Where do I Begin???

Ok, so I have been going through old hard drives trying to figure out what to post, and damn, it is HARD trying to figure out where to start. So many stories to choose from, I feel blessed to have spent that last 17 years working with wildlife. It has been so great revisiting these moments in time - so many great memories. Looking at my early trips, I realized, I didn’t take many still images. I spent the whole time recording videos, and there was no iphone back then. So that is one of the issues I am faced with when looking at the oldest of my trips. It was also pre- gopro, so much of the video that I recorded, is just underwater footage.

Image by my bro Victor Holmes

So I decided to begin with a throwback to where it all began for me, which was July 2011, on our whale shark expedition. That trip was one of the very first ones, where I took a gopro with me and just started documenting everything. I wish I continued to do that on every single trip, because those trips are so well documented with video clips, both topside and underwater. So great for story telling purposes. So for today I reposted on our Youtube channel, the first video vlog I recorded from that trip…

As I move forward with these stories and videos from the archives, I will share more details about the experiences. I do remember when I first started, being nervous talking to the camera, but I was also very excited… because a new chapter of story telling had begun.

When I started Shark Diver magazine back in 2003, I knew I wanted to incorporate video into what we did. I felt that we could tell better stories with video, then just with written words. In fact I hired a videographer for our very first expedition (sandtiger sharks, Morehead City, NC). He edited the video and sent me the final product, but it was not what I envisioned and so we scraped the idea. He made a video that you sell to tourists. I wasn’t looking for that. I was looking for a video that shared and showed this crazy life and journey we had just begun.

I attempted to do it again in 2006, and the end product of that, was a documentary I produced, called Summer of the Sharks. Which was a lot of fun. It was a buddy shark diving road trip movie and I loved making it. Again, the film itself was edited and directed by someone else, so it was not entirely what I wanted, but it was damn close.

So finally in 2011, I started learning how to edit my own stuff to try and create moments and memories that were in my mind’s eye.

These early videos are not perfect, and I wish I could go back and correct them, but they are perfect in their in-perfections. This journey and phase of my life was a lot of fun and I was super pumped up about it, because I knew this was going to open up a whole new world for me and the stories I was able to tell. The gopro was going to give me freedom that no other camera had in the past.

So, here we go, the journey continues…

LOTS of Stories and Videos coming your way!

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Venice, LA 2009

Well, we are going through a crazy, crazy time. Sad that it all had to come to this, but honestly, we humans, collectively were asking for this. We have sinned so much against nature, that I believe she finally struck back. It doesn’t matter how the virus got here; whether it was consuming animals, or escaped a viral facility, or released by some mad man. In the end, Mother Earth wins a much needed break from us.

Anyway, that rant is over and now onto the reason for this blog. Well, it looks like traveling for me will be out for a while, and to keep my mind from exploding during this time out, I will be using it productively. Doing what I love to do, when I am not out in the world with wild animals. Which is to write, and edit photos and videos. I figure, since many of you will be stuck at home, sort of in the same predicament as I am, I will be creating content for you all, to read and watch and listen too, over the next few months.

Somewhere on the road 2008

So get ready to hear from me quite a bit, as I run through memory lane with videos, images and stories from 17 years of running trips around this wonderful world, I have had the pleasure of experiencing for the better part of my adult life.

San Diego, CA. 2009

Going to share everything; both the highs and lows, because honestly it wasn’t always perfect. There was definitely dark times there, from bad seas, to sicknesses, to no animals showing up, too low moments in my personal life. But there were also high - highs as well. Looking forward to seeing what I can find for you all - to share from my journey over the next few months, as we go through this crazy corona thing together.

Until then; stay safe, wash your hands, take care of yourself, your loved ones, and your neighbor.

Our thoughts and heart are always with you.
Eli Martinez

An Update on this Corona Virus Craziness

Well sadly, things have spun out of control for this corona virus. We truly feel horrible for the families effected by this virus, and we hope it all ends quickly.

Empty flight on my return from Cabo.

As far as trips are concerned… We are keeping an eye on all the places we will be visiting this year, and will keep everyone who has signed on with us, up to date with all the latest travel news/bans concerning your trips. Everything is still brand new and we are learning as we go. Please bear with us, and know we will be working with everyone during this dark time to figure things out with you, and for you.

