Damn, what a year it has been. I realize I have not been updating my blog, so for those of you that read my blog, I apologize. The year has been busy, and I admit to being a bit overwhelmed with it all. The traveling, the wildlife, family, friends… all of it is taxing on the soul.

I love what I do. It truly is a privilege to travel around the world and hang out with amazing people, looking for wildlife to photograph. Telling stories and being a voice for the voiceless is my job. But damn, you do pay a price for life off the beaten path. Not being there for everything is definitely the most challenging part of this life. It is a knife in the gut.

But I am also addicted to nature, and adventure, and telling positive stories about wildlife. It's part of why I breathe. As a storyteller in this wildlife world, I get to sit in a different seat. My job is to share this world and try to help the reader slide into my mind and enjoy the journey and these wild places with me.

I am not sure if my writing style evokes any emotion from people, but I do try and capture my feelings when I am out there, and I hope that comes across in my writing. Still determining if it does, but gonna keep trying anyway.

So onto today's post.

I just got home from epic back-to-back trips… the first trip was to Churchill, Canada, for a chance to photograph polar bears in the snow. This is something I have dreamed of doing for many years. It was definitely worth the wait, and the experience exceeded my waking dreams.

What a special place Churchill is. This town and the people there are extraordinary. Everyone there lives with the knowledge that polar bears are all over the place. When I was there, they showed me a video of a polar bear trying to smash in a window at someone's house to try and get in their kitchen. That is a normal occurrence for them, no big deal.

They have a polar bear police unit that works 24-7.

It is insane… but it is also so damn cool! I freaking love it there and want to stay much longer. The idea that you are not free to go for a jog because you always have to be wary that the world's largest land predator might be sleeping on the side of the road, or behind a bush sounds like heaven to me.

More on this story and place later.

The second trip was to one of my favorite places on the planet… Tiger Beach. This was such a special trip for me because it was the official passing of the torch. I have been feeding and dancing with tiger sharks for over 14 years now, and this year I got to pass the bait box over to my son David. He has been feeding sharks for a few years now (mostly in Mexico), but this is his first full season working in the Bahamas with tiger sharks.

Pretty damn wild.

We got to both feed and work with the tigers on this trip, and it was truly a privilege to watch him work. Meanwhile, he was also enjoying sitting back and watching me work with the sharks -

…that was tripping him out, easy to forget its your old man down there dancing with tigers.

He has seen me work with tigers many times before, but this was the first trip where we were both there as equals… watching each other's backs, helping each other out, and feeling the fear and adrenaline that comes with intimately interacting with big predatory sharks.

We did a night shark feed, something we do on all our Tiger Beach trips. It is always one of the highlights of the trip. They are never easy because we are feeding tigers at night, with limited visibility. The guests love it, but for me, they have always been super intense. I looked at David and said, "You are doing the feed." He said ok, not really knowing what to expect. It was his first night feed.

We had four big tigers show up, and I watched his back on the box, knowing full well that he was in the arena on fire inside… clenched! His adrenaline was spiking hard. I have been in that seat many times and I know how gnarly it can be. This was his first, and with all those big tigers, it was an intense and exciting dive.

He killed it out there… masterfully working with these animals. It was magical to see. I am not gonna lie, my heart was in my throat a few times, but that is all part of the magic. It is a game of inches.

I want to keep writing, but going to cut these stories short…the photo trip reports are coming soon. This blog was more of my need to get back to writing and sharing stories with you all again on our website.

It has been too damn long.

So until the next one, my friends, thank you for reading.