At apprx. 0120 hrs on September 2, 2012 off the balcony of our hotel in Puerto Vallarta Mexico my fiancé and myself observed four bright orange lights at almost eye level climbing out over the ocean approximately 3 to 5 miles from our location. The objects did not appear to be in any sort of formation. No noise of any sort was heard from these objects as the sound of the waves could be heard in the distance. Our balcony faced almost due west. These objects to my observance were heading approximately southwest 230 degrees. Thunderstorms were in the area that evening with a great deal of lighting and precipitation. At the time of observation of the objects the thunderstorms had dissipated and high thin overcast was observed at the time of appearance. We observed the four bright orange objects slowly accelerate away at approximately 200 - 300 knots up into the high thin overcast.No sooner than they disappeared, two more of the same objects appeared to be coming from the surface of the water and traveling the same flight path. We watched them fly into the overcast. Then another appeared. At the sighting of the fifth or sixth object, my fiancé stepped into the room and retrieved her binoculars. I was able to observe the object as it too traveled roughly the same path. I did mention to her that the objects appeared to have been coming from the ocean to then being airborne. The description of the object in the binoculars was bright orange with the appearance of dark vertical lines encircled around the object.The shoreline of our view curved in such a way that I can estimate our distance from the object to be 3 - 5 miles due to the fact that the farthest land mass was in my estimation to be 8 to 10 miles. The objects again appeared to be closer to our half way point from that farthest land mass. In about 35 to 40 minutes we observed a total of twelve of these bright orange objects all originating from the same location close to the shoreline and just above the water surface. Movement of the objects was initially slow then accelerating to what I would say was about 300 knots.I am a captain of a major airline based in DFW employed with them for almost 27 years. I spent 10 years as a fighter pilot in the USAF. What I described of my observance of these objects was based on my 37 years in aviation as a pilot.((NUFORC Note: We have spoken via telephone with this witness, and we conclude that he is an exceptionally qualified, and reliable, witness. PD))