Hey guys, wanted to let you know what was new on our website in case you do not subscribe to our newsletter, if you do not… shame on you! There is some good stuff on there. But no worries, I am reposting our newsletter here so you don’t miss out. Lol, hope you enjoy.

In my happy place…snapping images of the forest giants.

Greetings from Borneo,

Well, I am not actually in Borneo anymore, I am writing this on my couch, back in Texas. But it sounded way better as an opening for this newsletter. AND, we just returned from there, for the third expedition of the 2020 season. No real words that I can ever use to explain that trip, and the wildlife we encountered. It is the stuff dreams are made of! I know that I sound like I am over selling it, but this was my first trip to this part of the world. To see these animals, in the wild, without cages, in their natural habitat, is such a damn good feeling.

We piggy-backed this trip with our thresher shark trip off Malapascua Island, Philippines. That trip was also really good. We dove with thresher sharks everyday, and we had some amazing macro-dives, where we encountered, or sort of encountered, the elusive pygmy seahorse. And I say, sort of encountered, because that thing is so tiny - it is hard to put into words, of just how tiny it is. I did'n’t bring a macro lens on this trip, so I wasn’t able to capture images of it, but I did see a bigger yellow seahorse, which was absolutely beautiful, and we did see some spectacular reefs. The color on these reefs is like nothing I have ever seen before. I was blown away.

So onto the contents of this week’s Newstter.;

TRIP REPORT

I opened up this newsletter sharing my feelings about the magic of our Borneo trip, and if you want to read all about it, I kept a journal of my experience while I was there, and published it on our website as a trip report. Along with a lot of the images we captured from the experience.
GIVE IT A READ

NEW PODCAST

Big News for us to share is - we have started a podcast, SDM’s Wild World. We post new episode’s every Monday, and we may change that to every Friday, not sure yet? It is currently available on Anchor, Spotify, Apple. Super pumped about our show. So far we have 4 episodes out. So if you enjoy podcasts, please give us a listen. We are pretty sure you will enjoy it. I have attached a link to our Apple podcast for you to check out. Hope you enjoy it.
LISTEN TO OUR PODCAST

TRIP OF THE WEEK

So I am adding this little feature to promote our upcoming trips, but at the same time, share with you my thoughts on a particular trip we are doing and what you guys, if you join us, would potentially experience.

The trip I am highlighting this week, is our upcoming May orca expedition off Baja. Guys, it really is hard to describe the thrill of dropping in and seeing an orca in the water. It wasn’t that long ago that people thought it was impossible to safely swim with an orca. The thoughts were, that if you did, it would attack you. Thankfully, those ancient ideas are almost gone, and I say almost, because, I still get people asking me, if I ever feel threatened by them. My answer and the answer of every single person who has ever been in the water with one is, “NO, not ever”.

They truly are amazing animals to swim with and even if you do not get the chance to join us, for one of our two trips, (off Baja and we also offer Norway trips to swim with them), I truly hope you go with someone else to experience these animals.

Before it is too late…

and by that I mean, there are only a couple of places left where swimming with orcas is allowed, and currently there are talks of researchers shutting down swimming with orcas in Norway as well. So just like swimming with beluga whales off Churchill was regrettably shut down, you don’t want to hit that day where they no longer allow swimming with orcas as well.

CHECK OUT OUR BAJA ORCA TRIP FOR THIS MAY

PHOTO GALLERY

Before we go, here are a few images from the trips we just returned from. Hope you enjoy!

Thresher shark off Malapascua Island, Philippines.

The reefs off Malapascua, some of the prettiest I have ever seen.

Proboscis monkey. These guys are endemic to Malaysia.

Pygmy elephant. We waited over an hour for a chance to see these elephants dip into the water to cool off. It was worth it.

Thank you for reading… have a great week!