Date
June 21-28, 2025
Duration:
8 days/7 nights
Vessel: Nautilus Gallant Lady
Package Cost:
$4195.00 USD per person – Superior Suite-Lower Deck
$4400.00 USD per person – Premium Suites-Main Deck
$4830.00 USD per person – Premium Suite (spacious; only 1 room)-Lower Deck
- Rooms configured as either 2 doubles or 1 quasi-king bed
- One lower deck, superior suite 2 twin beds only
- Price includes: 5% tax
Price Includes:
- 7 nights on the luxurious Nautilus Gallant Lady
- All meals and snacks
- Snorkeling from a comfortable 32-foot RHIB skiff boat
- Spotter support aircraft finding marine wildlife
- 3-4 dives
- Nautilus LifeLines, DiveAlerts, and SMB safety sausages
- Experienced guides
- Use of kayaks and paddle boards
- Presentations on marine life
- Travel with a marine biologist and travel/educational expert
- Photography advice and tips
- Private small group charter just for us, maximum 12 passengers
- Transfers from Seacreatures to La Paz and return transfers from La Paz to Seacreatures or SJD Airport on June 28, 2025
- Taxes
Price Excludes:
- International and domestic flights
- Dive Insurance
- Travel Insurance
- Nitrox
- Rental Gear
- Alcoholic beverages and “fancy” coffees
- Gratuities
- Port fee ($35.00 USD per person, paid on board)
- Hotels prior to or after liveaboard
- Transfers from the airport to Seacreatures on arrival day
Trip Details
Day 1
This adventure begins in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, meeting in the late afternoon at Seacreatures in downtown Cabo on embarkation day. After check-in and completing paperwork, we’ll hop onboard our transfer to La Paz, Mexico, to board the Gallant Lady with her friendly crew waiting for us with trays of margaritas and champagne! We’ll enjoy dinner, settle into cabins, and get ready for an action-packed week ahead.
Day 2-7
We’ll be out at sea for the week, searching for the best mobula ray and orca encounters. Finding marine wildlife is made easier with the support of a spotter airplane, the Citabria, a low-flying ultralight aircraft used for enhanced observation. Between the aircraft, our vessel, and the high-speed RHIB boat (skiff), the crew will have us in the water with some amazing encounters. While the focus is on mobulas and orcas, during these trips there can be other exciting encounters, including blue whales, humpback whales, whale sharks, cownose rays, dolphins, and more. Be prepared to expect the unexpected with marine wildlife in the Sea of Cortez. The general schedule is a morning out on the RHIB boat snorkeling with mobula rays and orcas. Back to the boat for lunch or rest, and back out for another round in the afternoon.
This trip is primarily a snorkeling and free diving trip, as this is the best way to observe the wildlife. We will have the opportunity for some diving (3–4 dives, possibly more); our focus is snorkeling and free diving. Additional activities include paddle boarding, kayaking, local area hikes, etc.
Day 8
Disembark after breakfast and begin our drive back to Seacreatures in Cabo or the Cabo San Lucas airport, SJD.
How to secure your spot
Please note that this trip has a limited number of spots. The following payments will be required:
- Deposit $800.00 USD per person
- Second payment due on September 1, 2024
- Final payment due on April 1, 2025
We will be in touch via email for your payment and trip details. We would recommend purchasing your flights into Los Cabos, Mexico (SJD), as soon as possible to secure reasonably priced flights. To book and check for available spaces, email us at: amanda@amandadelaforce.com
Entry Requirements
Most travelers to Mexico can enter the country under the following conditions:
- A valid passport with more than six months of validity (Mexican authorities require a passport to be valid for the duration of the stay in Mexico, but transit countries and airline companies may have other requirements).
- A properly completed Multiple Migratory Form (FMM). The FMM can be obtained from the airline or at the port of entry, but to expedite your registration at the border, you can now fill out and print it in advance at this link.
- Remember to keep the FMM in a safe place during your trip! You will be asked for it upon your departure from Mexico.
- The Immigration Authorities at the port of entry may request certain documents to prove the purpose of your visit, depending on the activity you will undertake in Mexico:
- Tourism: hotel reservation, itinerary, and return tickets (to home or another country)
Getting There
Arrival Airport
Los Cabos International Airport (SJD airport code)
Arrival Time
Please arrive no later than 3:30 p.m. at SJD airport on June 21, 2025.
