#  >  > Non Asia Travel Forums >  >  > Travel the World Travellers Tales Forum >  >  Whale Watching off the coast of Mexico with the Thai Girlfriend

## S Landreth

We arrived in Punta Mita, Mexico today. It will be a week long trip where weve planned two whale watching trips, a canopy adventure and we might do a day trip to either the town of Sayulita or Punta de Mita.


Some pictures of our room and the view here at the St. Regis.












About getting your Thai spouse a Visa to Mexico. Its fairly simple as compared to some other countries we have tried to get a Visa for. You can view Mexicos Visa requirements for Thais here. If your Thai spouse has a current U.S. Visa or is a resident of the following countries below they will not be required to obtain a tourist Visa. 





> However, foreigners that do require a visa for Mexico may visit Mexico if they hold a valid United States visas or are permanent residents of the United States, Canada, Japan, the United Kingdom and countries that comprise the Schengen area.


Although the girlfriend has a ten year U.S. Visa and was told she wouldnt need to apply she had the paperwork ready and requested a Visa just as a precaution and was granted one.

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## Kurgen

Enjoy, and post more pics please. :Smile:

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## Dillinger

Very nice, looking forward to this

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## harrybarracuda

Nice digs, how much did they cost?

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## S Landreth

Thanks for the interest and the compliments from all those above and from the people who have shown their appreciation with favorable reputations. 

Today we spent a portion of the day in Sayulita, which is about a half hours drive north of the St. Regis. You can see the entire busy retirement/surfing community in less than 2 hours, walking around.


















We had lunch at Don Pedros (on the beach) where the girlfriend ordered stuffed lobster ravioli. We also ordered Mexican to-go (for dinner). The food we ordered was great and its a nice place to sit back and enjoy the view.





> Nice digs, how much did they cost?


Harry, I dont like to quote rates on my travel threads because they may vary by season and by year. Some of these threads are opened up years after I have finished with them. However if you open this  page and set a couple of (test) dates, youll get an idea how much were paying. 

Out by the pool, behind our room this evening.

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## CNF55

^ If the first one in that row is what 'whale watching' is about - consider me an enthusiast.

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## Yasojack

great pics and beaut resort.

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## patsycat

If you ever want to trade your girlfriend in for another, I'm up for grabs....  I speak Spanish...

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## aging one

Beautiful, a little to up market for fish tacos? :Smile:

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## somtamslap

I want to be S Landreth's Thai Girlfriend. Let me know when the position is vacant. I have big jugs and a butt that won't quit.

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## aging one

55555555555555555555555555555 :Smile:

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## Looper

Nice gaff again Landreth. Good to see you are not skimping on that GF!

Front row on the beach....Private pool.... Mmmm.

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## aging one

I checked the prices!! hm........... is right. I hope some milage deal comes into play.   But good on ya if you dont look at the numbers of a bill you just sign.

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## Looper

I wonder if it comes with an 'all you can drink' deal like Socal's mexican hotel?!

And then throw up in your private pool!

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## aging one

Something tells me we are dealing with a different class of traveller.  :Smile:

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## harrybarracuda

> If you ever want to trade your girlfriend in for another, I'm up for grabs....  I speak Spanish...


Feck that, at those prices I'll slip on a Dorothy Perkins and speak Spanish meself!

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## patsycat

I didn't look at the prices.  Lurve has no price...  Jeez, that hotel room is bigger than any flat i've ever rented at exhorbitant Swiss prices.

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## patsycat

Shit, the little green envy monster is raising it's head... I had locked the box but it is tap tapping away.

Buenos dias, Senor.  El gato es en la casa.  La cocaina es en el frigo.

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## Norton

> La cocaina es en el frigo


No need to keep in there. Leave it out. Humidity is low.  :Smile:

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## chitown

More pics!! More pics!! It is getting me excited about our trip to Mexico this year.

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## S Landreth

Boat and crew.


Wonderful event today, whale watching. We had the opportunity to run into a group of twelve (estimated) male humpbacks and one female. The males were fighting with one another.










Some of the pictures are cropped from a larger picture. One of the cameras we were using is able to take 5 shots per second and when you release the shutter button it records the last 16 shots.




While out some dolphins came near us and I caught a picture of a turtle up near the surface.






Later we came upon one mother humpback and her playful calf.




It was a nice afternoon in the Bay of Banderas and we look forward to another trip out tomorrow. However we dont think well be as lucky. This late in the season, most of the whales have left.




> Jeez, that hotel room is bigger than any flat i've ever rented


Patsy heres more of the room. 










A short video of a mother humpback and her playful calf (might want to turn the sound down).

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## chassamui

Excellent travel thread with outstanding pics as usual SL. More whale pics please?

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## barrylad66

great thread, and loving the whale pics.stunning creatures :Smile:

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## Mid

tried to give you a green SL but have to spread the love first ................

pity , cause green is the colour I am after this thread  :Smile:

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## S Landreth

Went searching for whales today, moving from place to place. We were not able to find any large groups but we were happy with what we did see. It was a nice trip and hope everyone enjoys the pictures.


































The girlfriend took a couple of videos and one is posted below. Ill post the other later. At the girlfriends request I removed the original sound from the video and replaced it with something youtube provided. She was a bit excited to see the whales so close to her.

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## patsycat

Wow!!  Were you not a little worried they would capsize the teeny weeny boat?

Great pics!!  And video!!

