Trip # 1 of the New Year!

freckles 2.jpg

We just returned from Tiger Beach, Bahamas for the first trip of the new travel year. I wish I could say it was the perfect trip, with perfect seas and lots and lots of big sharks. Sadly, we can’t say that. I am happy to report that we had lots of big sharks, however the conditions were less than favorable. We had wind, and swells and horrible, horrible visibility. We did make the most of it though and dove as much as the ocean would allow us too. And thankfully everyone that joined us was super pumped and made the most of everyday we were out there. So thanks again to our friends who joined us out there, you guys are awesome.

I did keep a journal of our trip, so figured the best way to narrate this story is to give you guys a look at my daily journal - and the highs and lows of life in and on the ocean for this trip.

January 20, 2020 - Sitting here at Fish Tales, and haven’t been able to dive yet. It has been crap vis with wind all morning. When we arrived, we had just hit low tide and with the wind, we didn’t have any visibility. So this morning has been a lot of editing for me and chatting it up with a few of our guests.

AT THE END OF THE DAY…
Today’s dive report - It was shit, shit, shit visibility at Fish Tales. We had plenty of tigers including; Hook, Maui, I think Tequila made an appearance, Dirty girl? (I think), a couple of tigers I didn’t really know and Jitter Bug is back. Damn! She is no  longer pregnant, which means, she pupped her first litter of babies. This was officially her first litter. So this means, she will be fattening up this season and maybe she will be breeding again this season. I don’t know if she will be breeding this winter, not sure when exactly she pupped? But next winter for sure she will. So if we are on schedule for a late winter 2020 mating, then the following winter 2021, she should be pupping again. So my prediction is she will show up very fat in December 2021. If she doesn’t breed sooner.  

Hook in the murk.

Hook in the murk.

Anyway, so we did three dives today including a sunset dive that turned into a night dive, with a bait crate, which was scary as fudge. There was four tigers including Jitter Bug. Hook showed up and so did Dirty Girl, and some random tiger I didn’t know. The vis was horrible, maybe 15-20 feet, if that. I only brought five pieces of bait down with me, and thankfully so. The tigers didn’t go crazy because the bait scent was not strong. Jitterbug was a pain in the ass and super on fire. She is still up to her old trick and really hard to work with. I do hope she calms down. Never fun when she acts like that, especially at night in low vis conditions.

Tomorrow looks like it may be blown out and if it is, I am going to record our first podcast with Capt. Scott. It is fitting that he is part of my first podcast. I built my career abroad the Dolphin Dream working with tigers, and this is a great way to pay homage to the super good guy that helped me do it. Gonna be a good day, either way! 

Dusk dive with reef shark.

Dusk dive with reef shark.

Jitterbug

Jitterbug

January 21, 2020 - Weather day. However we did get one morning dive in. It was a freaking mess. We had ok vis near the surface, but at the bottom it was complete shit. When we jumped in, we had some swells, but no whitecaps, by the middle of the dive the vis got worse and we called it a day. When I hit the surface, the wind had kicked in hard and the boat was rocking and rolling in a stormy sea. The ocean was mean today. After everyone boarded up, we ran for a safe place to lee up.

We had three tigers, Freckles, Jitterbug and Kim Possible. Stressful day. Jitterbug, is such a pesky shark. Tigers are comfortable in the murk, and we needed to keep a close eye on her whenever she showed up. Today also marked the return of bull sharks ( they were around the prior week, but my first time seeing them here this winter season), to Tiger Beach. In December they were a no-show, but they were back. Here off TB, they are well behaved, so they are always a welcomed treat.

January 22, 2020 - Well no diving today. We had some major weather issues this trip and we had to take shelter behind the island of Grand Bahamas. Some of the guests dove on a reef that was pretty, but no real life on it to pass the time. There are no animals due to the locals fishing it out. Sad really.

I did learn something amazing yesterday. One of my favorite tigers Freckles, showed up at TB this past October with a torn up dorsal fin. It looks like she will be breeding this winter and the boys are getting ready for her. In October, it didn’t look like a successful mating because only her dorsal fin was torn up. Normally, when I believe the matings are more successful is when the female has bite marks on her body, which shows me that she has allowed a male to get close enough to her to pin her down for a mating. I think fin bites only on a tiger, means she is running from them as they are trying to catch her. When I saw her yesterday, she had a lot more bite marks on her body, which showed me that she either had a successful pairing, or she is about to mate any day now.

