In shortBook the first departure of the morning. The official Los Cabos tourism board says early tours bring calmer seas. Then pick a boat you can cope with for 2 or 2.5 hours: a shaded catamaran or a small-group boat with a restroom beats an open inflatable. Sleep a full night, eat something plain, skip the alcohol, stay out on deck, keep the horizon in view and your head still.
3.9 m/smean winter wind at 10 m
60 to 80 mdistance held off a whale
2 to 2.5 hourstime on the water
Ages 7 to 12peak susceptibility, per CDC
The calmest time of day for boat trips in Cabo is early
Take the first slot of the morning. For a stomach you do not trust, the part of the official Los Cabos tourism board's advice that matters is the flat water on the earliest boats; the softer light at that hour is a side benefit, and the board saves its line about the best light for the sunset trips, which go out at the roughest time of day. Operators at the marina run several departures a day and at least one office opens at 07:00, so the early boat is there to be booked.
Wind at the cape is light by the standards of the rest of the year. Mean speed at 10 metres sits near 3.9 m/s through December, January and February, climbing to 4.1 m/s in March and 4.3 m/s in April, always out of the north-northwest, with winter peaks of roughly 10 to 12 m/s on the worst days. No official source publishes a sea-state pattern by hour for Cabo San Lucas, so the board's advice stands as the local rule of thumb. Ask the crew about conditions when you check in, and ask again if the forecast has moved overnight.
Keep the afternoon as your spare slot rather than your main trip. If you want the late light, take the 2-hour sunset format, and only if boats do not usually trouble you, because by then the day's breeze has had hours to build.
Boat size and format change how much motion you feel
Two formats dominate at the cape. The rigid inflatable speedboat runs 2 to 2.5 hours, carries hydrophones and has no restroom on board; the catamaran runs 2.5 hours, with shade and food and drink served. The inflatable sits lower, takes more spray and answers every wave, and there is nowhere on it to get out of the weather.
Speed stops being the problem once you are inside the observation area. Boats work at under 5 knots there and about 2 knots on entry, and a permitted vessel holds 60 metres off a humpback if it is under 10 metres long, 80 metres if it is medium or large. So you spend long stretches sitting almost still in whatever swell is running, engine in neutral, while the crew watches the surface. Slow movement at an awkward angle is what most people find hardest.
A wider boat with a flat deck gives you room to stand with your feet apart, something solid to brace against, shade when the glare starts to get to you, and a restroom if the listing mentions one. Pay the difference if you are at all unsure.
The 2.5-hour small-group boat with a restroom
A restroom and a deck you can move around on make more difference than anything else on the listing. This 2.5-hour small-group trip from $109, rated 4.9 ★ (1256 reviews), has both, plus a hydrophone and the guide's photos at no extra charge.
★ 4.9/5 · 1,256 reviews
What to do the day before and the morning of
Sleep is the cheapest protection you have. The CDC notes that sleep deprivation makes motion sickness worse, which is one reason a boat trip is a poor plan for the morning after a late landing at Los Cabos airport. The same guidance calls habituation the most effective countermeasure of all, more effective than any medication, so if your trip includes more than one day on the water, put the shorter and calmer outing first and let your body learn on that one.
Eat, but keep it small and plain. An empty stomach helps nobody and a greasy hotel buffet breakfast is worse. Drink water from the time you wake up and carry some aboard: the small-group boat no longer provides single-use plastic bottles, so bring a refillable one. The sunset cruise includes bottled water.
Alcohol and smoking both increase motion sickness, according to the CDC. The catamaran includes alcoholic beverages and the sunset cruise includes beer. Leave both until the boat has turned for home.
- Sleep a full night before the boat day; do the 23-mile airport transfer on an earlier evening
- Eat something plain an hour or two before check-in
- Carry water and start drinking it before you leave the hotel
- Skip alcohol and cigarettes before boarding and during the outward leg
- Bring something with a pleasant smell: the CDC lists pleasant scents, music and fresh air on the face as helpful, and heightened sensitivity to odour is itself an early symptom
- Take your remedy of choice on the schedule its packaging gives, which for most products means before you board rather than once you feel unwell
Where to sit and what to look at on board
Stay amidships and stay outside. The CDC advises avoiding the areas of maximum motion, naming a ship's bow in particular, and aligning your posture with the motion of the vessel. On a small boat that means a seat near the middle, feet planted and knees loose, letting your body move with the hull instead of bracing against every drop. On the catamaran, take a spot on deck with an open view across the water rather than an inside seat where there is nothing to look at but the cabin, and stay there once you have found it.
