Day One Was Fun... Love Dem Sharks!

Canon 5D M4, with an 8-15MM fisheye, in an Aquatica housing - my settings were 1/400, f9, ISO 800

Day one off Isla Mujeres for whale sharks is in the books.

It was a really good day, and the conditions were amazing. Thankfully there was quite a few sharks out here, maybe around fifty whale sharks. It was not the hundreds that we normally see out during this time of year. But it is early in the week, and I am predicting that the number of sharks will keep increasing over the next few days.

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We have had the same captains for our trips for the past 12 years. Captain Gabby and Rami greeted us at the pier this morning and asked Mari where Sophia was, she pointed her out, they did not recognize the young lady before them. She started coming out with us on our whale shark trips when she was 5 years old, she is now 16 years old. Because of covid, it has been two years since they have seen her. They were blown away. Captain Gabby got a bit teary eyed. It was so sweet.

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Heading out this morning.

Super happy with the day we had today, our captain told us that the shark action the previous weeks had been super slow. But that is nature, you never know what she is going to gift you with. Thankfully we arrived at the right time… and if this week goes the way I think it will, it should be a good week.

Today, it is official…when I jumped in the water with the sharks this morning, that made 18 years of swimming with the whales sharks in Mexico.

18 years!!!

We started running these trips back in 2005, and here we are all these years later, still out here, and still enjoying the hell out of it. I really love being in the water with these animals, it is still a lot of fun to me. That has not changed, and I don’t think it ever will.

Canon 5D M4, with an 8-15MM fisheye, in an Aquatica housing - my settings were 1/400, f9, ISO 800

Ok, headed to bed, just thought I’d share a little bit of our day’s adventure, and a couple shots I captured. There is a lot of food in the water so the vis and the images are a bit dirty, but that is why the sharks aggregate together in these kind of numbers. Lots of munchies and crunchies to eat.

Day two tomorrow.

Until then… good night my friends.

Arrival Day... Whale Sharks off Isla Mujeres Begins!

Today is arrival day… a new adventure begins. We are on Isla Mujeres Mexico to swim with whale sharks and if we are lucky manta rays. I am looking forward to this week and the magic we will all hopefully experience.

Last nights sunset. Isla Mujeres does not disappoint.

We have been running this trip every summer since 2005. So when we hit the water tomorrow morning it will officially be 18 seasons that we have been running this experience. 18 years of whales sharks, is pretty cool. It is often the same sharks that return to this spot year after year, so I am hoping to see if I can recognize any of the individuals that come here. It is really difficult because they all look the same. One whale shark I can easily recognize is one we have dubbed Rooster, he has a shredded dorsal fin, that looks like a roosters comb.

WOW, 18 years. So much has changed since we first started offering this trip. It was really raw and wild back then. We first ran these trips out of Holbox, Mexico. Back then there was only three or four hotels on the island. Now, there are at least 30 to 40. So much has changed. I remember, trash was a problem on the island back then, I wonder what they do now?

We changed island locations about 12 years ago when the whale sharks started spending more of their time in the Caribbean sea vs the Gulf of Mexico. Which was fine by me, I prefer the sharks in blue water vs. the green water, plus the blue water is warmer than the Gulf. It can be a bit chilly.

Anyway back to today…

I picked up our friends this morning from the Cancun airport and brought them to the island. Arrival day is always a bit hectic, but thankfully it ran really smoothly - No ones flights were delayed, and everyone’s bags showed up when they got off the plane. When I arrived at the airport, everyone was already through customs and waiting outside, made for a fast pickup and smooth transfer to the island.

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Van ride to the ferry.

We drove to the ferry terminal, chatting it up, and getting to know each other a little better.

We have some returning friends on the trip and a few new faces. It is always fun meeting new people and seeing old friends when they show up on our trips, it often feels more like family reunions rather than wildlife trips sometimes. Today was one of those days.

Anyway, its late… I am going to keep this short as it is 11:50 at night and we have to wake up at 6:40am for a quick breakfast at 7 and then out on the boat at 8. I am hoping for a great day with the sharks.

Day One begins!

More tomorrow… thanks for reading.

Day Two... A Fun Day at Sea!

July 15, 2021 - Day two with the whale sharks was WOW! We had a really good day at sea, and it was much calmer than the previous day. We still haven’t seen the hundred-plus sharks, but it was fun. I am guessing around 15-ish sharks today... The numbers are building. Yesterday the visibility was amazing, with beautiful clear blue water, but we don’t want that. To find the large gathering of sharks, you need murky blue water filled with fish eggs and plankton. That is where the magic happens. 

By the end of the day, we found that water, which was awesome. The water was thick with eggs. That means the sharks will be making a b-line for the area. Tomorrow should be good with a lot of sharks feeding. My prediction is that by Saturday, the whale shark action is going to be EPIC!!! We will see - hopefully, we will have some fun stories to share. 

As I mentioned, we had about 15 different sharks; they were all feeding and slowly swimming around, gulping up gallons and gallons of egg-rich water. I recognized the shark we had on our first day. It was coke bottle feeding, staying in one spot, and was again very tolerant. It is so much fun finding the same sharks out there each day. It means a lot to me, knowing these sharks return to these waters day after day and year after year. It means that the area is still healthy enough for the animals to return, and that is a very good thing.