I snapped a picture of her yesterday which showed her dorsal fin which is healing and filling in super fast. the time span is about three months. Their healing strength and speedy fin regeneration ability is awesome.

Tonite we depart for Bimini. Sadly, we did not have epic blue water dives for our guests with tiger sharks. We did have tiger sharks, but not the dives you read, see and dream about when planning a trip to Tiger Beach. Always makes me feel bad for our guests when that happens. The ocean can be cruel.

January 23, 2020 - BIMINI ISLAND well we had a good day of diving today. We dove three times with great hammerheads and bull sharks. The first dive, conditions were amazing. Blue water, lots of sun and four great hammerheads with well behaved nurse sharks. The boys put the bait box on a buoy and that seemed to help control the nurse sharks. The second and third dive, conditions sort of fell apart. We had low tide roll in with the weird smokey haze it brings with it. We had less hammers with about five bulls. They are getting braver it seems and may be forcing out the hammers.

I managed some fun pics that I am proud of. Hopefully tomorrow we will get better conditions and more chances for images. Hoping for a good last day for our guests, they deserve it after this week.

hammer 5.jpg

bull.jpg

January 24, 2020 - Final day of diving. Our day started out great. We woke up to a flat calm ocean with perfect skies. We had three great hammerheads show up and right away, it was going off. The hammers were coming in to the bait box and it was an amazing time. With the new baitbox set up, the nurse sharks were behaving themselves and it was just awesome. It was a great beginning to our day.

THEN… the bull sharks showed up and it became a shit show. The bulls scared off the hammerheads and they no longer were interested in visiting the bait box. So the dive turned into a bull shark dive, which wouldn’t be bad, if we were there to dive with bull sharks. The hammerheads were around, they just spent their time in the out skirts of the dive, and stopped coming in. All in all it was a good day of diving, but without the bulls, it would of been better.

I wanted to say thanks to our friends who joined us out there… thanks for being troopers while mother nature kicked us around. You guys are so freaking awesome!

IMG_0461.jpg





Green Anaconda Photo Profile

WILDLIFE PHOTO PROFILE
Green Anaconda – Bonito, Brazil

One of the most unforgettable experiences of my diving career was visiting the Pantanal and swimming with green anacondas. These highly misunderstood predators have been vilified by the media and public for years. When I first jumped in the water with them, I wasn’t sure what to expect.

I knew they weren’t the monsters they’d been made out to be—because if there’s one thing the media is good at, it’s over-exaggerating all predatory species. Still, I was curious. I wanted to understand their temperament. How tolerant were they of divers? How passive would they be toward another species once we were in their space?

I just didn’t know.

When we entered the water with this particular snake—an impressively large female, nearly 4 meters long—she wanted nothing to do with us and immediately swam away. At first, she moved quickly. But once she realized we weren’t a threat, she slowed down. She continued to swim away, but without urgency. There was no aggression—just calm retreat.

The snake was an absolute sweetheart, and I felt truly blessed to be in the water with her. What struck me most was the realization—yet again—that we’ve vilified another predatory species without truly understanding it.

This encounter happened over a year ago, but I can still see it clearly in my mind. It remains one of my most treasured wildlife experiences—a moment of connection, humility, and deep respect.

anaconda 20.jpg
anaconda 6.jpg

STORYTELLING IN 2020

Photographing humpbacks in Tonga.

Photographing humpbacks in Tonga.

It all begins again. A brand new year. I have never been much of a New Years resolution guy, but I always try and think about fresh new ideas and I always want to set new goals. Of course, like most resolutions they tend to fade with time and life and inconvenience. However, the one thing I always say to myself each year is - I want to communicate even better with you all. I want to share more stories, and write more blogs and create more videos, and so on and so on. 

Dancing with tigers in the Bahamas

Dancing with tigers in the Bahamas

I am a story teller, I always have been. It  is how I communicate the best. The thing is, how should I communicate? There are so many platforms to do it on, and I try to do my best on each of them, but it is not easy. I always start strong, but by mid-year, (sometimes sooner), I just stop, and I always fall short. I love recording video blogs, but that is so time consuming, and not always the easiest emotionally to do and share. I know I need to bring someone in to edit them for me, but again, I am not really sure if I am there yet for that?

I love photography, that one is the easiest, because you can post a photo, write a caption and then put it out there pretty quickly. But photos don’t always express what I think or feel about an amazing moment, the way video does. 

