Humpback Whales Can Be Seen in Costa Rica!

Traveling to Costa Rica’s South Pacific coast of Drake Bay and Corcovado National park  during the months of January through mid April?   Well, you might get lucky and see the humpback whales.  These giant whales migrate to these warm tropical waters from the colder polar waters.   They come here for one purpose and that is to breed.

Whales have always fascinated us humans.  Actually whales are mammals, like us.   But, they are marine mammals.   But like us, they  breathe air, give birth to their young, and the mother whale nurses her baby, sometimes sixteen pounds of milk per day!  Mother whale protects her baby, lets him swim by her side, his fins touching hers.

The mother whale carries the baby in her whale wound for twelve months.  The baby whale is born tail first and quickly swims to the surface of shallow waters, helped by the mother with her flippers, and learns to swim on its own.   Mother and child whale stay close for about one year. They touch their fins together, showing affection.

They migrate together some three thousand miles to the colder polar water where they eat.  While in the warmer tropical waters the mother lives off  her blubber and the baby off the mother’s milk.

But the whale must grow up and be on its own.  At around seven years he reaches puberty and adulthood at around fifteen years.  And can live to the ripe old age of fifty.

Humpback Whales are considered an endangered species.  We don’t think about this when we travel to remote areas such as the south Pacific of Costa Rica to see them

Man has polluted the whales habitat in the vast oceans!

1.Their habitat of the vast oceans have become polluted by run off from contaminated rivers.    These contaminants are land based from factories, agricultural, and urban.
2. Whales have  become trapped in hugh nets placed by man in the oceans.
3. Ozone depletion’s is especially harmful to the whale,  due to the increased levels of ultra violet B radiation which destroys their ocean’s food supply.  This is results of man burning  fossils like coal to produce the massive amounts of energy we consume.
4.Commercial whaling has been resumed.

How can I see these beautiful creatures in Costa Rica? You can travel to the South Pacific of Costa Rica in the months of January through mid April to perhaps Drake Bay or Corcovado National Park and hire a boat to take you out to see them.  There are many wilderness lodges in this areas which provide this service.  Look for the lodges on google.

Learn about Marino Ballena National Park in the Southern Pacific coast of Costa Rica where you can see humpback whales:  Click on:

https://costaricalearn.com/manage/whale-watching-in-costa-rica-marino-ballena-national-park

You can learn more about what you could do to help save these endangered creatures.  Go to www.savethewhales.org