Departure Time
Please book return flights after 1:00 p.m. on June 28, 2025.
From North America
Many airlines within North America fly into Los Cabos, Mexico. The airport code is SJD. Please plan to arrive no later than early afternoon on June 21, 2025.
From Australia
For most, the first international port of entry will be the United States. The closest US airports are Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) or San Francisco International Airport (SFO). Everyone flying to the US must clear immigration and customs, even if you are continuing onward to Mexico. There is currently no option to stay in transit in the US. If you have a connecting flight, you’ll drop your luggage at baggage re-check or at the ticket counters and head back through security to your connecting flight to Cabo San Lucas (SJD) airport. You might consider a layover in California prior to continuing down to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Please plan to arrive no later than the early afternoon of June 21, 2025.
From Europe
For most, traveling via the US and onward to Mexico will be the most efficient way to get to Cabo San Lucas. Alternatively, flights to Mexico City (MEX) and onward to Cabo San Lucas (SJD).
Group Leaders
Amanda Delaforce and Kim Randall. Both with a wealth of travel and underwater experience. Kim is located in the States. Amanda is located in Australia. They met on a trip in the Maldives and have been passionate about diving, marine encounters and photography ever since. This is a new trip and they look forward to sharing this unforgettable experience with you. Please refer to the testimonials page for comments on other marine expedition trips.
Amanda is a marine biologist and wildlife ecologist having worked across both NSW and QLD Marine Parks (Australia) over the last 20 years. Amanda has previously been involved in various humpback whale research projects along the East Australian Coast including Eden, Port Stephens, Sunshine Coast and Hervey Bay.
Amanda has been taking guests diving and swimming with marine species including humpback whales, manta rays, whale sharks, dolphins and reef and oceanic sharks while also viewing amazing coral communities and fish in stunning and remote locations. Amanda can provide a wealth of information on the humpback and blue whales while out on the zodiac day expeditions. She holds her coxswains certificate and has been a divemaster for over 23 years.
She works closely with marine conservation and citizen science groups such as Manta Project Australia, Project Manta Maldives, Grey Nurse Shark Watch Australia and Whale Shark Researchers in the Maldives.
Amanda is a passionate underwater marine and wildlife photographer; countless dives and ocean encounters means she knows where to look for inspiration. She has a genuine love and admiration for animals she encounters which are reflected in the experiences she shares with others.
This is her first trip to this amazing location and has been a dream trip for many years. I hope you are as excited as she is to take you on this unforgettable journey. Follow her on Instagram, check out her photography and shop page on her website.
Kim Randall, a native Californian and an avid traveler, discovered her love of the ocean and marine life at an early age, by pleading with her parents to send her to a sailing and diving summer camp. It was here she became certified to scuba dive. While she was always active and into playing sports as a child and young adult, she developed knee issues which prevented her full involvement in them. Scuba diving and water related non weight bearing activities changed all of that!
Kim went on to pursue a career in education, and became a global educational technology consultant. She works with professional learning organizations including Designed for Learning, Discovery Education, Nearpod, and the Krause Center for Innovation, providing relevant and engaging training centered around effective use and pedagogy of educational technologies in the classroom.
When she wasn’t consulting and working with educators, she was (and still is) found planning dive trips around the world. In 2009 she joined the team producing the tv series “Into the Drink”, a diving and travel show filming on location in incredible diving destinations around the world. Kim traveled with the crew and guests on many of the trips, supporting with underwater photography and guest relations. Her love of diving, marine life, underwater photography, and traveling across the globe continued to flourish with this incredible experience. It was through mutual friends filming on one of the boats, that Kim and Amanda became friends, dive buddies, and shared a passion for photography.
With her love of travel, trip planning and diving, she organically loved Google Earth & Maps when they launched in 2005 and became an avid user of both tools. Fast forward to 2018, She co-authored a book geared towards educators called Bring the World to Your Classroom: Using Google Geo Tools. Kim has been an elementary and middle school teacher as well as a technology integration specialist and holds a California Multiple Subject teaching credential. She is based in the San Francisco Bay Area but often found in her spare time traveling to new places near and far, scuba diving, and dabbling with topside and underwater photography. This is her first trip to Antarctica and the only remaining continent she hasn’t visited yet. Kim is so excited for this adventure. Follow her on Twitter, Instagram, check out her photography www.kimrandall.photography or contact her at designedfordiving@gmail.com.