Photographing jaguars in Brazil.

Photographing jaguars in Brazil.

I just don’t know? I do know that I truly enjoy writing, it is the one thing I have always enjoyed. So I may be doing more of that this season. Maybe it is not as exciting as a vlog, but it is where my heart has always felt free. So I might do a lot more writing this year. I mean, I write in a journal almost daily, but of course I do not share most of that. Something’s have to be written for yourself, to keep your mind and soul beating together, and for my sanity. Expressing my thoughts in a journal, is just how I have always done that.

Hanging out with Gambit the crocodile. Banco Chinchorro, MX.

Hanging out with Gambit the crocodile. Banco Chinchorro, MX.

All I know is, I want to create more content for you guys, but… I do not want to promise you guys that I will be sharing more scheduled (vlogs, or blogs, or images, or videos, or podcasts, (even though that is way over due). ), and then fail and fall short when they do not come out in a timely fashion. I always stress out about it, and it loses its enjoyment. With our crazy schedule, I am just going to do as much as I can, and share as much as I can of this amazing life that we are experiencing. I will be doing a lot this year, just not going to create a schedule that I stress out about when I miss a date, or a week. So I am gonna wing it, and in the end will mean much more fun for me, and a lot more posts.

In Norway for orcas.

In Norway for orcas.

Because at the end, the reason I love doing all this is, I get to talk about animals and the amazing places that they live in. And my passion is the animals and sharing their story with you all. That is the stuff I live for.

Anyway, this little rant is just the beginning of the many rants and vlogs coming your way this year. This one, wasn’t specifically about animals, it is just some thoughts I wanted to share with you all. So until the next one my friends… of course, not sure when it will be, but for sure there will be a next one. lol

Thanks for reading.

2019 End of Year Slide Show!

2019 was a WOW year, filled with amazing adventures. I am truly grateful that we get to share with people this wild world and the wildlife that we share this planet with. One of the bonuses to being out there, is not only helping our friends who join us on our travels with their photographic journeys, but also having the opportunity to capture images of the animals we encounter as well. So for the first blog of the new year, I am honored to share with you, my favorite captures of the 2019 season… I hope you enjoy!

Arctic Orcas... Just DAMN!

November 28, 2019 - I am sitting here in Oslo, Norway in my hotel room trying to process this past week and our time with Norway’s orcas. It has been one hell of a week, and it is going to be a long time until I am able to forget this week and what I saw and felt. Not really sure where to begin and not going to bore you with the travel details, all I can say is I was completely overwhelmed with emotions this week. There was so many orcas, I mean we hit either the jackpot, or one of the best weeks of the season when we got here. Hundreds of orcas were out here scattered all over the Fjords. Along with a good 40 to 50 humpback whales as well. Maybe even more. There was a lot of them.

orca family.jpg

And I am not sure what the humpbacks were doing? Along with seeking out herring to eat, they were also doing some weird socializing, where they would sit together at the surface, and then all together just drop down to the depths, then pop up to the surface, in another area, and do it again.. Sometimes it was 5 or 6, and sometimes more. During one of these sittings, we counted 30 humpback whales. It was crazy. We jumped in with them during that massive gathering and caught glimpses of them as they dropped down to the depth. It was one hell of a show.

whale tail.jpg

My biggest fear, when I am here in the Arctic, is of course the weather. I was nervous about being cold on the boat, (because I have been on our previous trips…like miserably cold). But this time around I did it right. I wore the right combination of under garments to help keep me toasty warm for my moments in the water and on the boat. The secret, for those of you interested is wearing a neoprene shorty wetsuit underneath my fleece undergarment, and it freaking worked so well. It kept my core warm, which kept everything else comfortable.

orca.jpg

Super pumped for next season when I improve on it for added warmth and flexibility. Of course next season I think I am going to dive semi-dry. I want to be able to free dive a little bit better. This year I was stuck at the surface in my dry suit, with no real opportunity to free dive properly, even though I had weights. Just didn’t get it dialed in right, but I am cool with it. My biggest fear was not being comfortable in the water, and I was, so am happy with this experience.

orca penny.jpg

So back to the orcas, and not really sure where to start; although I know where I want to finish is with the herring fishermen. There are a lot of herring boats out there and the amount of fish they are taking is going to have a serious impact on these orca and humpback whale populations. I am hoping the officials will come to their senses, or at least look at the amount of money being brought in to this country, due to tourism and hopefully change their policies and quotas on herring fishing, because they take a lot of fish. The tourism here brings in a lot of money for the locals. It is an extremely important revenue stream and I think much more sustainable than herring fishing, for the local economies.

orca 2.jpg

Any way back to the orcas; I think what I will do is share from my personal journal, notes from our best day on the water. Because that day was so damn good.