A visual horizon reference gives some protection against motion sickness, on ships and in simulators alike. Fix your eyes on the line where the sea meets the sky and keep them there between sightings. Slow breathing through the nose, with the breeze on your face, costs nothing.
Head movements make things worse, and the CDC puts reading and visual scanning on the same list of things to avoid. That is awkward on a whale trip, where scanning is the activity, so hand the job over. Let the crew and the other passengers call the blows, which are bushy and 10 to 16 feet high and easy to spot once someone points. Put the phone away between surfacings, leave the binoculars in the room, and do not go below to dig through a camera bag.
When to pay for the bigger shaded boat on a Cabo whale trip
Choose the larger boat with shade and a restroom if any of this applies to you or anyone with you: you have been sick on a boat before, you are travelling with a child in the seven to twelve band where susceptibility peaks, you need to sit down for most of the trip, or the thought of 2 hours with nowhere to go bothers you more than the extra cost does. The small-group biologist trip is the one on this site that lists a restroom on board, and it carries a hydrophone as well, which under Mexican rules is the only reason a crew may switch the engine off while a whale sings.
Take the question of remedies to a pharmacist. Bands, tablets, patches and ginger products are sold in Mexico and at home; read the instructions, note that many have to be taken well before departure, and ask a pharmacist or your doctor which one suits you, particularly if you already take other medication. This page gives no dosages and no medical advice.
Check the restrictions before you pay if anyone is pregnant or has a health condition. One licensed Zodiac operator at the cape publishes a minimum age of five and keeps pregnant guests and people with heart, back or neck problems off its fast-boat trip; small high-speed boats commonly carry conditions of that kind. The shaded catamaran format is the realistic alternative, so read the listing before you book.
| Tour | Duration | From | Rating | Why it suits a delicate stomach |
|---|
| Small-Group Whale Watch with Marine Biologist in Cabo San Lucas | 2.5 hours | $109 | 4.9 ★ (1256 reviews) | Restroom on board, small group, hydrophone; no single-use plastic bottles, so bring water |
|---|
| Cabo San Lucas Luxury Catamaran Whale Watching | 2.5 hours | $129 | 4.9 ★ (2294 reviews) | Catamaran deck with room to stand, snacks included, hydrophone on board |
|---|
| Sunset Whale Cruise in Cabo San Lucas | 2 hours | $109 | 4.6 ★ (47 reviews) | Shortest time on the water of the three, biologist guide, late light instead of the calmest water |
|---|
Questions people ask
Can I leave the boat early if seasickness turns out to be too much?
Plan on staying aboard for the whole trip. These departures run 2 or 2.5 hours and the boat works through the authorized area before returning to the marina, with no stop in between. Pick the format with shade and a restroom and you will have somewhere to sit it out.
Are children more likely to be seasick than adults?
The CDC reports that susceptibility is highest between the ages of seven and twelve, then falls away through adult life, and that children under two generally feel nothing at all. Surveys also report women as somewhat more susceptible than men, although the age effect is much the larger of the two. With a child in that band, take the morning slot and the boat with a restroom.
Does a remedy work better than any of this?
The CDC is explicit that habituation, meaning repeated exposure to the motion, is the most effective countermeasure, more effective than any medication, although it builds slowly. Use a remedy if you want one, following its own instructions and a pharmacist's or doctor's advice. Keep doing the practical things as well: book the early departure, keep the horizon in view, hold your head still and leave the alcohol alone.
Is the open bar on board a problem?
Alcohol increases motion sickness, as does smoking, which is why both sit on the CDC's list of things to avoid. The catamaran includes alcoholic beverages and snacks and the sunset cruise includes beer, so the drinks are there when you want them. Wait until the whale watching is over and the boat is heading in.
Should I book the boat on my first morning in Los Cabos?
Not if you land late or fly overnight, because the CDC notes that lack of sleep makes symptoms worse. Rest a night first, then take an early departure. Booking in the first half of your stay still makes sense for another reason: it leaves you a second chance if the trip is moved.
Read also
