrying a bird on its shell, and I remember thinking how badly I wanted to photograph that myself.

Got lucky today… and I love being lucky.

May 18, 2026. Day Two.

We headed out this morning into a flat calm bay, but reports from farther offshore warned that the winds and weather out in the open ocean were not going to be kind today.

So the plan was simple:

Push as far as we dared and see what the ocean wanted to give us.

We were able to make it up to Orcalandi this morning and have a look around.

Hopefully something cool would be waiting for us there.

Along the way we found a pod of bottlenose dolphins and tried a few jumps with them before continuing north.

Afterward we stopped briefly at La Renita, a small rocky outcrop where pelicans gather to roost and hunt. We also checked the area hoping to spot a manta ray that has been seen there fairly often lately.

A couple of people snorkeled around, and others (me included), photographed cormorants and pelicans on the rocks

From there we continued farther north searching for sperm whales that had been reported in the area.

And then suddenly… we found orcas!!!

We were running hard through rough, surging seas trying to reach the sperm whale reports when we caught sight of an orca fin breaking the surface way off in the distance.

At first I honestly thought we were imagining it.

Then it surfaced again.

Orcas!

We immediately changed course and spent the next two hours getting some really good jumps with them.

At one point we even saw a sperm whale surface nearby…but completely ignored it.

We stayed with the whales as long as conditions allowed, watching them move through the rough blue water.

The orcas were curious and gave us epically close passes, over and over. It was magic, true magic. 

These guys were not the turtle pod from last week, these guys were from another family, although I do not know which one. 

There is no greater feeling in the world than swimming with orcas. There really isn’t.

Eventually the word got out and more boats arrived. When that happened, we said goodbye to the orcas and returned to port.

What an incredible day.

A truly incredible day.

May 19, 2026. Day Three.

We headed back out to sea this morning.

Conditions were much nicer today. Still some wind around, but nowhere near as rough as yesterday.

We pointed the boat north once again, hoping the orcas were still somewhere in the area.

And honestly, if they were out there… someone was going to find them.

There were a lot of boats searching today.

This is exactly why I don’t post our encounters here in real time anymore.

Things just get too crazy.

Social media has a way of lighting a fire under people, and suddenly everyone wants to race out and see the orcas.

And honestly… I get it.

I want to see them too.

But at the end of the day, the animals are the ones who have to deal with all the added boats and pressure.

Early in the day we ran into several red-billed tropicbirds.

They are actually fairly uncommon birds to see out here, so it’s always a treat when they appear.

The males have these unbelievably long tail feathers trailing behind them in flight.

Beautiful birds.

Their backs are covered in black wavy patterns that almost look painted on.

One day I really hope to photograph one perfectly in flight and truly capture just how elegant these birds are.

We searched all day across a beautiful flat calm ocean…

and nothing showed up.

No orcas. No big whales. Nothing.

So eventually we made our way back to La Reina for a swim.

And honestly… what a way to end the day.

The water was beautiful, visibility was great, and the reef was absolutely exploding with life.

Today I finally got to spend a lot of time photographing hunting cormorants underwater.

They are incredibly frustrating to photograph though.

Fast, focused, and constantly moving through the baitfish.

But so much fun.

This reef is just alive right now.

Everywhere you look something is happening.

I love coming here.

What an amazing place.

And a pretty great way to end the day.

May 20, 2026. Day Four.

11:00 AM. We decided to leave later today and stay out through sunset, hoping for some dramatic sky colors over the ocean.

Preferably with orcas swimming around beneath them.

Jumping mobulas would have been pretty incredible too.

The morning started calm, but by the time we pushed south the winds had picked up and we found ourselves running through a sloppy, moody bay.

2:31 PM. Still searching.

The ocean is beautiful today.

Flat in places. Deep blue everywhere.

But empty.

Still… we keep looking.

3:20 PM. We encountered a small pod of Risso’s dolphins.

First sighting of the season for us out here, which was exciting.

But as quickly as they appeared, they disappeared.

Not sure how long those guys can hold their breath, but they were gone fast.

A little later we encountered a mystery whale.

Massive animal.

At first we couldn’t tell if it was a blue whale or a fin whale.

Whatever it was… it was big.

Very big.

We waited, hoping for another surfacing.

Blue whale!!!

First one of the season, I think.

And this whale was enormous.

A huge adult animal moving slowly through calm blue water.

We sent up the drone to get some clips of it swimming.

What a sight.

6:15 PM. Heading home. We spent a couple of hours with the whale, slowly waiting for the light to soften and the sun to drop lower toward the horizon.

The goal:

Golden light on the whale.

And eventually… we got it.

Sort of.

Not a perfect picture, not perfect golden light.

But beautiful.

And honestly, after a long day searching the ocean… it felt pretty magical.

May 21, 2026. Day Five.

We headed south today.

The winds up north were just too rough, so we pointed the boat the other direction and went looking for calmer water.

Early reports mentioned whale activity roughly twenty-two miles offshore, so we decided to head out and investigate.

At that point we didn’t even know what species had been seen.

Just another reason to go look.

Unfortunately, we didn’t find much out there.

We did run into a group of pantropical spotted dolphins and attempted a few jumps with them, but they made it pretty clear they weren’t interested in hanging around.

So we left them alone and continued on.

Later in the afternoon, while making our way back toward port, we finally found something exciting.

A large school of mobula rays.

The rays were popcorning all over the surface, launching themselves out of the water in every direction.

And finally… I got my first jumping mobula shots of the season.

Normally mobulas are everywhere out here and relatively easy to work with, but this season they’ve been surprisingly scarce and opportunities with them have been limited.

Hopefully they start showing up more consistently again.

The water might be too warm on the surface and the mobulas are staying down deep so that they can feed on the plankton. 

We tried a few jumps with the rays and managed some proof of life images underwater, but the school was moving way too fast and never really settled down.

So we decided to leave them alone and call it a day.