On this trip, we not only got to see lots of grey whales including several sightings of a mama-baby pair, but also got to eat some of the best food of our Los Cabos vacation! Our biologist guides were Andrea from Spain and Maria from Peru. They drove the 6 of us from Hotel Tesoro to a tiny family-owned hotel and dining hall that was a short walk from the Port of Lopez Mateos.
About an hour up the coast, we stopped at the best restaurant of this trip for breakfast. It was called Lonchera La Garrita in Todos Santos. They brought out a salsa and fried panela cheese tray with chips. The two of us shared a huge chilaquiles plate with red and green sauces and refried beans. Others had the most luscious looking tamales (moist and covered with a fantastic red sauce), chicken picadillo smothered in red and green sauce with fried eggs, fruit platters, etc.
Once we arrived at Restaurant Hotel Familiar, we got a fantastic home cooked meal of shrimp and fish tacos in homemade flour tortillas with chips and the best salsa of the trip. There was another group of 7 that met us there. The hotel itself was a bit run down looking, with finicky plumbing, but we quite enjoyed our stay. The plumbing was noisy when the hot water was on for showers, but quiet once they turned it off for the night and we slept well as the bed was comfortable.
Then it was out onto the boats. I am glad they told us to bring warm clothes, as I ended up with wool hat and gloves, a long sleeve shirt under an alpaca sweater and windbreaker. Also glad we had scopolamine patches as it was rough in the area they call The Blender. The boats were small, allowing closer views, and felt extremely stable despite the waves.
The whale sitings were amazing and we got some fairly close views of the blowhole area, barnacles, ridges along the tail and flukes. No babies yet because El Niño caused a low birth rate and they had only seen one baby the whole season. For dinner it was lobster tail and fish with salad with more chips and salsa.
After an early awakening with breakfast at 6:15, we headed out again. Saw a lot more whales, including a mother-baby pair with usually a small spout followed by a large spout. At one point we were completely surrounded with spouts going around the clockface. We also saw a lot of dolphins and pelicans, cormorants, herons and frigatebirds.
At lunch, which was more fish and shrimp tacos on handmade flour tortillas, one of the guys brought out a different salsa that was simply amazing, with a slow heat that built to a slightly higher heat than their regular salsa. As we dug in, he obviously got concerned that it might disappear and he took it away. Turns out he made it for his father in law to have with his lunch and just wanted to give us a taste.
Then it was a 6 h drive back to our hotel. A fantastic excursion!! The only slight downside was that it was a bit tight for three people in the very back of the van, so we took turns sitting back there. We made friends on this trip and hope to keep in touch. Our bags were always secure locked either in the van, or in the hotel room during both boat rides. We had brought our rollaboards as we checked out of our hotel before this trip, but the other two couples just had overnight backpacks, and these bags just fit into the rather small space at the back of the van. I think they do have a larger van, if for instance, our group had filled to the maximum 8 per boat. I feel very comfortable with this company -- they went towards, but did not chase the whales or dolphins, and would book with Cabo Trek again.