Bookings, Payment, Cancellation Policy and Force Majeure in relation to the Tour
- Amanda Delaforce Photography and Travel Pty Ltd highly recommends you purchase travel and dive insurance as soon as possible after confirming your travel plans. We recommend Dive Assure or DAN for diving insurance. Dive Assure offers a Dive and Travel Insurance annual and short-term (per trip). You can purchase it here: https://app.diveassure.com/#/registration/main/process/0/int/0/18669/en-intl
- Evidence of adequate travel and dive insurance must be provided prior to departure.
- Bookings made more than 100 days out from the start of a trip require a deposit of $800.00 USD per passenger.
- All deposits are non-refundable.
- Bookings made less than 100 days out from tour commencement require payment in full to secure your booking.
- Payment in full is required 100 days out from the start of the trip. We will email you a final payment reminder. No refunds will be given within 100 days of the start of any trip, under any circumstances.
- If you cancel your spot more than 100 days before the start of a trip and we/you are able to resell or fill the spot, a trip credit for your remaining balance (minus a $300 USD service fee deducted) will be issued for use on another Amanda Delaforce Photography and Travel Pty Ltd trip within 2 years of the cancellation.
- If you cancel your spot less than 99 days prior to the start of a trip, no refund or credit will be issued for deposits that have been paid.
- If our In-Country Providers cancel or if a Force Majeure Event occurs, meaning any act of God, war, terrorism, fire, flood or any other extreme weather conditions, loss of power, epidemics or pandemics, industrial disputes, slow-downs or other strike activities, riots or civil disturbances, acts of government, semi government or other authorities, inability to obtain any necessary license or consent and delays caused by sub-contractors, suppliers or other third parties (including telecommunications carriers), material shortages or other disruption to the trip beyond our control, Amanda Delaforce Photography and Travel Pty Ltd shall not be held responsible for matters outside of our control or any failure to deliver the trip.
- The affiliated and established company, such as Nautilus Gallant Lady, holds the relevant insurances and maintains responsibility for the dive and snorkel insurance policies and procedures. As such, when in the water diving, snorkeling, or swimming, you are diving under the affiliated company’s policies and procedures and must adhere to either the Captain, Dive Instructor or Divemaster’s instructions.
- Amanda Delaforce Photography and Travel Pty Ltd takes no responsibility for loss, damage, or injury arising from any shortfall, error, or omission in the information passed to the customer during the course of the sale or subsequent delivery of the product. The company takes no responsibility nor can be held liable for loss, damage, or injury that occurs on a supplier’s or service provider’s premises or transport, or between two such premises.
- Participation in any of the Activities involves certain risks, which may result in injury or death. This warning does not purport to describe or disclose all the risks associated with participation in the Activities. There are a wide range of inherent risks when engaging in sports, particularly underwater sports; for example, with diving, there is the risk of decompression sickness, embolism, or other hyperbaric injury can occur that requires treatment in a recompression chamber. Open-water scuba diving trips may be conducted at sites that are remote, either by time or distance, from emergency services or recompression facilities. Scuba diving, snorkeling, and tours will involve uncontrolled encounters with wild animals, which bears the risk of stings, bites, and at the extreme end, more serious injury and death. Participants should be responsible and aware of animal behaviors and their own interactions, and engage in these activities entirely at their own risk.
- We will not be liable to you in respect of any personal injury (including, without limitation, serious injury or death) that you may suffer or sustain directly or indirectly as a result of attending the trip or participating in the Activities. Nor will we be liable to you in respect of any other losses arising as a result of any such personal injury (including, without limitation, loss of profit or earnings or other consequential losses). We will not be liable to you in respect of any of your personal property that is lost, stolen, or damaged before, during or after a trip.
- Please ensure you understand our cancellation policy prior to providing any deposits and agree to the booking and trip. By placing a booking with Amanda Delaforce Photography and Travel Pty Ltd, this implies that you accept these booking terms and conditions and cancellation policy.
Trading as “Amanda Delaforce Travel and Photography Pty Ltd”
