MARLIN EXPEDITION

Arrival
You will be greeted by your guide at the airport. Transfer to San Carlos town (5h 30 min from Cabo or 3h from La Paz). Your guide will help you check in at the hotel. Then have an expedition briefing and dinner. Get ready for the next day!

Water Days – Marlin Expedition
Wake up early, have breakfast and get ready to have the adventure of your life! Once in the boat, you will make your way to the open ocean, where the magic happens. The captain and guide will be actively looking for action. Once they determine that there is a good bait ball to swim with, you will hop in the water and watch the amazing hunt. Days are usually 8-10 hours. Come back to shore just before sunset, rest, have dinner and repeat!

Departure
Have breakfast and get ready for group departure back to airport.

Magdalena Bay is located on the Pacific side of the Baja California Peninsula. The diversity of marine and coastal habitats of this area creates unique conditions that makes this place a hotspot for biodiversity.

It all starts with the little beings. The high content of plankton and oceanographic conditions attract sardine baitballs into the area of Magdalena Bay. During the months of October to December, the Striped Marlins take advantage of this aggregation and hunt the sardines, along with other predators like sea lions.

During our stay we have the option of staying in the small town of San Carlos, or go to an established camp in Magdalena Island, you choose!

For the marlin expedition, we’ll pick you up at the airport and drive for 3-5 hours (depending on airport) to San Carlos, where we will be staying and having dinner the first night. A briefing about good practices, marlin behavior & biology, and safety will take place after dinner. The next days we’ll be waking up early and going offshore for 8 hours every day, sometimes even longer. We look for frigate birds who feed on the sardines to localize the baitballs, and we also use the radio to communicate with other captains to find the action.
Once we find the baitballs, we find the marlins and the action begins. You’ll hop in the water with your expert guide and enjoy being on first row for one of the most spectacular feeding events on Earth. Most of the action happens between the surface and 10 m, so you can snorkel and/or freedive to watch.

October to December

• Transportation for all planned activities and group airport pick up/drop off
• 5 nights accommodation (double occupancy). Private room: extra $10,000 mxn
• 4 full boat days on the open ocean looking for bait balls, marlins and other marine wildlife.
• Experienced captain and wildlife guide
• Breakfast
• Lunch, snacks and beverages on the boat
• Freefall Academy gift
• Photos and videos taken during the expedition

For our group expeditions we do 4 water days.
For private expeditions it can be any amount. We recommend having a minimum of 3 water days for higher probability of quality wildlife encounters. However, our favorite number of water days is 4 to 6. Email us to let us know how many days and how many people, and we’ll send you a quote.

Water temperature: 22-29ºC (71-85 F)
Visibility: 15-30m (49-100 ft)
Air temperature: 16-27°C (60-80 F)

Medium to high. We have long days offshore, sometimes with wind and waves. Baitballs can be dynamic, meaning they can move fast. We try to find static baitballs where activity level is lower, however it is not always the case. Dynamic baitballs will require jumping in and our of the water multiple times a day and active swimming in the open ocean.

Most of the action is from the surface to 10m, so there is no need for scuba or freediving certification. However it is a requirement to know how to swim and be comfortable with long days on the boat.

The most common are sardine or mackerel baitballs, striped marlin, sea lions, dolphins, turtles, skipjack tuna and sea birds (pelicans, frigate birds, cormorants, seagulls).
End of November to December we see humpback whales more often.
We occasionally see bryde’s whale feeding on baitball, mobulas and coyotes.
More rare sightings are orcas, sailfish, wahoo, dorado (mahi mahi), blue whale and tuna.
2023 was a rare year with lots of mahi mahi and less marlin than usual, as well as more frequent bryde’s whale feeding on baitballs and even a few humpbacks feeding on a few rare occasions! Wildlife is unpredictable and the surprise is part of the magic of wildlife encounters offshore!

You can fly to La Paz airport (3 hour drive to San Carlos) or San José del Cabo airport (5 hour drive to San Carlos).

Here’s a list to help you pack your essentials:

• Good quality mask and snorkel
• Wetsuit (We recommend 3mm, check weather conditions for more details)
• Freediving fins (scuba won’t work, we’ll be swimming fast!)
• Sun protection (reef safe sunscreen, sunglasses, hat, buff)
• Towel (microfiber is best) or
• A poncho towel is awesome to change into your clothes on our ride back to shore
• Reusable water bottle
• Cash (some places don’t accept card, for tips too)
• Casual clothes
• Clothes for winter (it gets chilly in the early morning and afternoon): socks, long pants, long sleeve shirt, sweater, windbreaker

We can provide you with rental gear, but in an expedition like this there is nothing like having your personal snorkel gear that fits you perfect!