1/1000, f8, ISO 800
I am trying to figure out how to tell the story of our year. It was so good, and we were able to experience so much magic and beauty out in the world. I am filled with gratitude because of it. The first place I will start is with our guests who traveled with us this year… THANK YOU so much. Especially after the craziness, we all experienced last year. You guys traveling with us means everything. We get to do what we do because of you, and we don’t take that for granted.
With the uncertainty of 2020, we were not sure we would be able to continue traveling, and doing what we do - thankfully the world started opening up, and we were able to visit a few places. We still had a few trips that had to be postponed until 2023 but we were grateful that most of the places we had planned to visit remained open. I plan to cut together an end-of-season video, something I used to do annually. The last one I created was back in 2019. Those videos are always fun to put together, and I am looking forward to working on one again. But what to do and how to do it?
I am thinking it will be ready around the middle of January, which is in a couple of weeks. Damn it is weird saying that already. For now, I will share a few short stories with some of my favorite images captured on some of our trips from this season. The wildlife we experienced was so good, and the photo and video opportunities the animals gave us were priceless.
1/400, f9, ISO 800
The grey whale season was really good this year. I was racking my brain trying to figure out what image to share in this blog, because we did have a lot of opportunities, as the whales were so interactive with us. There are no words to describe the feeling of having a wild and free whale swim up to the boat and ask a human for a face rub. The fact that these very intelligent species have forgotten, or chosen to forget that they were once hunted to the brink of extinction in this very Bay, says a lot about these animals and their perfection. So I chose this bubble blowing whale for my share on this blog, even though this is not my most favorite capture of the trip, its my second favorite. The whales do this to clean out their baleen, getting rid of mud and other muck that might clog them up when they scrap the ocean floor for food.
Coastal bottlenose dolphin off the Baja coast. This was during our summer pelagic trip seeking out orcas, whales, mobula rays, and whatever else Baja offers. These adventures are full of surprises and so much fun, you never know what you are going to see when you are out there. Some of the fun is the topside action; breaching whales, mobula rays and of course dolphins. When I was capturing these images of these dolphins, I had to keep messing with my settings because these dolphins are so dark, I was having trouble capturing their details. I really thought I was seeing things, normally bottlenose dolphins are a grey color, and these guys are more of a dark grey when they are underwater, however, when the sun touches their skin, they look more black in color. Such beautiful animals.
1/2500, f8, ISO 500
1/320, f9, ISO 640
One of the highlights of our year is having the opportunity to swim with these guys. I love how things have changed so much with how these animals are seen. There is still a lot of work to be done to change the publics perception, and maybe I am naive in this thinking, but I am holding onto hope that we one day will change how we see these animals. I will do my part to change that. We have been running these trips for 7 plus years now and I am always looking for ways to try and capture different images of the crocs, since the images are always pretty similar looking. I got lucky with the very top image of Gambit chasing a hang bait. I was originally trying to capture an image of Gambit coming up for a breath of air, with her eyes, just above the surface, but when she started chasing the bait, I managed a few shots that I really liked. The above pic of Gambit walking over some logs was pure luck. It created a very different look for my normal croc images.
1/320, f9, ISO1000
There are no words on how to express our sperm whale expedition this season. It was easily one of the best trips we have ever experienced. It was a very emotional trip for me, just overwhelming. We had many days where the sperm whales wanted to play and interact with us. That is truly the stuff that dreams are made of. Trying to pick my favorite image from this trip was difficult, as the whales gave us so many opportunities to capture great images. The above image is not my best from the trip, but easily one of my favorite moments.
The back story; A pod of whales were swimming off and I decided to try and catch up to them to snap a few photos of the group. While in pursuit, this young moody female saw me swimming after them, she stopped swimming, turned around and swam towards me. She was clicking her sonar hard at me and then hit the brakes, opened her mouth wide open and scream/clicked at me. I don’t speak whale but I got the message loud and clear. She wanted me to back off and I did as she commanded. The experience is one I will always cherish and never forget.
1/320, f4.5, ISO 1000.
Our anaconda diving expedition is always a great experience. Brazil itself is just one of the greatest places on the planet to find diverse wildlife. When I am there it feels like I am kid in a candy store, its just magical. During our two weeks there, we encountered 3 different female anacondas, all of them around 5 meters, if not bigger. One of the females had finished eating a capybara, or a marsh deer, and had a huge lump in her belly as she will be slowly digesting her meal over the next couple of months. The meal should sustain her for at least 6 months - if not longer. You can see a shot of her on my Blog header pic, love that shot of me with her. Image by my buddy Daniel.
We also encountered a fourth anaconda, but sadly this 5 meter snake was dead. She had tried to make a meal out of a wild hog, but these guys travel in family groups and as the snake was trying to eat it, the rest of the family swooped in and attacked it until it finally let the hog go. Sadly she did not survive that attack and died. After we found our dead snake, we encountered another big girl basking on the river bank. We spent the next two hours with her, which was a lot of fun. The above image is one I really liked showing not only the snake but our group swimming with her. LOVE this image.
1/500, f9, ISO 1250.
Marlin season off Magdalena Bay Mexico was filled with every emotion you can think off. The reason is the weather made it challenging this year. We got our asses kicked around by the seas. But damn was it special. From blue whales to humpback whales, we experienced some epic magic out there. The marlin were a bit of a challenge to find in the beginning of the trip, only because they were so far out and with the weather we had trouble getting to the good spots safely. Once the conditions smoothed out, it was game on. Epic baitballs, and a lot of amazing encounters. Mouth open shots of marlin are not easy to capture, I have struggled to capture the perfect one. I am getting close and the shot I captured this year is one of my favorites, until we go back next season and do it again!
1/320, f9, ISO 1000.
Tiger Beach was all time great this season. There were so many tigers, on both our trips this year. We normally run one in October and one in December. The December trip is a combo Tiger and Great hammerhead trip. The hammerhead part of the trip was great, but Tiger Beach was all time! This year, we were gifted with a massive school of horse eyed-jacks which made for amazing photo opportunities. I spent a lot of time trying to capture images of a tiger swimming into the school, this one was my favorite of the session.
I am left with moments and memories floating through my heart and soul. Thanks again to the beautiful people who joined us out there and for making these trips amazing. Our final images in our blog are from my phone. Just a few captures of the people and places that helped make these trips special. Until 2022… thank you again and thank you for reading.
Love you guys!
