It's Monday... Countdown to Dominica Begins

View fullsize

The week begins!

This weekend I spent my days doing normal life kind of things. Repairing things, lawn care… Domestic stuff that has nothing to do with the wildlife world.

So I will stop there with the boring unrelated to why you visit this page stories… on to the good stuff.

This week is prep week. I am sorting through last-minute gear prepping for next week’s expedition to Dominica.

Dominica is such a cool island in the Caribbean. There is a freshwater river for every day of the year. At least that is what the islanders boast.

365 rivers and hot streams that pepper the island, which is really cool.

It has waterfalls and lots and lots of forests. It is a beautiful island. A must-visit kind of place.

What is exciting for me and for our friends who are joining us, is the very healthy population of sperm whales that call the waters surrounding the island home.

I am looking forward to a great week of swimming with the whales. Hoping for magic to happen.

There are several pods / families of sperm whales that call Dominica home.

Some are friendlier than others. Most seek out interactions with people. Some don’t and that is ok.

Those whales we leave alone. But the whales that do want to share time with people, those whales are true magic and moments with them is the stuff that dreams are made of.

Either way, it is going to be a great week of good friends, beautiful scenery, and a week of life- in and on the ocean with big animals.

It doesn’t get any better than that!

Have a beautiful week everyone!

Days Like Today Are Why I Want to Live Forever!

Day Six, our final day of the trip, and it was the BEST day of the trip too.

We left at 9am this morning and motored out to the South side of the island to listen for sperm whales. We knew the Utensils pod went south when the pilot whales arrived three days ago, but we were hoping they would come back.

The Utensils pod is one of the friendliest pods off Dominica, and is great for interactions. We dropped the hydrophone and listened, but zero clicks. No sperm whales were around. So we decided to head North and see if the sperm whales were on the other side of the island.

While in route, we found out why the sperm whales were gone from the South side. The pilot whales had returned. The pod we encountered on day three was back. When we found them three days ago, they were headed South and out into the Atlantic. The pilots returned and were now headed North.

At this point we knew any search for sperm whales would be difficult, so we decided to embrace what nature has presented to us and just hang out with the pilot whales.

I am so glad we did.

We positioned the boat 100 yards in front of the whales and killed the motor. The pilot whales did something we did not expect, they swam straight up to the boat, stopped swimming and all of them began spy hoping. We were all putting on swim gear, but this sort of stopped us in our tracks. What were they doing?

A quick video of the pilot whales behavior. I was torn between capturing topside and getting in the water, so its a short video.

A group of about thirty whales were all on the surface, not swimming, just hovering there by our boat, seemly taking turns sticking their faces out of the water, looking at us. It was insane!!!

I was torn between filming the spectacle and grabbing my kit and jumping in the water. Bill, our captain said he has never seen this behavior before. Not in the numbers that we were seeing today.

I captured a few stills, and tried to record a little bit of video, but my need to get in the water won me over, and I put the topside camera down and went to grab my swim gear.

I am trying really hard to find the words to describe what we all experienced today, it really is hard to find the words. To quote Jodie Foster from the movie Contact… “they should of sent a poet, no words.” I know it sounds cheesy, but the day was above and beyond anything I normally have experienced with whales.

The whales would hang out, then swim off. We would get back on the boat, get ahead of them and jump in again. The whales would swim back to the boat and interact with us again, and we did this over and over again for five hours straight.

The whale would swim up to us, roll, and play, and hang around us and then swim off again. Sometimes dropping down into the depths, other times just swim off into the distance. It was true magic.

After about three hours we decided to give them a break, eat lunch and just watch them from the boat. I was about to eat my wrap when the pilot whales swam back to the boat to find out what happened to us. It seemed they wanted to know where we went. They again were hovering right by the boat, some of them were spy hopping, waiting to see if we were going to jump back in.

My heart and mind were exploding.

So we scrapped the lunch idea and back into the water we went. We continued swimming with them. It was non-stop… the whales kept coming up to us. One of the juveniles took a big interest in our cameras and kept coming up close to get a good look at the dome ports. Maybe it was looking at it’s reflection, I don’t know?

This went on for the next two hours.

On our final jump of the day, we jumped in and the whales dove down to avoid us. We took that as a sign that they were done and it was time to call it a day.

