How to Become a Whale Defender

The Baja Peninsula in Mexico is home to one-third of the world’s cetacean species, including gray whales, humpbacks and blue whales. But unregulated tourism and irresponsible fishing practices threaten these ocean titans.

“Our mammalian cousins need our help,” says Jay Clue, founder of Dive Ninja Expeditions, a PADI Five Star IDC Center in Cabo San Lucas and one of the authors of the PADI Whale Defender Distinctive Specialty. “Entanglement in fishing gear and boat strikes are just a couple of the problems.”

The Whale Defender course emerged from a whale-watching ecotourism experience Clue developed with marine scientists Mario A. Escalera and Maria (Maru) Laura Marcias. “Our goal was to transform tourists into citizen scientists and environmental observers who could identify and report threats to whales,” Clue says.

“After the tour, guests would ask how they could learn more about whale conservation. We realized you can take PADI conservation courses on whale sharks, coral and sea turtles, but not whales. There wasn’t a course about one of the greatest contributors to our ocean ecosystem!”

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Clue, a PADI Master Instructor, and the two marine scientists developed the course together. “Their expertise was essential in outlining the course, ensuring the facts were sound and finding ways to explain the science side of things to people who aren’t divers or don’t know much about the ocean,” Clue says.

The half-day course covers a wide range of information. It starts with a crash course on whale evolution and biology, then transitions to the intertwined history of humans and whales.

“Here in Baja, up in the mountains, there are cave paintings of whales from thousands of years ago,” Clue says. “They were meaningful to humans of that time, and they are important to this day. Some research has shown whales are a trillion-dollar asset to humanity because of how important they are to our ecosystem.”

After learning about current threats to whales and how humans can help protect them, students create a whale defender action plan—the final step to becoming a certified PADI Whale Defender.

Divers and nondivers of any age can enroll in the PADI Whale Defender Distinctive Specialty course. Clue and his partners created a “dry” course because swimming with whales is illegal in Mexico and many other whale hotspots around the world. “We also wanted this course to be accessible to as many people as possible,” Clue says.

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When to See Whales in Baja, Mexico

Depending on the season, visitors can join a whale-watching tour or expedition with the shop. “Humpback whale-watching tours run December 15 to April 15, but we often see them on surface intervals and hear them singing underwater from mid-November onward,” Clue says. “Gray whale season is from about late January until April, and blue whale season tends to be February and March. We usually see sperm whales transiting from August through September.”

The course is land-based and offered year-round, and participants can plan to get on the water for whale watching to round out the experience. Whale watching tours and expeditions run December through April to coincide with humpback, gray and blue whale migrations.

Beyond Baja

Dive Ninja Expeditions offers the course in other locations besides Mexico, including places where it is legal to swim with whales, such as Tonga and Dominica. “The course has inspired non-divers to participate in ocean conservation and even become passionate divers,” Clue says. “We’ve seen past students become a voice for whales after the course, which is more than we could have ever asked.”

For more information or to book the PADI Whale Defender Distinctive Specialty course, visit diveninjaexpeditions.com.

This column features unique scuba courses at PADI Dive Shops around the world. To recommend a course for this column, please email edit@padi.com.