SEMARNAT Sets 2014-2015 Whale Watching Season

banderasnews.com

El Sol de Nayarit
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October 21, 2014

Pacific Humpback Whales migrate from their summer feeding grounds off the coast of Alaska to the warmer waters of Puerto Vallarta every year between December and March. (Larry Bennett Photography)

Nayarit, Mexico - The Mexican Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT) recently announced the 2014-2015 whale watching season in the Pacific Ocean.

The notice indicates that in Baja California whale watching activities may be carried out in Bahia de Todos Santos and Ensenada from December 15, 2014 to May 15, 2015.

In Baja California Sur, whale watching season in Puerto Adolfo Lopez Mateos and Puerto San Carlos, Magdalena Bay, Bahía Santa María and Isla Magdalena in the municipality of Comondú; as well as Puerto Chale and Magdalena Bay in La Paz, will be from January 1 to April 30, 2015.

Whale watching season is open at the Loreto Bay National Park in the municipality of the same name from January 1 to May 30, and from December 15 to April 30 in the Reserva de la Biosfera el Vizcaíno, Laguna Ojo de Liebre, Laguna de San Ignacio and Punta Eugenia.

These activities may be carried out in Los Cabos at the Área de Protección de Flora y Fauna Cabo San Lucas, Cabo Pulmo National Park, Los Frailes-Cabo Pulmo and San Jose del Cabo from December 15, 2014 to April 15, 2015.

The notice, published in the Diario Oficial de la Federación on September 29, says that areas for observation in Nayarit are Compostela (Rincon de Guayabitos) and San Blas-Isla Isabel, and that whale watching season in these areas is from December 8, 2014 to March 23, 2015.

The same period is indicated for Banderas Bay, with two restricted areas due to the concentration of whales with calves: a 1.5 mile radius around the Marietas Islands and the two mile wide coastal strip from Punta Mita to the mouth of the Ameca River.

In Tenacatita Bay, Jalisco, you can observe whales from December 8, 2014 to March 23, 2015, while in the Mazatlan-Teacapan zone of Sinaloa you can take a whale watching tour from December 15, 2014 to April 15, 2015.

Original article translated and edited by María Francesca for BanderasNews.com.

The Gator Boys of Animal Planet Tape Shows in Mazatlán

by Maureen Dietrich on 17 Oct 13
mazmessenger.com

Paul Bedard and Jimmy Riffle, the Gator Boys, are in town this week to tape shows involving the rescue of crocodiles and snakes in various locations in the city and surrounding rural areas.

The production crew, under the direction of part-time Mazatlán resident Erick Streit, will spend ten days filming crocodile rescues off El Delfin beach, swimming with sharks at the aquarium, capturing on tape the cliff divers, oyster divers, golf at Estrella del Mar and a visit with the “shrimp ladies” on Av. Aquiles Serdan.

At a meeting with the crew, Sinaloa Secretary of Tourism Francisco Córdova Celaya presented them with an acknowledgement appointing them “Tourist Ambassadors of Mazatlán.”

(from Noroeste)