The emotions on the boat were at an all time high. All of us were on fire… this was the stuff that dreams are made of. I have had some amazing moments in the water, but this day ranks up there with the very best of them.

Sandy, one of our friends on the trip said it best, “Days like today are why I would want to live forever.”

Wanted to say a special thanks to the beautiful people of Dominica, and a HUGE thank you to our friends who joined us out there, it was an amazing week. Luv you guys.

Until the next one and thank you guys for reading.

Damn the Wolves!!!

Day five of our expedition, and well, it was a very slow day. We managed to see only four sperm whales, and it took all day to find them.

We tried to get in the water with them, but they wanted nothing to do with us. They were turning, changing directions, just going out of their way to avoid us. So we decided to leave them alone, it is no fun when they do that.

The last thing we see before a sperm whale drops down and disappears into the depths below.

We searched for whales, on both the North and South end of the island. We could hear them, but they were far away… too far for us to go searching for them at least. The pilot whales definitely affect their behavior, and two days later the whales are still spooked and have not returned to their hunting grounds here by the island yet.

I was googling if pilot whales eat baby sperm whales. Google said there is no proof that they do, but that their presence definitely effects the sperm whales behavior. The boys (boat crew) told us that they have seen the pilot whales attacking and harassing the sperm whales. So for me that is 100% YES!

After a full day of searching we called it a day, and headed back to port. Before we did, we jumped in for a quick snorkel at champagne reef. It was a super hot day so the water felt nice. While we were out snorkeling around, I had this good looking fish swim up to my dome port to look at itself. Well not sure if it was looking at itself, but it was definitely intrigued with my camera and followed me around for bit. I do not know the species, my buddy Rich told me what it was, but I forgot.

It was a good looking fish, beautiful colors, a sweetheart and a real treat to photograph. I love when wild animals show interesting behavior, and come in close. It is my favorite thing to experience when I am out in nature.

Well my friends, since I do not have any exciting images of whales to post for the day, I will end this blog, and hopefully have an epic ending to our adventure for you all tomorrow.

Thank you so much for reading. It means a lot to me that you do.

A Beautiful, but Tough Day at Sea.

Day Four of our sperm whale expedition off Dominica was ok. We found the sperm whales, but they are still a bit skittish from yesterday’s pilot whale visit. Most of the whales have moved out into deeper waters. A bit too far for us to follow, so we didn’t try to find them.

We did have a pod still hanging around, but this group is unknown and did not want anything to do with us. We tried a few jumps, but the animals kept their distance. We did get a few jumps in with them, but nothing like our previous days. So we decided to leave them alone and try and find a friendlier pod.

Sadly we did not have any luck.

View fullsize

During the down time, our friends Tatiana and Graeme recorded some clips for a project they are working on.

We did get a few jumps in with them, but nothing like our previous days. We had some fun passes (while we were on the boat), from spotted, and Frasier’s dolphins., thats always fun. Plus we were in good company, so it was a nice day... But hoping for some better action tomorrow.

We still have two more days. Hoping the sperm whales return so we can finish up this trip with a bang.

Until tomorrow, thanks for reading.

The Wolves Are Back!!!

Day three of our expedition and everything was different. The sperm whales were not very friendly. One of the whales lifted its tail out of the water and slammed it hard on the ocean's surface. This was the first time I had seen them do that.

When it did that, I didn't overthink about it. I just excitedly grabbed my topside camera, hoping it was going to do it again. I thought it was being playful… it wasn't.

It was a warning to back off.

We, of course, find out why the sperm whales were on edge. The pilot whales were around. It was a pod of about 25-30 strong. Pilot whales are dangerous predators for baby sperm whales, so it makes sense why they behaved the way they did.

This was the reason we had so much trouble finding sperm whales during our May trip earlier this season, the pilot whales were there almost every day and the whales were spooked.

So we decided to leave the sperm whales alone and spent the rest of the day with the pilot whales, and damn, what a good day it was. They were highly social and allowed us many opportunities to see them up close.

I really like these whales. They are cool looking, and you can see them thinking when they look at you. I really wish I could understand what they were thinking because you can almost feel it when they come in close.

It was fun, and we jumped in a lot with them. The big males are the most curious, and when they come in for a look, they come in close. The moms and calves are more nervous about us and try to keep their distance.

