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Home > Diving Trips > Whale Sharks In La Paz
Please note – the tour is available from October/November till April depending on local conditions and permits.
Get on board – we’re going snorkeling with whale sharks!
Join us for a magical day, where you’ll experience the most magical adventures of Cabo San Lucas: swimming with the biggest creature of the ocean and playing with the curious sea lions at the sea lions colony.
A once in a lifetime experience, one that you’ll tell your grandchildren about.
The bay of La Paz offers one of the most exciting experiences and the biggest draw Baja California has to offer: swimming with whale sharks in their natural habitat.
Protected by La Paz Bay’s shallow, Plankton-rich water, they allow us to watch them in their full glory.
The first thing you must know about this trip is that it’s completely safe.
Whale sharks are a classic case of “don’t judge a book by its cover”: they are actually gentle, docile, and slow-moving creatures who are not dangerous to humans, and it’s completely safe to swim next to them.
Moreover, you’ll be guided by one of Manta’s PADI professionals, and all safety precautions will be taken.
The trip is not limited to the La Paz Whale Sharks; we will also visit to the San Rafaelito Sea Lion colony to watch the Brown California Sea Lions.
The Sea Lions love to play and explore; their curious character bursts once they see the bright fins and snorkels.
You can often find the pups pulling at your fins, eager to play, showing off, and turning circles around us.
If lucky, we can spot a pack of dolphins or humpback whales.
Due to local regulations and to ensure the shark’s and sea lion’s protection, we do only snorkeling next to them. In this area, these animals like to stay very close to the surface, which makes it easier to observe them this way.
This trip is perfect for everyone: lone explorers, couples and families, professionals, and first-time divers, all can enjoy the whale sharks la Paz experience. Even non-divers would enjoy the great views of the unique fish and marine animals.
La Paz Whale Shark season starts around fall (October-November) and continues until the last day of April, so this trip operates in these months only and requires advance confirmation from us.
Shape up; it’s gonna be a long day, packed with great adventures and memorable sites.
Our day will start with introducing Manta’s professional PADI instructors at the Manta diving facility in the marina.
The 2-hour drive to La Paz will be taken in a comfortable, air-conditioned van, where you’ll get to see the dramatic landscape of the Sur desert of Baja California.
Upon arriving at La Paz, we’ll hop on the boat and head to the park office check-in area, about 20 minutes from the harbor. Then, we will head to the sea lion colony or whale shark area and do our first snorkeling activity.
There are few safety and communication instructions, and we get into the water.
La Paz – the perfect place to spot whale sharks, 2 hours from Cabo San Lucas
La Paz is the state capital and the biggest city of Baja California.
It’s located on a beautiful bay by the sea of Cortez, about 2 hours drive from Cabo San Lucas.
The bay is globally known for its rich pelagic habitat, home to over 800 marine species.
During the Fall, the bay’s warm water is packed with plankton, krill, and other small invertebrates.
These small creatures attract the oceans’ biggest sea creatures – the whale sharks, who love to feast on Plankton and Krill.
Since whale sharks are friendly creatures that swim close to shore, La Paz Bay offers a great opportunity to watch and even swim beside them.
“La Paz Whale Shark Snorkel Tour – AMAZING!!!!!”
The whale shark snorkel tour was so INCREDIBLE!!!!!!! An experience of a lifetime, and something I will never forget.
It is something that I definitely want to do and plan on doing again!!!
During out tour we saw many different juvenile whale shark, mini manta rays, and other types of fish.
The day before our tour they even saw dolphins.
We saw dolphins and humpbacks on the car ride to La Paz which was also very cool!
My husband and I got married a month before our trip, we had decided on coming to Cabo specifically to go snorkel with La Paz whale sharks, we had missed whale shark season by a month the last year when we were in Cabo.
After checking out some different tour companies I decided to go with Manta because they had such great reviews, I was very impressed by their website and the quickness in which they responded to my questions and helped me with the reservations.
I had been in touch with them prior to Hurricane Odile, and even afterwards they were still fast to communicate with me and even let me know the dates my hotel was opening! Such great customer service.
The tour itself was so much fun, my husband and I both loved our guides. They were super friendly, knowledgeable, fun to be around and they always made sure we were safe as well as the animals.
At one point my husband was not able to see the whale sharks because they kept swimming away or there were other people from our group in the way, so the guides pulled him in the water separate from the group to make sure he was able to get a good look.
That was so awesome because I have been on other wildlife tours where it is a free for all, so having the guides to make sure everyone gets a good look was so awesome.
The tour consisted of us meeting at the dive shop early in the morning, driving to La Paz, taking a boat to the shark feeding area followed by lunch and transport home.
The lunch and transportation was all included with the tour, and we went to a local restaurant in La Paz that was very delicious.
On the way home, the driver and one of our guides even let us stop in Todos Santos to check out the Hotel California, I was so happy they did that for us. Some things to consider if you are interested in this tour are:
1. Bring extra cash to tip the boat drivers and the shuttle driver, these are the guys who get you to where you need to be, and the boat drivers are the ones who help spot the sharks and guide you while you are in the water.
2. Bring comfortable clothes to change into and things to swim in, also bring any kind of underwater camera and a waterproof bag.
The boats are small and everything on board gets wet! 3. You will be in the water with very large animals, if being around fish or in water makes you uncomfortable this might not be the best option for you. 4. The whale sharks come to this area to feed on small krill and fish, which you will be swimming in (the whale sharks won’t eat or bite you, they are baleen sharks) but if you are bothered by being surrounded by tiny critters take this into consideration.
When we were in the water we could feel all the krill and some tiny jellyfish on our skin, they don’t hurt or cause any kind of discomfort, but you can certainly tell they are there. Some might even end up in your swimsuit or rash guard. 5.
If you are going to wear sunscreen I highly suggest getting some reef friendly, biodegradable or ocean friendly sunscreen since you will be in the water with animals and some of the chemicals in most sunscreens can be harmful to marine life.