We just posted a new trip report for our first trip of the 2022 wildlife travel season. Mako and blue sharks off Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Well I should stop calling it a mako trip, since the makos did not show up this year. We did have some solid blue shark action which was really great. Anyway, here is the link to the trip report, hope you enjoy.
Day Three - A Rough Day at Sea.
Mathias chumming with fresh bait… Image by Chris Kemper
Well, another tough day out on the ocean. This morning we arrived at our boat, and it was a bit chilly with some wind in the marina. Signs that it was going to be rough out on the ocean. We decided to try a different spot to see if we would get better results. The site we visited was good a week ago but went cold for us the first two days.
So we tried a seamount that was a few miles closer to land. Unfortunately, the water here was green and not the blue we had had the previous two days. But perhaps the green water would help us find those elusive sharks. Green also means the water here was colder, which might help us with the blue sharks. They tend to like the cooler waters.
As we chummed for a few hours, the winds kept building, and with it came the white caps. The swells were building, and it was getting choppy. Finally, about four-plus hours into chumming, we saw our first shark. Well, Brad thought he saw a blue shark earlier, but no one else did, so we marked it off as a phantom shark.
The shark that arrived we all saw it. It cruised in on a wave as it headed towards our hang baits. It was not a mako or a blue. It was a smooth hammerhead! Excitedly we all started gearing up. I tried to rush everyone because the one thing I know about these oceanic hammerheads is that they do not stick around very long.
Sadly I was right. The shark left as fast as it arrived. A few of us got in the water, but the shark was gone. No one saw it in the water. Damn it.
The swells were building dangerously high, so we made a safety call. We pulled all our bait, dumped the chum, and called it a day. We slowly motored back to port in a very messy ocean.
The waves were high and made for an exciting ride back home.
As we motored back to port, we encountered another smooth hammerhead along the way. It was swimming on the surface; we watched it for a quick minute, called it a few dirty names for not showing up to our chum slick, then left it alone.
Sadly today was not our day, moral is low, but thankfully we still have two more days, and tomorrow looks fantastic.
In fact, I genuinely believe tomorrow will be an excellent wildlife day at sea.
I can feel it!
Day Two - A Total Bust!
Bull sealion. We stopped by the sealion colony off Cabo San Lucas, MX. on the way out to snap a few images.
Well, we got skunked, damn it!
It happens.
This is why we run these trips over several days because with pelagic sharks, you just never know if and when they will show up. Today they were a no-show. AND the day was perfection. The weather was beautiful, and the water visibility was an incredible deep blue. The vis looked insane. Of course, I didn’t get in to confirm it, but from the surface, it was WOW.
All we needed was some sharks… and NADA! Nothing, no sharks showed up.
Our group was disappointed with the makos no-show today, but that is part of the dance. You can not have good days without bad ones. It is all about time in the water and the magic is out there waiting for us.
But that is what nature sometimes does. She decides that you need a kick in the teeth, and to remind you that what we are doing is not easy. If we want to find makos to dive with, we are going to have to put in the time.
We still have three days left, thankfully, so there is time to get back out there and find some sharks to dive with.
At the end of the day, on the way back into the marina, we stopped to watch some common dolphins jumping around and a couple of humpback whales in the middle of all that craziness. I snapped a fluke shot that looked like it might be worth sharing, and after that, we motored in and called it a day.
We are just going to have to wait until tomorrow to find our magic… and I do not doubt that Day Three will be our day… I can feel it!
Until then my friends, thanks for reading.
Day One off Baja - The Search for Mako Sharks Begins!
Day 1 - The weather was amazing! Today was a beautiful day at sea. The sun was out, and the water was nice and calm. It was so good, everything you hope for when you set out on an open ocean adventure. There was some wind, but we needed that to help us chum.
On the way out, we encountered several humpback whales. The whales were in the green water near the island, and we wanted sharks so we pressed on.
We motored out for about ten miles, hit our marks, and killed the engine to start chumming. Our group was eager to find us some makos. Makos are always the stars of these pelagic shark dives. Blue sharks are amazing, but makos are just rock stars.
After about 3 hours of chumming, we had our first shark show up. It was a nice-sized silky shark, which was a surprise because they are not supposed to be here. It is the wrong time of year for silkies.
They obviously did not get the memo.