We will fight for you regardless of the outcome of this craziness, so that you have the best experience, not only with the animals you hope to encounter, but with our company as well.

Please take care of yourselves out there, and your fellow man, wash your hands and please stay safe.

Eli and Maritza Martinez

Weekly Featured Expedition! - Polar Bears off Churchill Canada!

So I started this new addition to my newsletter, but figured I would add it here for our website visitors as well. This is insights to up coming trips with my thoughts on them, why I chose this particular expedition, and what people can expect from it, if they join us out there.

This week’s featured trip is our polar bear photography expedition off Churchill, Canada. Now I know I say photography trip, and it really is designed as a shooters trip, but wildlife enthusiasts, with iphones, for cameras, will love this trip as well. The reason I say it is designed as a photographer’s trip is because it is a very small group trip, like a maximum 4 people on this trip. We will be traveling in a private vehicle, so that when a bear is spotted, we will be able to get out of the vehicle for opportunities to set up shots. Either getting down low to the ground, to snap some images, or using tri-pods. And because it is our trip, we will be able to stay as long as we would like with an individual animal.

Of course respect, and safety is everything when it comes to these types of expeditions, for both the animal’s welfare and our own. We will have licensed guides with us, and they will have a rifle with them, which is for peace of mind, and they are required by law to carry one, for emergencies. But chances of them ever needing to use the gun, even a warning shot in the air is pretty much zero.

This one is a big trip for us, and I am super fired up about it, because of the opportunity to get close to the bears at ground level. I have never been thrilled about being up high in a tundra buggy, or on a ship, looking down on a bear as it is walking around. I would much rather be at ground level, looking at them, eye to eye, or up at the bear as it walks around in its natural habitat.

I have photographed and seen polar bears in Churchill during the summer months when they are there hunting belugas, or hanging around the area, waiting for winter to return. Seeing bears during this time of year is special, but it is not the same as seeing them during the winter season, with snow all around. THAT is what I am hoping for all of us to see - a polar bear in it’s element, with snow blanketing the tundra, as far as the eye can see. To catch them in the snow, walking, resting, playing, or with their breathe turning to smoke when they breath, would be amazing.

We are also hoping to visit and photograph the Canadian Eskimo dogs, hanging out with the polar bears. This is the area that was made famous for polar bears interacting with these dogs. The images of polar bears hugging and playing with the dogs went viral and we will visit the area where the dogs are to see if any bears are hanging around. They usually are, because they like to nibble on any left over food that the dogs leave behind.

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Churchill is an amazing place and the opportunities to photograph other types of wildlife is really high, including; red foxes, arctic foxes, caribou, snowy owls, arctic hares and diverse bird species. Ok, I admit, I am just as fired up about seeing the other wildlife here, as much as I am about the polar bears - especially the arctic foxes. This iconic fox is really HIGH on my must see list of animals. I have photographed them before, but during the summer months, when they were wearing their summer coat. To see an arctic fox with that beautiful white fur, in the snow, is a dream come true.

Another exciting opportunity here is photographing the Northern Lights. This is a great area for setting up your camera on a tripod to snap images of the auroras. We have always had good luck snapping images of the lights during the summer months. But the auroras in the winter season are so much better. Looking forward to seeing the lights again, when and if we get the chance. I say if, because we still need clear skies for a chance at photographing them.

So there it is, hoping this helps anyone that may be interested in joining us on this particular expedition, if you do… check out the trip page, send us an email, or give me a call on my cell, I would be happy to chat with you about it (956) 279-8119.

Thank you for reading guys.

Thresher Sharks. A GREAT Day in the Water.

What an experience! We finally visited Malapascua Island in the Philippines for thresher sharks. This is one of the only places in the world for thresher shark sightings. The Red Sea is another, but I don’t know how reliable it is anymore? So if you want to see this unique species of sharks, Malapascua is where you need to go.

Group Photo.

We organized this trip and I was skeptical about our chances for good photography, because everything I have ever heard about this place, is the diving happens in the early morning, like 5AM early. And you are not allowed to use strobes, due to the very sensitive eyes that threshers sharks have (which is awesome that they protect them that way). So I was not sure what to expect. I chalked it down as it would be just an amazing experience. Thresher sharks were high on my need to see it list for many, many years.

