What would be a perfect ending to our week of surf, sand and sun with 18 family members in Puerto Vallarta? The "18" is no exaggeration as my husband Rick and I rounded up our five sons and their families for a Mexican Christmas.
With ages ranging from our youngest grandchild at seven to me at 68, we puzzle over a grand finale to suit all.
Our Royal Decameron Resort's Christmas Eve feast of seafood medleys, exquisite risottos, beef medallions, fine wine and decadent tiramisu leaves us feeling rotund as Santa. It's time to pass out our bright red mini-stockings containing vouchers for a close encounter of an exceptional kind - a private charter to see mighty humpback whales and to snorkel the reefs of Marieta Islands. Cheers drown out the Mariachi band! Stuffed into vans on the designated day, we are transported to the dock and board a boat with both motor and sail, and a canopied-centre for reprieves from Old Sol. Our expert guide Kimi has us in stitches with his humorous quips, while our captain steers out into the vastness of cobalt blue.
Before long playful dolphins skim alongside, leaping in pairs or disappearing under our boat and bopping up on the opposite side.
An hour out we see a half-dozen whale watching rigs in the distance, but our captain, who Kimi swears "has a sixth sense," veers to the right of this ring of boats. We wait and watch as Kimi fills us in on some humpback behaviour.
"After their long annual migration starting near Alaska, the whales arrive in Banderas Bay in late fall to mate and give birth to calves."
A gigantic dark form suddenly passes under the sea's surface about fourboat-lengths away.... then another. Further out there's a startling "whoosh." All eyes are glued to a humpback rising and expelling air and water from its blowhole with fire-hose intensity.
Its gleaming black eye the size of a dinner plate checks us out. The mighty body swells upward, showing off its school-bus size, then rounds down head first, ending with a thunderous slap with its tail. Squeals of glee from our grandchildren express the thrill we all feel.
"This one's a male as his tail is jagged from fights with other males for female attention," says Kimi.
"Breaching is thought to be linked to mating rituals, while other biologists claim it's simply for joy - hmmm, is that not the same thing?" Our mood is in the stratosphere as this 40-ton acrobat fades into the waves.
It is on then to the Marieta Islands where sizable waves thrash the grey volcanic rock. The small motorboat being towed behind our vessel is brought portside, bobbing haphazardly as we board in our snorkel gear.
Kimi doles out instructions as our boat putters towards an island with a sizable arch, which we will snorkel through to a hidden beach. My breath catches as I slip into the sea, but within moments I'm oblivious to the cold in this world of dazzling coral and schools of neon fishes.
Back on board we swap notes on our exhilarating experience. Cozied up with the mellow sun on our faces, I feel a wee bit envious of the humpbacks that have another few months here before migrating north, while we are all northbound tomorrow, some to the frigid Canadian prairies, and others, including Rick and myself, to B.C.'s winter rains.
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