Our group quickly geared up to jump in. I decided to stay on board and watch from the boat. Everyone else jumped in with our trusty guide and safety diver, Fer. I wanted them to get some solid water time with this shark. Just in case, it decided not to stay.
After a good 30 minutes, the shark disappeared. Shortly after that, a second silky appeared. This one was a bit shy and would not come in close.
It didn’t stay long.
silky shark
The shark returned after a while, and I jumped in to get a look at it. Again, it remained shy and did not come in close. I snapped a few images, but nothing I got excited about. I did not bother opening up my camera housing to look at the images.
We chummed for another hour but no other sharks came in. After that we called it a day and headed in. It was a good day and a fun way to kick off the trip. Of course as I sit here journaling about the day, I am already excited about Day Two… day two is going to be even better, and we will find our makos.
I can feel it!
The 2022 Travel Season is About to Begin!
January 26, 2022 - The month is freaking gone! Damn, where does the time go?
So this week, I got fired up to write, I wrote a blog earlier this week, but decided to write another one. I do love writing.
I also was going to cut a new video blog, for the second part of our 2021 anaconda diving trip. Check out the first one if you have not seen it.
However, I was inspired to share a video from last season’s Baja shark trip. So I will be cutting together a short vlog from our 2021 mako and blue shark trip instead - which will be out on Friday or Saturday (hopefully Friday). - NOTE; I apologize, I was not able to cut a video these past two days… got tied up prepping to leave to Mexico. But planning to get some great stuff this season for you guys.
Our first trip for the 2022 season is for makos and blue sharks off Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.
short fin mako shark
blue shark
Historically, I have run this trip as a three-day expedition; however, I am running this years trip as a five-day. I am pleased about this because it gives us more time to see if we can encounter more wildlife, and right now, Cabo is on fire; whales, orcas, mobulas, and lots of sharks.
It is just alive and going off, and I am very excited about seeing what we might find out there.
Last year we had a really good trip, with surprise visitors on our final day out there.
SPERM WHALES!
We were chumming for sharks when we saw a lot of blows in the distance. Once we figured out what they were, we ditched the chum and took off after them. We ended up spending the rest of our day swimming with a family of sperm whales.
An extremely close encounter with a massive sperm whale. Image by Roberta Manchino
Unfortunately, the visibility was not the best, the water was green and murky. The encounters were a bit intimidating because you could not see the whales until they were less than 20 feet away from you.
Even though the vis sucked, it was epic… we had sperm whales! At the end of the day we were all exhausted, our nerves were shot, but so very happy.
Anyway, I am looking forward to the trip, and the unknown, and the magic, and the fun with our guests… and of course the sharks. Plus, Cabo is always a fun town to hang out in after a day in and on the water.
After our mako trip, we leave Cabo and head North to San Carlos to Magdalena Bay for the annual grey whale migration. Mag Bay is one of my favorite places in the world to visit. The wildlife here is all-time great.
San Carlos is a sleepy little fishing town, with really nothing going on most of the year. Tourists flock here during grey whale season, and that was it. When the whales left, the locals would revert to fishing, and the town would go quiet again.
Of course, when tourists started visiting Mag Bay for the marlin migration, in the wintertime, the town exploded with tourism again. But there is twice as many people there for marlin season, then the grey whale season. The amount of people wanting to swim with the marlin is something that still surprises the locals.
Anyway, the area was initially made famous for its friendly grey whales. The greys migrate here to breed, socialize, and pup, then they head off to where ever it is that they go for the rest of the year.
The whales here are so much fun, they will swim up to the boats, ask for face rubs, and they will do it over and over again. It is such a fantastic feeling having a wild animal like this come up to you and want you to give them a rub.
The experience is truly magical; there is nothing like it in the world. This expedition is possibly one of the most underrated trips that we offer. Because people just do not understand how EPIC an encounter like this truly is.
Anyway, I will be posting a lot while I am in Cabo, and it will slow down when I am in San Carlos because the wifi sucks. But that is ok and part of the experience. Sometimes it is nice to unplug for a bit and just get lost in nature. Mag Bay is one hell of a great place to do that too.
Oh yeah, while I am there, I will set up my camera traps again. A couple of years ago, I brought a camera trap out there to try and find a good spot for coyotes. We found a great site, not only for coyotes but also for bobcats. So I will set the cameras up again and see if the cat action is still good.
