Mexico's 2026-27 whale-watching season adds Michoacán and La Ventana, and opens later in Ensenada

Mexico's environment ministry, Semarnat, has fixed the 2026-27 whale-watching calendar in a notice signed October 22 and published in the federal gazette on October 30. The earliest areas open December 8, and the last one closes May 15, 2027. Compared with last season's, this notice adds a stretch of the Michoacán coast and the waters off El Sargento and La Ventana in Baja California Sur, and it delays the start in Ensenada by 17 days.

By our count, the list goes from 20 areas in eight states to 23 in nine, one of the extra three from listing two Baja California Sur ports separately.

What changed from last season

• Michoacán is new: the coast from Barra de Nexpa to Playa Jardín, in the municipality of Lázaro Cárdenas.
• El Sargento and La Ventana are new: 110,906 hectares, reaching 10 nautical miles beyond Isla Jacques Cousteau, also called Isla Cerralvo.
• Ensenada opens January 1 instead of December 15, and navigation is now limited inside a mapped polygon because of females with calves.

Where boats can't go, and the rules on board

Restricted zones include 2 kilometers around the Arch at Cabo San Lucas, 1.5 kilometers around the Islas Marietas, the first 5 kilometers near Isla Lobos, and the bays of Acapulco and Puerto Marqués.

The notice says the activity must keep to the permits issued and to the federal standard NOM-131-SEMARNAT-2010. That standard requires ministry authorization and a passenger briefing on every trip. It allows at most four boats around a whale or group, for at most 30 minutes. Boats under 10 meters keep at least 60 meters away and larger ones 80 meters, rising to 100 and 120 meters for blue and fin whales. Swimming, diving, fishing and feeding the whales are barred, and jet skis and kayaks are ruled out as viewing craft.

The notice gives places, dates and restricted zones, but not species by area, trip prices or which operators hold permits.

What UK travel advice says

The UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), in advice updated October 20 and still current on November 6, says: "FCDO advises against all but essential travel to the state of Michoacán, except the:" city of Morelia and town of Pátzcuaro on the routes it names, boat trips to islands on Lake Pátzcuaro, and Federal Highway 15D. It doesn't name Lázaro Cárdenas, so by our reading the warning covers the new area.

For Guerrero, it says: "FCDO advises against all but essential travel to the state of Guerrero, except the town of Zihuatanejo/Ixtapa accessed by air." Of Acapulco, it adds: "FCDO advises against all but essential travel to the city of Acapulco." For Baja California, it says: "Violent robberies are a particular issue in the urban centres of Tijuana, Mexicali and Ensenada."

For Sinaloa, it says: "FCDO advises against all but essential travel to the state of Sinaloa, except:" among others, "the cities of Los Mochis and Mazatlán" and "the 15D federal toll road that runs the length of the state." The notice's area also covers the municipalities of Rosario and Escuinapa, which the FCDO doesn't name, so by our reading the warning covers them, apart from that road.

These lines don't cover every state on the calendar, and that doesn't make the others free of risk. The FCDO says: "No travel can be guaranteed safe. Read all the advice in this guide." It adds: "Your travel insurance could be invalidated if you travel against advice from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO)."