Baja Wildlife Trip Report 2026
- Week 4 -

 La Ventana, Mexico
May 23 - 30, 2026

May 24, 2026. Day one.

Our second week with Becky and her crew continues.

Yesterday is going to be remembered for a very long time.

What a day.

Today we headed out with Captain Cano and my buddy Mathias. New crew, new boat, new day.

We pointed the boat south, following the direction we believe the orcas traveled after yesterday's encounters.

Conditions were much nicer today.

The south was calm and inviting, a complete contrast to the rough seas we dealt with yesterday.

Our day begins.

We ran south for a while before eventually turning north again.

Not much was happening.

The ocean was flat and getting flatter, making it easy to spot activity from a long distance away.

Eventually we decided to head over to La Reina for some sea lion and diving bird action.

In calm conditions like these, if the birds are feeding, it can be a lot of fun.

I had also made a promise to Martina.

She wanted to see an octopus.

Luckily, finding octopuses on this reef is one of my specialties.

So that became part of today's mission.

On the way to La Reina we encountered a huge pod of bottlenose dolphins and tried a couple of jumps with them.

The dolphins weren't interested.

So we left them alone and continued on.

When we arrived at La Reina, the seas were calm, but the current was ripping.

Really strong.

The only place we could comfortably snorkel was on the lee side of the island.

Thankfully there was still plenty of life there.

Cormorants were actively diving and feeding, so I spent much of my time photographing them.

Every so often a sea lion would cruise through the scene and I'd steal a few frames before returning to the birds.

After a good search, I finally found Martina her octopus.

The octopus was moving across the reef and everyone took turns diving down to photograph it.

Then things got interesting.

Out of nowhere, a second octopus emerged from the reef and jumped on top of the first.

The two separated, but continued following each other around.

Eventually one disappeared into a hole while the other positioned itself over the entrance and began pulsing and pumping.

We aren't completely sure what we witnessed, but we suspect they were mating, or trying to mate.

Which is pretty cool.

Despite the strong current, we ended up spending nearly two hours snorkeling the reef.

A lot of laughter.

A lot of wildlife.

And honestly… a hell of a good way to end the day.