November 25, 2019 - Today I finally had the day I was dreaming of, and hoping would happen. We finally had a herring bait ball, with a lot of orcas and humpback whales on it. It was super dark and murky and difficult to capture photographs, but damn was it awesome. When we jumped in, we could hear the chaos, even with our hoods on. The orcas were clicking and squealing like crazy. Our boat stayed away from the action and we had to swim to the bait ball. When we got there, it took a little while, swimming in dry suits is a bit of a challenge. It was thick with fish and there was orcas all over it. The light was fading fast, and it was super dark. We found it towards the end of our day, sadly, with not much light left, it made the water even darker than normal. But I didn’t care. Jumping in with a baitball that had orcas and humpbacks on it was everything I dreamed it would be. Of course the humpbacks made it a bit intimidating to be near the baitball.

baitball 2.jpg

We were floating next to the herring ball, watching the orcas below, slamming their tails into it, when all of sudden we felt this pressure rush of water as a humpback swam up and through the bait ball. We could barely see the whale, its white flippers stood out against the dark water, which helped us see it. I looked up and damn was it super close to us. I was on fire with adrenaline from what had just happened, and the fact that we were so close to this massive animal as it swam through, mouth open. DAMN was all I could think. Being in the water with these animals was one of my biggest dreams ever. No words can ever express what I was feeling at that moment.

orca 2.jpg

The orcas were everywhere I didn’t know where to look. I just snapped away. I knew the images were probably going to be horrible, because it was difficult to see, it was just too dark. As I reviewed my images on the boat, I was bummed that only one sort of came out. A proof of life shot, that I was there. Of course I didn’t care, I was so happy for the experience.

orca 5.jpg

The water was getting darker and darker, and I decided to get out when I couldn’t see the humpback whales anymore. I sadly pulled myself away from this baitball and back onto the boat. My smile was endless that day. Overall it was an amazing day of orcas with our guests and a huge relief for me. I really wanted a bait ball for them. Yes, we saw orcas everyday, and yes it has been amazing, but it wasn’t spectacular, and it sure wasn’t WOW! I really wanted a wow day for them. Hoping for a wow day tomorrow as well.

Recorded a quick vlog from our day, which shows the orcas on the baitball.

Angles are EVERYTHING…

I have been out photographing a lot this season. I mean, I have been hard at it for the past few seasons but this season I have been working on my craft a lot. I am super happy with where I am at, when it comes to my wildlife photography, I still have a ton to learn and I am loving every second of it. There are so many great wildlife photographers to learn from.  From basic’s like, learning how to use my camera’s features, to composition, to studying behavior for better images. I have been working hard trying to learn it all. It is all uphill, but I am enjoying the climb.

Of course the most important part of learning anything is trying to pass on what you have learned. Just an FYI, nothing I have learned is new. This is info I have learned from better shooters, but my goal is to one day, stand among those giants - and the one thing I know about the greats, is that they love passing on what they have learned. So as I climb my mountain, I will do my best to share tips and tricks along the way.  


So here is my first post on sharing what I have learned about wildlife photography; Perspective; capturing the different angles. When you are photographing wildlife, it is all about where and how you stand, or more to the point, how NOT to stand. By that I mean, getting low, whenever you can.  


When you are photographing a subject, both above and below the water, you can change the look and feel of a photo just by squatting, or kneeling or lying down. Here is an example of what I mean… 


In this first example, I was standing up high on the boat, looking down on the shark when I snapped this image of a breaching white shark. The back ground is just water. It is still a nice shot, but it lacks depth.

breach.jpg


Here is an example of what I mean by getting low. I was at sea level and squatting low on the back diving platform, waiting for this shark to breach on the hang bait. Squatting low meant I could also capture the island in the back ground, giving this breaching image a much different look. 

breach 3.jpg


Here is another couple of examples of images from different perspectives.