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## S Landreth

Today we spent the day here at the resort and for good reason. They had a fresh fish of the day event, where you were shown what was caught (by local fishermen) and they would have it prepared for dinner/lunch for you. We picked a small red snapper to be grilled, for tomorrow evenings dinner.




This evening at the resort they had a social gathering/BBQ for the guests. But before the BBQ there was a weekly Friday evening champagne ritual. Good food and a nice setting on the beach at sundown.




Some other meals here at the resort we shared. 






Since we were at resort all day today I thought it might be a good time to show some common areas of this resort. It is a nice place and we were told the resort was fully booked, this past week. 














Looking at our room from the beach





> Wow!!  Were you not a little worried they would capsize the teeny weeny boat?
> 
> Great pics!!  And video!!


Thank you, Patsy. We were not concerned about the whales while in the boat. However the girlfriend got very excited (with joy) when they were close to the boat. These guys at Punta Mita Expeditions seem to know what they are doing. Nice guys and very knowledgeable. If anyone ever does the trip out here to the area I would recommend checking out Punta Mita Expeditions for their tours.

More whale pictures and one video from the past two days.

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## kingwilly

Great stuff, thanks for sharing.  I saw some whales once in  Queensland, but did not get anywhere near as close as you did! Magestic creatures!

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## S Landreth

Today we were taken to a ranch close to the resort; for our canopy tour,  where you could ride horses, ATVs and do the zip-lines as we did. Nice view and 7 different lines. Safety issues were pretty good,..better than the zip-lines in Thailand but not as safe as the zip-lines on Maui but there were some good long runs here.














A few more whale pictures and a video of a few whales singing.

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## CNF55

Again - thanks for posting. That must have been an amazing experience.

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## Yasojack

more greats pics, what type of camera do you have?

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## SiLeakHunt

the pubs in Bolton can be quite good for whale watching as well.

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## patsycat

But do they sing as beautiful as that?  Probably not, with their It's Raining Men duets!!

Brought a tear to my eye...  had to keep watching it again and again.

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## S Landreth

During our last full day in Mexico we spent some of it in a small town just north of Sayulita. San Pancho is a small seaside community where the locals outnumber the tourists and where you can get good Mexican food. 














The last of the whale pictures. When I started looking into whale watching I had a question how to locate them, while out. I found out they use everything from radioing each other (whale watching boats), planes/helicopters,  drones and visual. We went the visual route and the captain asked us to look for blows (when a whale comes to the surface and exhales) and we would head in that direction. You can see these blows from a mile away on a clear day. Below are a few pictures.















> more great pics, what type of camera do you have?


Thank you.

1)	The main camera is a Canon PowerShot SX 30 IS
2)	Olympus Tough TG-810
3)	Ricoh GX200 
4)	The food pictures and two of the five videos you see posted on this thread were taken with the girlfriends Samsung Note 2

I want to thank everyone who stopped by and made a comment. It made the thread that much more interesting and helped move it along.

One last video I took while doing a zip-line.

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## ossierob

Thanks SL for a wonderful thread.  It does look like a place to enjoy.What you call a zipline we call a flying fox in Australia. Very enjoyable holiday you chose as reflected by the wonderful pics.  When I went fishing with my son in law a while ago off Mackay in Queensland we got very close to the Humpbacks and calves too as they come to the Whitsunday Islands to calve.

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## Norton

> I want to thank everyone who stopped by and made a comment.


Thanks to you. Brought back long gone memories. 50+ years ago I spent all the time I could on the Pacific coast of Mexico and Baja. Much more developed now but they have done a good job of not over doing it.

Nothing near the posh digs you stayed in. A tent, sleeping bag and scuba gear packed into a 1961 Corvair was it.  :Smile:

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## chitown

These kind of threads are what made TD great.

It is refreshing amongst the new over-moderation and escort banners.

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## S Landreth

> What you call a zipline we call a flying fox in Australia.


I do enjoy zip-lines (Flying Fox) but I am overly concerned about cables and anchors when I visit a new zip-line. I worked with more than a few draglines and purchased more than enough wire rope in my lifetime to want to think about those invoices again. I've seen too many breaks because of improper care or wear, so I go looking for broken wire, kinks, crimped wire, uneven wear or rust. If after the first couple of runs I don't find any faults I feel a bit safer dangling 200 feet above the ground.  :Smile: 




> When I went fishing with my son in law a while ago off Mackay in Queensland we got very close to the Humpbacks and calves too as they come to the Whitsunday Islands to calve.


They are remarkable creatures and we are looking forward to visiting Mexico again for more whale watching but maybe in January next time.




> Brought back long gone memories. 50+ years ago I spent all the time I could on the Pacific coast of Mexico and Baja. Much more developed now but they have done a good job of not over doing it.
> 
> Nothing near the posh digs you stayed in. A tent, sleeping bag and scuba gear packed into a 1961 Corvair was it.





Tents and camping out along the coast. You can still do that there. While in San Pancho last Sunday we noticed two sections of the beach reserved for campers. They had water, electricity and the weather that time of year is wonderful for camping.




> 1961 Corvair


Memories.........My stepfather would leave to play baseball on scheduled weeknights when I was a young kid and I would occasionally sneak out and ball-up on the floor behind one of the front seats in his Corvair, hoping I wasn't caught so I could attend (how could he not know I was there?). Early one  evening I snuck out and while balled up I noticed one foot was wet. I looked at the one foot and is was dripping with blood. Sharp Corvair vents got me. My stepfather was a little late getting to the game that evening and I made sure I had shoes on before pulling a stunt like that again.

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