We had enjoyed my past trip with Karen so much that we made plans to return to Cabo specifically to…read morespend three days with her. She arranged a two day trip for us to see the grey whales with their babies in the "Santuario de la Ballena Gris", and planned another day for us to swim with the whale sharks.
She planned every detail. Communication was perfect and she is organized and prepared. A true professional, she was also so flexible about allowing us to decide how to spend our time, giving us plenty of ideas, and switching things around when we wanted to. She took care of all the transportation, permits, snacks and meals, boats and wonderful captains, wetsuits, equipment, Spanish translation, and lodging near the grey whale sanctuary. We learned so much from her and always felt safe and cared for.
We were fortunate enough to observe caracaras, countless grey whales feeding and training their babies to prepare for their long migration, and herons and seabirds on our trip to the reserve. She had a long drive, but the experience was phenomenal.
Then we had planned to see the whale sharks, planning the entire trip around the peak time for whale shark viewing -- but on the day of our trip, the whale shark refuge was closed (I believe because the previous winds had encouraged them to move 60 miles away to feed, something that was unprecedented). Although we expect they'll be back soon, we had to decide what to do with our last day with Karen. She had so many fantastic ideas and was able to pivot her plans, preparation, boat and captain to a custom-designed trip for us.
She drove us to La Paz with a plan to take us out to swim with the sea lions at Espiritu Santo, part of a UNESCO world heritage site. But before we got to the snorkeling site, we were astonished to have two juvenile humpbacks repeatedly breaching out of the water in front of us. We were the only boat around and paused to peacefully observe their playful antics so close to us. We also got to see blue footed boobies and frigatebirds with their red breasts on our way to the site.
Then to the sea lions. The pups were around 4 months old and many of their mothers were off fishing, so the pups hopped in the water with us to play as we snorkeled over the beautiful reef. Karen pointed out so much while we snorkeled together. It was an experience of a lifetime and we felt like we had so much time enjoying the pups; other boats were there but Karen guided us to an area where we felt like we could really enjoy the pups in solitude. They tugged on my fins and jumped on my back more than once.
Back on the boat and on our way to our next stop, we paused to enjoy the playful dolphins checking us out. Peaceful and touching experience.
Our final stop that day was Balandra Beach. We walked from the boat in the shallow clear turquoise water all the way to the sandy beach and enjoyed solitude at the beach, listed as one of the most beautiful beaches in the world. When we returned to the boat, they had prepared a delicious fresh ceviche lunch that the captain had prepared.
It was a perfect three days and we plan to return again to see the whale sharks!
I cannot see any reason to enjoy this area with anyone else and highly recommend it. Definitely take some time from your Cabo or La Paz vacation to explore with Karen.