We spent a good two hours with the whales before we called it a day. With each jump, they were getting further and further away from the island, moving into the Atlantic. Hopefully, they were just passing through and had no plans of staying. If they stay, it will make interactions with the sperm whales more challenging.

Let's just see what tomorrow brings. Until then, thanks for reading.

Day Two Was A Lot of Fun.

sperm whales poop before they dive down to the depths.

Day two on the water. It was a good day, and the weather stayed beautiful all day. I am super happy about that. We immediately found the Utensils group of sperm whales and decided to stay with this pod all day. There are quite a few pods around; some are not as friendly.

The utensils pod is one of the friendlier pods in this area, so we stayed with them, hoping that we would be treated to some epic interactions when they were done hunting for the day. Sadly the pod spent the entire day hunting, so all our interactions with the whales were very short.

It was still fun, but we are hoping for some solid interactions with the whales when they socialize. That is the stuff of dreams. The whales will play and roll and bite each other. Playfully, of course. It is a hell of a thing to witness and what I hope our guests will experience. It is pure magic when it happens.

We still have four days left, so hopefully, we will have an opportunity to see the whales interacting.

At the end of the day, we were motoring over to a whale that had just surfaced when we heard a loud bang. Sadly our motor died. A piston rod broke and tore a big hole in the engine block. So we had to have our boat towed in. She is a good little boat, and we will miss her. We will head out tomorrow on her sister ship. It is a bit bigger and slower, but she will do. As long as we find the whales, it is all good!

Heading out tomorrow a bit later in the morning to change things up and see if we can get some socializing whales. Fingers crossed.

Thank you for reading.

Dominica... Day One was a Good Day.

Sperm whale briefing before we headed out to sea.

I am back in Dominica for another week of sperm whale diving. I really like this place. I mean, what is not to like… a beautiful island with resident populations of sperm whales.

The place is HEAVEN.

Today was day one of our trip, and I am super happy to report that we had fun encounters with some friendly whales. The whales were hunting today, so we did not spend much time with them. When the whales are hunting, they go down and spend between 45 minutes to an hour at depth hunting squids. When they finally do come up, it is short.

They come up for around ten minutes, replenish their oxygen supply, and possibly help feed the youngsters in the family pod. Young sperm whales cannot go as deep as the adults, so they stay shallow, listening for sonar clicks from the adults below, to follow them around.

Sperm whales live in pods, except the males; they are solitary, or form bachelor groups. The sperm whales in a pod all help to raise the young. Each female will feed milk to any baby in their pod that is too young to hunt for themselves. It is wonderful.

The morning was fantastic. The seas were calm, and the sun was out. It was a great start. But that quickly ended when a tropical depression moved through the area in the late afternoon.. and just like that, our beautiful day ended.

Thankfully the storm passed towards the end of the day. We had a good morning with plenty of whale action in good light and pretty water. It was an excellent start to the week. We returned to port in the middle of the storm, and we all rushed to our rooms to dry up and download our images and video from today.

Day one was a success… looking forward to seeing what tomorrow brings.

Until then, thanks for reading.

The Adventure Begins... Day One on Dominica 2022!

May 1, 2022 - Day One of Dominica was a good day. We got skunked for sperm whales, but we still had a fantastic day at sea.

We spent quite a few hours searching for sperm whales in the morning. Sadly there were no signs of any whales. No clicks on the hydrophone, no blows in the distance… nada. We did encounter a small pod of pygmy killer whales, but they disappeared just as quickly as they had appeared.

Finally, our captain saw a few dorsal fins in the distance and motored over. It was a pod of pilot whales swimming slowly along the surface. We quickly got ready and jumped in. The pod was extremely curious and came in close to look at us. I was guessing around ten individuals, turned out it was more… a lot more. We guesstimated around 20 - 25 whales in this group.

We took turns jumping in with them and had an amazing two-hour session with these beautiful whales. This was my first real-time spent with this predatory species, and I was trying to soak them in and learn as much as I could about them.

The pilot whales were swimming very slowly and in no real direction. They were all spread out, just swimming in what seemed like a big wide circle, doing random patterns. I do not know a lot, but what I am guessing and what makes the most sense to me was that they seemed be hunting.

Possibly hunting giant squid below, using sonar to detect when a squid rises from the deep, or maybe they were hunting a deep water whale, like a beaked whale or something. Not sure, but on our final jump of the day, the whales all gathered up close, and then one of them let out a whistle, and they all dove down deep and disappeared. We did not hear the whistle when we were in the water, but I captured the whistle on my gopro and the whales all dove right after. It was awesome.

