In our last newsletter, I shared with you our new sponsor Cinebags. When I received the box with all my goodies in it, I was excited about everything sent to me. It is always fun getting new gear for your travels.

I can't wait to use it all.

However, what stood out for me was their product Thank You card and the small catalog in the box, promoting all their bags and merchandise. On the cards and catalogs were images of their gear, out in the world, being used by people just like me and you - experiencing life, with the words, Life on Location on it.

Life on Location is the company's motto or tagline. Their motto and their catalog got me so fired up. As I looked at those images and read those words, my mind magically transported me to my next adventure. I felt travel anxiety and wanted to be out there right now.

Receiving that package was an experience. I loved it.

Markus (the owner of Cinebags), left me in awe of not only his product but his storytelling abilities. I was sitting there, with my mind racing about my own storytelling skills, hoping that is what we are able to do when we share experiences with you all.

Jaguar off the Northern Pantanal, Brazil.

Every time I share images or write a trip report or a travel blog, my goal is to hopefully transport you to wherever it is we are. I want you to feel the excitement we feel when we photograph or find the animals we are looking for, helping you long for your own adventures.

I am sure we do not always accomplish this, but I hope that most of what we put out into the world gets you fired up. Of course, sometimes I think I over-share by writing about our bad days - talking about terrible seas or days that the animals do not show up.

Beluga whales in the Churchill River. Churchill, Canada.

That is not good business, I am told.

But to me, if I just shared only the good things from our adventures, my stories wouldn't be stories, they would be fairy tale sales pitches, and that is not me.

We have good days and bad days. That is just life and the reality of looking for wild things. I know our job when we write is to transport you to a magical place, but those far away sites are real, and this is not Disney - they sometimes have crappy weather and hard-to-find animals.

Off the Beaten Path. Searching for anacondas on the Southern Pantanal, Brazil.

That is just part of the job, and what makes each interaction so special.

To find the animals we photograph takes work. They are wild and free, and sometimes nature is not kind.

Leopard shark diving off La Jolla Shores, California.

For me, it should not be easy, it should be a challenge. So that when you do find them, the emotions you feel are the true reward, and the excitement is just the best.

Of course, when we do find them, those are my favorite stories to write. Journaling my thoughts, and looking at the images we captured at the end of a long exciting day… I am filled with fire as I am writing.

And that fire is what I hope comes out in the writing and images that I share.

I want to move you so much that you take action in your own life. I want you to create your own memories and write your own stories… all of those perfect and imperfect moments that you will happily carry with you forever.

Thank you for reading.

Crocodile diving off Banco Chinchorro, Mexico.

May 29, 2021 - What an exhausting, amazing, and surprising trip this was for our guests and me. No words to express how grateful I am for having the privilege of bringing people out into nature and showing them the beauty of the natural world.

This trip was not perfect, but it was a great trip. The O’s sadly never arrived for us. They were always a bit too far, showing up in other areas that were many miles away. However, the ocean did provide an abundance of wildlife for us to enjoy, and if you were only here for the O’s, then you are missing the forest for the trees.

The Sea of Cortez is a magical place - we encountered three different species of whales, including the biggest of them all, the blue whale. Along with two species of dolphins, tens of thousands of Mobula rays, baitballs, sea lions - it was so much fun. The ocean just kept surprising us and bringing us gifts.

On our final two days in the water, we spent an hour with a friendly pair of juvenile humpback whales. One of them was breaching over and over again. It would breach, then flipper slap the surface, right next to our boat. We stayed with them for about an hour and left them to try and find the O’s. Reports came back that they kept playing for over three hours after we left. Insane.

Breaching right next to our boat, I did not have the right lens.

We also encountered a super pod of coastal bottlenose dolphins. We got to jump in and play with this pod as they swam around us, some of them coming in close to see what we were. It was a lot of fun. After we were done with our time in the water, we watched them breaching and jumping in our boat’s wake—many opportunities for stills and video. What was unique about these dolphins was their size and color. They are massive dolphins, and their skin is a charcoal grey, and when the sun touches them, they look black—such beautiful dolphins.

On our final day, we had flat calm seas and found a mating group of mobulas. Easily over ten thousand mobulas were in this mating ball, and it was a sight to see.

They kept popcorning all around - even when we were in the water, a fantastic way to end the trip.

THE FOLLOWING DAY…

I dropped off Mark, Parag, and Boud at the airport, said goodbye, and then dropped off our trusty steed Alice at the rental shop. Garin, Sara, and I went to Cabo to jump on an afternoon session with my buddy Jacob and Cabo Shark Tours to try and find some sharks.

The conditions were horrible, absolutely horrible. When we jumped in the water, we spent most of our time chasing the boat being pushed by the wind in giant swells. It was worth it; we ended up swimming with four silky sharks, including one that was heavy with pilot fish.

Finally, I asked Jacobo to untie the baitbox from the boat and let it float free. We no longer had the swells pushing us around and the ocean, despite the rising swells was nice and calm. It was nice!

After that, the silkies were a bit shy but still stayed around. We also had a small school of young mahi-mahi hanging around - behind them, a seawolf came in. A huge marlin swam by us. It was magic and a hell of a great way to end this epic two weeks here off Baja.

A huge thanks to our friends who joined us these past two weeks - and to my buddies who helped me out in Baja during our time at sea. Thank you for sharing this adventure with me - these amazing experiences are forever engrained in my soul. Until the next one!!!

A GOLDEN MOMENT

The Final Two Days at Sea!