When we first visited Puerto Chale, we asked if it might be okay to park our RV and car in their dirt parking lot the night before our whale tour. They said yes, but the first time we went back we only drove our conspicuous car with the kayaks and bikes on top. This time we showed up on a quiet Sunday in our entire rig. That was the day before we “met” the mischievous whale.

We arrived in the late afternoon and Hector went to talk to the guys at the dock. Fortunately, he found Omar, whom we’d met previously and confirmed where we could park and not be in the way as the shoreline is busy with fishing boats. They also confirmed a tour for Monday morning.

Puerto Chale is a modest little fishing village. Although the road into town is in perfect shape, the town itself has all dirt roads. This is the first year that it is an “official” whale watching destination. In prior years this was a secret spot that folks in the know could get a ride out to see the whales with one of the fishermen.

There isn’t any real infrastructure. They’ve installed a pontoon dock for the people going on the whale tours. There are a couple of little open-air sheds and the patio of someone’s home nearby that serve food from limited menus. And a pit toilet that is just slightly larger than a Porta Potty with a permanent plastic enclosure.

We were told that this coming summer the government was going to build additional infrastructure to support the whale watching season next year.  I suspect Puerto Chale is in for some big changes.

Immediately upon our arrival a young boy named Brandon came up to ask Hector about the kayaks on our car. He seemed fascinated by our setup and Hector chatted with him for a little while. He had remembered us from when we were there a few weeks before.

We had not had lunch yet so we walked over to a little shed that’s by the water to get a bite. We bought a couple of cups of scallop cocktail, the local scallops that are really little, they were nice and fresh. The ladies there were super friendly, we’d forgotten our money in the RV, and they told us to just pay them later.

It was really windy and they only had a bench and a few outdoor chairs so we brought our cocktails inside to eat them. We had parked Island Time sideways to the shore with a nice view of the inlet.

We took a walk along the shoreline and I went back to the rig while Hector continued walking around and taking photos. Now Brandon was with two other boys.  I saw them following him around and making conversation. It was super cute. He told me he had asked the kids about school, and the older one, about high school age said he wasn’t in school because he had begun fishing.

A little while later I looked up and saw Brandon smiling at me from the front of the coach. I waved and he waved back. I went back to my writing, looked up and he was still looking at me and smiling. I told Hector “I think they want to see the inside of the coach”.

But I wanted to be cautious because some parents might not like their kids walking into a stranger’s RV. So I opened the door and told them they could peek inside but left the door open. Brandon, the most precocious of the kids, told us he thought the motorhome was really “clean”. This is a slang term that was new to us, lol. We found out that the other kids were Armando and Jose, the oldest one. They stayed on our steps a while and we chatted some more. Three very nice boys.

After they left, I watched Brandon riding his bicycle while the others walked alongside him. There is no cell signal here, and it doesn’t seem like they do much social media. The scene reminded me of simpler times.

That evening Hector was getting ready to make steaks on the barbecue. But I’d seen several stray and loose dogs walking around and I told him barbecuing might bring a whole group of them. So he opted to cook inside and we watched a beautiful sunset from the RV.

In the morning, we set out with Omar. It was Monday morning and we were the only ones in the only boat. Right as we pulled out we cruised by a huge group of marbled godwits on shore. It was a beautiful sight with the soft early morning light.

As we continued, we saw many blows all around. There were lots of whales! But Omar suggested we cruise to another area to see some birds first. The tide was due to change in a short while and he said that the whales would be more active at that time.

We learned some other facts from Omar. The lagoon we were in was actually Bahia Almejas (Clam Lagoon) which is on the Southern end of and adjacent to Bahia Magdalena. The fishermen we’d seen were going clamming.

They also dive for scallops. He took us closer to Isla Catarina across from Puerto Chale to a spot where lots of pelicans, cormorants and other birds gather. It turns out he has been out on this water for 20+ years, fishing and leading whale watching tours. A very, very knowledgeable captain.

As we continued cruising around the lagoon, we spotted lots of whales. This time around they were not approaching the boat. But they were very active skyhopping all around us.

We spotted some babies, and one baby was skyhopping alongside its mother. Super cute.

Even though they weren’t coming near our boat, we were quite entertained watching all the whale activity. It wasn’t the prettiest day, but it was so peaceful to be surrounded by whales and have the place all to ourselves.

One whale breached right next to our boat, the closest we’ve seen a whale breach in all of our whale watching tours.

Finally, one whale started to approach us. Swimming near us for a while but not coming up to us.  Finally, she swam towards the boat. I was hoping that she would raise her head by the boat but she didn’t.

Instead, she turned around and quickly swished her tail back and forth then slapped her tail in the water right next to the boat, drenching us both as well as Hector’s cameras.

Fortunately, our GoPro was in the water and captured the moment. At this point we only have a still of when the tail went back in the water with the wave it caused just above but may be able to upload a video later.

Omar then told us that this particular whale is “traviesa” (mischievous) and has done things like pushing the boat sideways before. Wow! The mischievous whale is apparently well known. It was super interesting to find that the whales have different personalities.

Every wildlife encounter is different and that’s part of what we love.