Well this place is amazing and the photo opportunities are fantastic, IF, you learn how to shoot using natural light. Thankfully, I pretty much exclusively use natural light for my underwater photography, so it was pretty easy for me to do a custom white balance and capture the images in low light.

A quick protip, for anyone wanting to photograph threshers here is; practice and learn how to use your custom white balance feature on your camera and housing. You will be very happy if you do. And also the thing about custom white balance is, it is a continuous thing. When you are at 40 feet and set your white balance, you will need to set it again when you reach 50 feet, and then 60, etc. You have to continuously change it to capture the right colors for the depth you are at.

So back to my blog. I was going to post my entire field journal, but decided to just pull a page from one day out there, this was my favorite day of the trip with our group. Hope you enjoy!

February 6, 2020 - We went out this morning for a one tank dive. We only brought one tank, because conditions were supposed to go to hell, with 22 knot winds predicted. But when we woke up and went to the dive shop, there was zero wind and flat calm seas?

As we motored out, there was a bit of an over cast sky, but it looked like it was going to burn out. The thing that pulled our attention was the color of the water, this was the first day we have had this week, where the water was visibly blue. It turned into a perfect morning and the best weather day of the trip. Of course in the back of our minds, we were waiting for the winds to pick up, but thankfully, nothing.

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We dropped down for our dive and began our search for the threshers. The action was pretty slow. We had a few threshers down in the dark waters, at about 80 plus feet. But it was too dark to snap any photos there, and the water, due to a chilly thermal cline, was very murky. So we stayed up high. My buddy Chris, had a thresher swim up and over him at about 60 feet, and I snapped a few shots of that, but I was pretty far away, so not exciting images. We continued our search, but despite the bluest water we had, the sharks were just not very active up high.

I had stayed down as long as I could and finally decided to go up when my tank read about 700 lbs. While waiting there during my safety stop, magic happened, a thresher shark rose up out of the depths and started swimming around the cleaning station. My eyes dropped down to the tank gauge and it read 600 Lbs. Plenty of air! I dropped back down and swam over the top of the shark, to get a shot of it, before it disappeared back down into the depth.  Snapping a couple of quick shots of the shark, realizing the error of my ways, our group was there, and I totally just dropped down on top of the shark, and may of screwed it up for them. I was gutted and felt just horrible.

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Thankfully the ocean gods were kind, and the shark stayed, still circling the cleaning station. I turned and called in Elaine who was to my right, to get closer. She moved in and the shark swam by, circling again. I snapped images when I could, and in between shots, I checked my gauge. The shark kept circling and I moved back to snap some images of Elaine taking pictures. I stayed as long as I could, but my air kept dropping, so after a few minutes of the best encounter of the trip, my tank said no more. So I went back up to do another safety stop. A huge smile on my face, sucking the last few drops of air from my tank. There was enough air to finish up the safety stop, and the last of the air finished as I boarded the boat. Everyone who was down there was on fire. It is crazy how one moment can change the entire mood/experience of a dive. If that shark had not shown up, it would of been an ok dive, but because that shark arrived, for just a few minutes, it turned in epic, memorable dive. That is what I love about nature and wild places, you never know what to expect.

The weather stayed good, so we went back out for a second dive, but sadly got skunked. No sharks. Our first skunker dive of the trip. Not bad after four days of diving. 

Morning Birding Session

March 3, 2020 - Went birding this morning at the Butterfly center in Mission with my Sophia. I just got commissioned for an additional 8 images for the Mcallen Hospital. They have already purchased 100 plus images from us for their first floor decorations. They are looking to decorate a section of the hospital that has no images on it. For this section of the hospital they want Rio Grande Valley, Texas songbirds, and I wanted to get them something new. I have been lacking images of Altamira orioles, and Audubon orioles, two, extremely beautiful Valley natives. Well the Altamira oriole is a native, the Audubon is a migrant species.

We chose the Butterfly center, because I knew they had Audubon orioles there, which is a harder to find species than the Altamira. I knew they had Altamiras there as well, so I could kill two birds with one stone, no pun intended, lol. So we went to try and snap some images of these beauties. Of course, while there, I was hoping to improve my catalog of other colorful song bird species, and the Butterfly center is pretty good for that. The usual suspects were there as well; Greenjays, cardinals, kiskadees, and a few others.