The first is a photo of a great hammerhead from up high and shows the sand around the animal. It is a nice shot, well I like it. But doesn’t show what is around the area, just looks like an empty ocean with a shark cruising along the bottom, which is great, it shows the shark in it’s element. Getting up high sometimes helps to tell a different kind of story.

areial print.jpg


However, in this next image, I captured it from a low position, trying to show it from the sharks perspective, sharing what the shark sees. I also played with black and white in this image to try and set a mood. It kind of works.

IMG_5856.JPG


So anyway, today’s lesson is about getting low, to change the look and feel of your photos, because when it comes to capturing a nice image… angles are everything.

Hoping this post will help some of you on your photographic journey. I know it helped me learning this little photography tip.

Taking my Daughter Croc Diving!

Oh the critics and there are many… all thinking I am out of my mind for taking my precious 13 year old daughter Sophia, crocodile diving. She is truly an amazing individual and an old soul. She was super nervous about swimming with crocodiles, but it didn’t take long before she was over her fears and was then trying to see how close she could safely get to the crocs. It was fun to watch, she spent a lot of time in the water, more than I dreamed she would, and told her mom upon returning from this trip that it was one of her favorites.

Yes, crocodiles are dangerous predators, but with a lot of respect and by following the rules, you can safely swim with them. And we have been running this trip for 9 years now and hopefully for another nine years after that…

Sophia.jpg

Introducing people to predatory animals, like crocs is one of my most favorite things to do, and sharing a trip like this with my baby girl is beyond words. Easily one of my most favorite trips I have ever run. But enough from me, I’ll let you watch this video vlog and let her tell you herself. Hope you enjoy.

Beautiful Trash Pandas!!!

July 21, 2019 - We went to Cozumel today. My buddies Tommy and Angel came with us to Playa to hang out for a few days and wanted to do some exploring. So we decided to take them to Cozumel Island to sight see. Of course we took off super late and only spent about an hour playing by the beach. 

racoon 2.jpg

I really wanted to go, but it wasn’t for beers and the beach. DOn’t get me wrong, the beers were a super bonus. But I was after a golden prize - the Cozumel pygmy raccoon and I hoped to see the pygmy coati as well..  So when we arrived on the island, I asked our taxi driver the best place for a shot at seeing them. He sent us to resort beach area on the South side of the island. He told me they would hang around the restaurant seeking out hand outs. 

Well, after settling in on the beach, we rented some chairs, ordered a few beers and food from a waiter. I asked them where the best spot is to see raccoons was. The guy smiled and said, wait till the food arrives and they will show up.

coati 2.jpg

It wasn’t very long before I saw the first coati.  Right at the forest line on the beach, a family of pygmy coatis were there next to a dive shop, drinking water. The dive shop there, puts out big bowls of water for the animals to drink from. I quickly went over there and snapped away. Super fired up about seeing this endemic species for the first time. Shortly after that, and the reason for my visit to this beach appeared - the pygmy raccon, walked out of the bush and into the dive shop. This animal was not shy at all. 

I was on fire! One of the rarest predators on our planet, due to their small geographic range, something like only 250-300 are left. So despite the animal being comfortable and not shy, I felt extremely privileged at being able to see one of these little beauties in the wild. 

At one point, the raccoon climbed up into a coconut tree. I positioned myself under the tree and snapped images every time the raccoon looked down at me. For images this was perfection. Having this island predator on an iconic island tree was such a great opportunity. The raccoon tried to get comfortable, but just couldn’t and eventually climbed down. When she did, I was right there under her, ready to photograph her descent.

racoon 10.jpg
My gang having fun out there…

My gang having fun out there…

We spent about two hours hanging out at the beach, my loves played in the water and I stayed on shore snapping away, super happy with our day. I had a blast and am really fired up about coming back for more opportunities to photograph these beautiful little predators.

racoon eyes.jpg

Whale Sharks, Whale Sharks and MORE Whale Sharks.

July 16, 2019 - 5:33pm our first day of whale shark diving off Isla Mujeres, Mexico. It was a good but tough day. So many new laws and regulations here, the captains were nervous as hell about it. CONAAP has everyone on their toes and up in arms. So now it is mandatory for everyone to wear life jackets. Even in the water. You can do a one free diver and one guide, but they do not allow for two anymore. Just silly.

feeding.jpg

Over all we had an awesome day and despite the headaches of this new law, everyone had a good time. We stayed out as long as we could and everyone had a chance to get some solid whale shark time in. A very good first day. Of course there was so much food in the water that the sharks are feeding on, all my pictures are full of suck. Tomorrow is another day, hoping for patches of blue water for some decent images. Hoping for a coke bottling shark, that is always the best photo opportunities. A static shark that is just filter feeding in one spot.