Ahh, so back to the feeding shark. I love those coke bottling sharks; they are the ones you dream of encountering. They stay in one spot, suck feeding near the surface. They will often spin in a slow circle as they feed. I stopped swimming and just waited patiently nearby for the shark to spin in my direction. If you get too aggressive and swim at them, they will swim off and find another spot where they can continue feeding without feeling threatened. I was rewarded when it turned in my direction and opened its big mouth, allowing me to snap away. My settings were 1/320, f9 ISO 800. Those seemed to work alright for me today. 

Overall it was fun, and I am happy we have two days left. It gets me fired up for whatever tomorrow brings us...

As always, thank you for reading my friends. And for those of you that comment, I do appreciate them, thank you so much for that.

Whale Sharks, Whale Sharks and MORE Whale Sharks.

July 16, 2019 - 5:33pm our first day of whale shark diving off Isla Mujeres, Mexico. It was a good but tough day. So many new laws and regulations here, the captains were nervous as hell about it. CONAAP has everyone on their toes and up in arms. So now it is mandatory for everyone to wear life jackets. Even in the water. You can do a one free diver and one guide, but they do not allow for two anymore. Just silly.

Over all we had an awesome day and despite the headaches of this new law, everyone had a good time. We stayed out as long as we could and everyone had a chance to get some solid whale shark time in. A very good first day. Of course there was so much food in the water that the sharks are feeding on, all my pictures are full of suck. Tomorrow is another day, hoping for patches of blue water for some decent images. Hoping for a coke bottling shark, that is always the best photo opportunities. A static shark that is just filter feeding in one spot.

July 17, 2019 - Day two of our whale shark expedition. We had a really good day - today the whale sharks were all surface feeding and there were a lot of sharks. Of course we are still dealing with the new rules, which are tough, but we will get used to them. A lot of silly bullshit if you ask me. Some of the other boats are asking for some sort of standard across the board service. Basically, they want everyone to act the same. Same crap service they give to tourists and bucket listers, who just want something to do on vacation. Which has nothing to do with the sharks or an appreciation for them.

They want to end the service some of the better operators provide to people who want to see these sharks and want to spend quality time with these animals. It is horrible, and each year, they think of new rules to try and create more road blocks for the better operators. They even turned down prop guards for their boats, which will help protect the sharks and the swimmers. The excuse they use;  because they do not want to spend the money. It truly shows those operators do not give a shit about these animals. I saw fresh cuts on a whale shark today, just horrible when you know that it can be avoided.

July 18, 2019 - Just got back from day 3 in the water. We decided this morning to put an effort into finding manta rays. Sadly,  we did not find any. Where the hell are they? Last season they were all over the place, yet this season we have not seen any. No one has this week. Last week our captain told us they had a lot of mantas, but so far… goose egg. 

The action today was good but hard. A lot of sharks but they wanted nothing to do with us. Part of that behavior I am very familiar with. Tomorrow it will be a great day, because the sharks will be feeding hard and they will not care about us. Hoping to find a coke bottling shark. So far I have not seen one yet. Our guests have, thankfully. Yesterday our guests had some decent coke bottling action. I stayed on the boat while they took turns photographing the shark. By the time it was my turn, the shark swam off. Tomorrow - tomorrow is my day.

The plan tomorrow is to head out a bit earlier than our normal 9 am departure. We are headed to Contoy Island to try and find mantas, and a loggerhead for me. Still need me a loggerhead. Hoping to find a mating pair, which would be epic! The area around Contoy is always a really good spot for manta rays, so hoping to find some for our guests.

Side note; my best friend Tommy arrived here last night, along with my inlaws, and my son Gabriel. Lots of family here with my guests. Love it when my family joins me out here, it always makes travel so much more special.

July 19, 2019 - And it is over. Our time with the whale sharks has ended. It was a good four days of shark diving. No mantas, but damn, where the hell did they freaking go? This was the most stressful week of swimming with these sharks that we have ever experienced. The new rules were hard to deal with, but we made the best of it and figured out how to have an amazing time within the rules and everyone got plenty of water time. Hoping these guys get their shit together and create some rules that make sense for the sharks and the people who want to see them. 

I just did a quick check and it is officially 15 years that I have been running this trip. I have swam with whale sharks now for 15 years in a row, that is so wild. A lot of changes since that first trip. We originally started running these trips off Holbox but we decided to change the location over 10 years ago when the sharks were spending more time near Isla Mujeres then Holbox. It cut travel time by an hour each way. 

I do miss Holbox, especially now that I am big into bird photography, Holbox is a birder’s paradise. But Isla is better for our guests. It is more touristy with a lot more for them to do. 

So we spent the morning seeking out manta rays around Contoy and nada. No mantas… they are just gone this week. Our friend Tracey saw two of them down deep in the whale shark grounds. It was a super brief encounter and that was the best the mantas gave us. We spent all morning looking for them and nothing. About 11:30 we admitted defeat and went to finish up the day with the whale sharks. The sharks were everywhere, lots of feeding sharks AND lots of coke bottling sharks. 

Our guests had a lot of opportunities to photograph these sharks and they all left the water happy. On my final swim of the trip, I followed a slow swimming shark for a short while, when magic happened. She stopped swimming and went vertical. I finally got my coke bottling shark. She allowed me to snap a few images of her, before she decided to start swimming again. I was on fire and so very grateful for these amazing animals and this amazing place. 

Tonite we will get together for one final group meal together. Going to have dinner by the water to watch the sunset. A perfect way to end this weird but wonderful trip. Thanks to all our friends who joined us, you all are amazing souls. Love you guys.

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