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Two halves. First Mexico City, where you get up at 04:30 and watch the sun rise over Teotihuacán from a hot-air balloon. A city of maybe 125,000 people that was already abandoned and nameless when the Aztecs found it, and decided gods must have built it.
Then Baja California: a thousand kilometres of cactus desert with the Sea of Cortez on one side. Long drives, empty road, turquoise bays that appear out of nothing, fish tacos on the sand. This is a road trip, and the driving is part of it.
The timing is the whole point. Gray whale calves are a few weeks old, curious, and come to the boats. Blue whale season at Loreto opens mid-month. These dates sit inside both windows, which is a narrower overlap than it sounds.
You lift off in the dark and the sun comes up over the Pyramids of the Sun and the Moon. Then the site on foot along the Avenue of the Dead, before the tour buses work out where they are.
Baja is enormous and the good things are spread along it, so the driving is part of the adventure rather than a tax on it. Empty road, cardón cactus, and the occasional bay that makes everyone ask to stop.
A volcanic island half an hour off Loreto. The young sea lions come over and play with your fins, in water clear enough to see the bottom.
The lagoon where gray whales were nearly hunted out in the 1860s is now a reserve, and the calves swim over to be scratched. Blue whales in the Sea of Cortez: up to 30 m, and you hear the blow before you see it.
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Dates and route are fixed. Times may shift a little once the boats and balloons confirm.
Fly in and check in. Evening free in the Centro Histórico: go and stand in the Zócalo, which has been the middle of this city under three different civilisations. Early night, tomorrow starts at 04:30.
Lift off in the dark and watch the sun come up over the pyramids with thirty other balloons around you. Then the site on foot along the Avenue of the Dead. The Pyramid of the Moon is open to climb again; the Pyramid of the Sun is not.
Morning flight to La Paz on the Sea of Cortez, and the temperature changes completely. Easy afternoon, tacos and tequila in the evening, and a briefing on the road trip ahead.
Morning at Playa Balandra, a turquoise lagoon so shallow you can wade across it. Then the first big drive, north through cactus desert to Loreto, the first Spanish settlement in the Californias. Arriving for dinner.
Boats from the Loreto waterfront to a volcanic island to snorkel with the California sea lion colony. They are entirely unbothered by people. Back by early afternoon, evening yours.
The long push north, broken in half. We stop properly at Bahía Concepción: giant cactus down to turquoise shallows, a swim, fish tacos. Then on to Guerrero Negro, a salt town that exists for exactly one reason.
On the water inside the biosphere reserve at the peak of calving season. The calves come to the boats out of what looks a great deal like curiosity, close enough to touch. The strangest, best hour of the week.
Out into the Sea of Cortez for blue whales, thirty metres of the largest animal that has ever lived. Back in for lunch, then south to La Paz. Fly out that evening, or from Los Cabos the next morning.
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Boats, short walks and swimming. No climbing, no altitude, nothing technical.
In stretches of four to five hours. Baja is big; the good bits are spread out.
The odds are excellent. Nobody can promise an animal.
Single supplement on request. Group capped at 12.
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Not very. Boats, short walks, swimming and driving. No climbing, no altitude, nothing technical. If you can get in and out of a small boat and swim comfortably in open water, you’re fine.
Around 19 hours across the week, in stretches of four to five hours. We break the longest day at Bahía Concepción for a swim and lunch.
Nobody can promise an animal. These dates sit at the peak of gray whale calving at Ojo de Liebre and inside the blue whale window at Loreto, and the whole adventure is built around hitting both. Late-February sightings are close to reliable.
Sometimes, and only if the whale decides so. Mothers and calves regularly come alongside the boats on their own. Boats inside the reserve are strictly regulated and never chase an animal that isn’t interested.
Breakfasts and hosted group dinners are included. The rest you buy yourself; budget around $30 a day. Baja runs on fish tacos and they are excellent.
Register interest and you get the confirmed itinerary and final price before anything is due. No payment, no commitment.
No payment, no commitment. You get the final price and itinerary first.