July 17, 2019 - Day two of our whale shark expedition. We had a really good day - today the whale sharks were all surface feeding and there were a lot of sharks. Of course we are still dealing with the new rules, which are tough, but we will get used to them. A lot of silly bullshit if you ask me. Some of the other boats are asking for some sort of standard across the board service. Basically, they want everyone to act the same. Same crap service they give to tourists and bucket listers, who just want something to do on vacation. Which has nothing to do with the sharks or an appreciation for them.

whale shark.jpg

They want to end the service some of the better operators provide to people who want to see these sharks and want to spend quality time with these animals. It is horrible, and each year, they think of new rules to try and create more road blocks for the better operators. They even turned down prop guards for their boats, which will help protect the sharks and the swimmers. The excuse they use;  because they do not want to spend the money. It truly shows those operators do not give a shit about these animals. I saw fresh cuts on a whale shark today, just horrible when you know that it can be avoided.

July 18, 2019 - Just got back from day 3 in the water. We decided this morning to put an effort into finding manta rays. Sadly,  we did not find any. Where the hell are they? Last season they were all over the place, yet this season we have not seen any. No one has this week. Last week our captain told us they had a lot of mantas, but so far… goose egg. 

whale shark.jpg

The action today was good but hard. A lot of sharks but they wanted nothing to do with us. Part of that behavior I am very familiar with. Tomorrow it will be a great day, because the sharks will be feeding hard and they will not care about us. Hoping to find a coke bottling shark. So far I have not seen one yet. Our guests have, thankfully. Yesterday our guests had some decent coke bottling action. I stayed on the boat while they took turns photographing the shark. By the time it was my turn, the shark swam off. Tomorrow - tomorrow is my day.

tail.jpg

The plan tomorrow is to head out a bit earlier than our normal 9 am departure. We are headed to Contoy Island to try and find mantas, and a loggerhead for me. Still need me a loggerhead. Hoping to find a mating pair, which would be epic! The area around Contoy is always a really good spot for manta rays, so hoping to find some for our guests.

Side note; my best friend Tommy arrived here last night, along with my inlaws, and my son Gabriel. Lots of family here with my guests. Love it when my family joins me out here, it always makes travel so much more special.

July 19, 2019 - And it is over. Our time with the whale sharks has ended. It was a good four days of shark diving. No mantas, but damn, where the hell did they freaking go? This was the most stressful week of swimming with these sharks that we have ever experienced. The new rules were hard to deal with, but we made the best of it and figured out how to have an amazing time within the rules and everyone got plenty of water time. Hoping these guys get their shit together and create some rules that make sense for the sharks and the people who want to see them. 

I just did a quick check and it is officially 15 years that I have been running this trip. I have swam with whale sharks now for 15 years in a row, that is so wild. A lot of changes since that first trip. We originally started running these trips off Holbox but we decided to change the location over 10 years ago when the sharks were spending more time near Isla Mujeres then Holbox. It cut travel time by an hour each way. 

I do miss Holbox, especially now that I am big into bird photography, Holbox is a birder’s paradise. But Isla is better for our guests. It is more touristy with a lot more for them to do. 

So we spent the morning seeking out manta rays around Contoy and nada. No mantas… they are just gone this week. Our friend Tracey saw two of them down deep in the whale shark grounds. It was a super brief encounter and that was the best the mantas gave us. We spent all morning looking for them and nothing. About 11:30 we admitted defeat and went to finish up the day with the whale sharks. The sharks were everywhere, lots of feeding sharks AND lots of coke bottling sharks. 

Our guests had a lot of opportunities to photograph these sharks and they all left the water happy. On my final swim of the trip, I followed a slow swimming shark for a short while, when magic happened. She stopped swimming and went vertical. I finally got my coke bottling shark. She allowed me to snap a few images of her, before she decided to start swimming again. I was on fire and so very grateful for these amazing animals and this amazing place. 

whale shark.jpg

Tonite we will get together for one final group meal together. Going to have dinner by the water to watch the sunset. A perfect way to end this weird but wonderful trip. Thanks to all our friends who joined us, you all are amazing souls. Love you guys.