I am addicted to those amazing looking wild cats.
If it is, then I will bring a more sophisticated camera trap set up in the wintertime when I return to try and capture high res stills of these Baja wild cats. (more on that project later)
Bobcat scent marking in front of our camera trap. We managed to record three different cats at this spot.
Well, that is my update for today, I need to get back to packing for the trip and I think I have carried on for a while.
Get ready for more than s few posts over the coming weeks, our season is about to begin, and we get to go back out to do what we love… all day, every day!
Thank you for reading.
Mako Shark Expedition Highlights
February 21, 2021 (2:49 PM Sunday) - Travel day, flying home to Texas. I have been gone for two weeks for this trip. Lots of eating out, sharing time with guests, and I did stay pretty busy with wildlife on this trip. However, I did not film as much as I should have, nor did I write as much as I needed to - so behind on all of it, sorry guys. I am not making good on my word. I frustrate myself because I failed to keep proper records of this adventure. I have had this discussion so many times with myself. Talking about it and doing it are two very different things. Sometimes you come back from spending all day on the water and the last thing you want to do is write or record yourself, but I will get better at it. Ok, enough with what is going on in my head, on to the blog…
On our first day out, we ran into this baby humpback whale breaching over and over. It was such a happy baby, enjoying being alive.
Our mako trip went so well; I am very proud of it. We encountered makos every day we were out on the ocean. On day one, the mako only stayed for around 20 minutes, not a lengthy encounter, but enough for everyone to see it and get excited about seeing more makos. It was a small shark, about 3 feet long, super cute. On our second day, we had a mako show up about 20 minutes into chumming, a record for me. This shark stayed with us for about 45 minutes before it left. I think it was intimidated, because it was really tiny.
After that, we had two blue sharks show up about 3 hours later. Now that is a typical wait for oceanic sharks. We swam with them for about an hour, but finally had to call it a day. Conditions started getting worse, so we were forced to leave. Blue sharks are amazing sharks, they are very bold and will come in and stay for extended periods of time. It is a species shark divers dream of encountering. Very photogenic and not shy at all.
On our final day, we began chumming, and about ten minutes into the chum, we noticed a small brown-looking animal swimming towards us. We thought it was a sea lion at first, but it was blowing water out of a spout, so we thought it was a pilot whale. But it was brown; pilot whales are black. Then Fer had a moment when she realized it was a baby sperm whale. We automatically pulled up the chum and went after the whales, hoping for a shot at seeing them underwater.
I managed to snap one image that I am happy with. The rest are terrible due to the bad vis. I still feel so lucky to have spent some time with them. It truly was a dream come true for me.
This was a huge pod of whales, at least 20-30 members strong. They were scattered all over the ocean, hunting, I believe? We were all on fire. For whale encounters, sperm whales are one of the most coveted whales to hopefully encounter.
Of course with that first jump, reality hit hard - the visibility was horrible. We found out that unless we were within 10 feet of the animal, we could not see it. So it made the encounters a bit more intense. Everyone was super gung ho about it and did not mind, but it was always a shock to see this massive animal just appear out the green soup. Sometimes it seemed like the sperm whales were shocked as well. On one encounter one of the whales took a crap and then dove straight down. Our group was left floating next to the muddy water, huge smile on our faces. The pod was mostly females, with a few babies. The babies would stay at the surface while the adults would drop down to the depths, my guess they were hunting. I do not think we encountered any bulls, but there could have possibly been juvenile males there.
The best encounter of the day was when our buddy Roberta swam towards a group of about three sperm whales. She could not see them until they were very close, and when she looked up they were right in front of her. One of the whales had its mouth open, not sure if it did that to show her it’s very lethal pair of teeth or if it already was swimming that way. She filmed the encounter and this big beautiful whale close up. I pulled a frame grab from the clip. Such an impressive predator.
Towards the end of the day while we were following the whales, we saw a mako swimming close to the surface. Officially making it three days in a row that we saw makos. This was such an amazing trip, filled with beautiful wildlife and surprises. It was everything you want from an open ocean adventure off the coast of Baja. Plenty of shark action and whale encounters as a bonus.
Baja always delivers.
A happy happy thank you to all our friends who joined us for this adventure. Big hug until the next one my friends!