We didn’t get sperm whales today, but the ocean gave us a unique and wonderful gift for our first day in Dominica. I can’t wait for tomorrow.

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.

View fullsize

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.

Travel Day... Goodbye Dominica, See You Next Season!

August 18, 2021 - 9AM in Texas! I made it home. Well, most of the way home. I met up with my family in Houston, we are roading tripping the rest of the way.  My flight home was a painful one. I ended up booking flights on Kiwi.com which got me home through the crappiest flight plan possible. Four stops and all with super tight connections that had me sprinting from gate to gate. I also had to grab my bags at each stop and recheck in, going through security check points as well. That was painful, but thankfully I have TSA, so it made it easier. I recommend doing that if you do not have it yet. It is worth it if you travel more than once a year. 

 It was exhausting, but it made the 12 hours of travel pass quickly, and it made me appreciate myself and my journey much more. I mean, these are first-world problems. With all the real problems going on around the world, it makes my travel issues fall hard in comparison, so I am good.

What an adventure Dominica was… just wow! This trip exceeded my expectations, and it was everything I hoped it would be and more! Sperm whales are magical animals and true ambassadors for the whale species. I have spent time in the water with other species of whales, which are all special in their own way, but sperm whales are insanely amazing. 

Grey whale off Baja Mexico.

Grey whales are unique in that they willingly will swim up to boats and ask for interaction. However, the moment you jump in the water with them, they will swim away from you. I am not sure if this is true across the board or just how these whales off Mexico are conditioned? They do not allow people in the water with them either way, so it is hard to find out if they do. My belief is, they would enjoy it, or at least the juveniles and the females would. We are out there during mating season, and the females are incredibly flirty. So it is possible that they might want to interact with us if we got in. However, the males would probably be protective of the females and force them to move on if their behavior is anything like the humpbacks.

Female humpbacks often accept divers, but their male escorts will often move the females away from us. Putting themselves in between us, and the female and calves, and then swim off with them. My guess is an attempt to show the females they are brave and strong suitors.

Mom and calf humpback off Tonga. A male suitor in the back ground keeping an eye on me.

The sperm whales, however, showed us such fantastic behavior, and when they felt social, they all wanted to interact with us. A few of them came in close enough for us to touch. Of course, we did not. We all wanted to. I mean, who doesn’t want to touch one of these beautiful, friendly potato heads. But we were all respectful of the rules and did not. We just enjoyed the encounters and soaked up every single moment with them. 

The socializing whale encounters did not happen every day. Most days, the encounters with the whales were brief. The whales were in feeding mode and all business, and their time on the surface was limited. They spend an excess of 45 minutes underwater hunting down deep for diamond squids and giant squid. They would surface and rest for ten minutes, then drop down and do it again. It wasn't easy trying to figure out where they would emerge and when.

When they did finally surface, it was a race against time. The boat would motor over, and we would drop in for a chance at seeing and photographing the whales, as it or they swam past us. They are usually alone when they hunt. Those encounters were brief, but still fun, and what most of our time with them consisted of. 

Of course, the best was when the whales were done hunting for the day and then began calling each other to sleep together or play. That is when the magic happened and what we all were hoping for. When the whales do this, it is some of the greatest moments you will ever experience with a wild animal. 

How they call to each other is with clicks and sonar, as well as breaching. They do not breach often, but they use it as a way to get the attention of the whales in the area. Letting each other know that it is time to play or sleep, or notify them to change directions.

It is hard to describe what you feel when those moments happen. Imagine being in the water and having a pod of eight large whales swim right up to you, stop in front of you, and begin rolling and playing around each other - all of them looking at you. They were all clicking away, trying to talk to us; damn, I wish I understood what they were saying. Moments like that are pure magic and forever engrained in my memory.

One of my encounters with the whales. Image by Hunter Ledbetter.

So overall, it was a fantastic experience and a magical two weeks at sea. It was not always easy, and the whales were not always there. We spent twelve days at sea looking for whales, and we found them ten days, with three solid days of socializing. We experienced bits of social behavior on a few other days, but not for very long. All I know is I am leaving this island dreaming of next season and the amazing surprises these remarkable animals have in store for us. 

Thank you guys for reading.