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.

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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.

Day 5 - Final Day of the Trip!

Writing this blog a day late. I did not have a chance to write last night as it was the group's final night, and we went out for a few drinks and lots of laughs. Well, no orcas this week. Sadly we were always in the wrong spots when they visited the area. It is a vast ocean, and that is nature and the difficulties of seeking out wildlife. A huge thanks go out to our friends who joined us this week. It was such a great trip, and you guys made it fun.

We did find a massive school of Mobula rays which we spent a lot of time with. Conditions made things difficult for a while, and ten-knot winds kicked up the swells. There were white caps everywhere which made searching for big animals difficult. We got lucky with the mobulas because they were popcorning when we found them. If it weren't for them jumping, we never would have seen this school.

Thankfully they were, and we finished the day dropping down, snapping images and videos of them. It was a great experience and a hell of a lot of fun. The winds died down as we were motoring back to port, which made trying to scan for big fishies a bit easier. Sadly we ran into nothing along the way home. Overall it was a good trip. It was not perfect, but we made the most of it and had a lot of fun along the way. Until the next one, my friends - miss you guys already.

Our buddy Jay dropping down to grab video of the mobulas. In his hands is the Monstro Red camera, what a beast!

Until the next one my sketchy friends!!!

Thank you all for reading and following along with my journey. Tomorrow week two of our orca and Mobula ray trip, begins!

Our First Day on the Water - Baja Adventure!

The trip finally begins… and well, no point stringing you guys along, we got skunked. Yup, the orcas were a no-show for us. They were seen today, just not anywhere near where we were. They found two pods of orcas today, one near San Jose, and the other pod was seen off La Paz. Both pods were far from where we were looking, especially La Paz. It was about 4 hours away from us.

Hoping for a better day tomorrow, and I feel really good about our chances for successful encounters. Today we did have a few Mobula ray encounters. The moment we left the marina and hit the open ocean, a large school of mobulas was there. Individuals were popcorning all over the place. Since it was the first day, our group wanted to jump in and test out weights and their camera settings with the large school of mobulas. I stayed on the boat, trying to capture images of the rays jumping out of the water.

We didn’t stay with them very long as everyone was itching to find some orcas. Well, you guys know how our day went. It was long and hot and a whole lot of nothing as we motored for hours trying to find the elusive pod. But that is what this is all about. If the animals were easy to find, there would be a circus of boats out here with them. So thankfully, there is a challenge to it, making the encounters with them so much sweeter when they happen. I wouldn’t want it any other way.

Towards the end of the day, we encountered a breaching humpback whale mom and calf, which was wild because this is the wrong time of the season for humpback whales here off Baja. They are supposed to be gone. We watched them for a little while, then called it a day, all of us exhausted from the sun but happy to be out on the ocean, where we belong.

Already looking forward to getting back out there tomorrow because it is going to be a great day… I can feel it!

Thank you for reading and I hope to see you out in the world… somewhere… anywhere!