Altamira Oriole, one of the Rio Grande Valley’s stars. Such beautiful birds.

Of course when we left it was still a bit dark out, but as the morning wore on, I could tell the light was not going to get any better. Thankfully, it was a warm morning, but sadly very overcast skies, which made photography difficult. We did manage to snap a few images, but with the high ISO, the birds had to be close to capture enough light on them, so that the images were not noisy. When the light is tough, and your ISO is high, try having your subject really close, so your camera doesn’t have to work as hard to capture information. The light was enough for me to snap a couple that once I put them in post, I was happy with, but I would of loved more opportunities… and much better light.

Sharp Shined hawk. This raptor swooped down and tried to grab a bird in front of us. It missed then landed on a near by tree. We managed to snap a few proof of life shots of this predator, as he was seeking out a potential meal.

So, it was a tough morning. Even with being at a good bird feeder (It is well positioned, and really good for morning light), the skies did not help us today. We did have the Altamira show up, but the audubon oriole was a no show. To top off the frustrations, a sharp shined hawk showed up, and scared off all the birds. Normally I welcome the predatory birds in. I admit, I do love when they show up. But today was supposed to be all about the song birds, so our hawk made photography a bit difficult. So after a slow, frustrating few hours, we called it a day. Going back out tomorrow to see what we may find?

I managed this portrait of a greenjay. Which is the RGV’s superstar. People fly from around the world for a chance to photograph these beauties. It was overcast skies, but with the bird so close to me, I managed to capture a lot of detail in this shot, and I am really proud of it.

New Trip Report - Borneo!

Hey guys, wanted to let you know what was new on our website in case you do not subscribe to our newsletter, if you do not… shame on you! There is some good stuff on there. But no worries, I am reposting our newsletter here so you don’t miss out. Lol, hope you enjoy.

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In my happy place…snapping images of the forest giants.

Greetings from Borneo,

Well, I am not actually in Borneo anymore, I am writing this on my couch, back in Texas. But it sounded way better as an opening for this newsletter. AND, we just returned from there, for the third expedition of the 2020 season. No real words that I can ever use to explain that trip, and the wildlife we encountered. It is the stuff dreams are made of! I know that I sound like I am over selling it, but this was my first trip to this part of the world. To see these animals, in the wild, without cages, in their natural habitat, is such a damn good feeling.

We piggy-backed this trip with our thresher shark trip off Malapascua Island, Philippines. That trip was also really good. We dove with thresher sharks everyday, and we had some amazing macro-dives, where we encountered, or sort of encountered, the elusive pygmy seahorse. And I say, sort of encountered, because that thing is so tiny - it is hard to put into words, of just how tiny it is. I did'n’t bring a macro lens on this trip, so I wasn’t able to capture images of it, but I did see a bigger yellow seahorse, which was absolutely beautiful, and we did see some spectacular reefs. The color on these reefs is like nothing I have ever seen before. I was blown away.

So onto the contents of this week’s Newstter.;

TRIP REPORT

I opened up this newsletter sharing my feelings about the magic of our Borneo trip, and if you want to read all about it, I kept a journal of my experience while I was there, and published it on our website as a trip report. Along with a lot of the images we captured from the experience.
GIVE IT A READ

NEW PODCAST

Big News for us to share is - we have started a podcast, SDM’s Wild World. We post new episode’s every Monday, and we may change that to every Friday, not sure yet? It is currently available on Anchor, Spotify, Apple. Super pumped about our show. So far we have 4 episodes out. So if you enjoy podcasts, please give us a listen. We are pretty sure you will enjoy it. I have attached a link to our Apple podcast for you to check out. Hope you enjoy it.
LISTEN TO OUR PODCAST

TRIP OF THE WEEK

So I am adding this little feature to promote our upcoming trips, but at the same time, share with you my thoughts on a particular trip we are doing and what you guys, if you join us, would potentially experience.

The trip I am highlighting this week, is our upcoming May orca expedition off Baja. Guys, it really is hard to describe the thrill of dropping in and seeing an orca in the water. It wasn’t that long ago that people thought it was impossible to safely swim with an orca. The thoughts were, that if you did, it would attack you. Thankfully, those ancient ideas are almost gone, and I say almost, because, I still get people asking me, if I ever feel threatened by them. My answer and the answer of every single person who has ever been in the water with one is, “NO, not ever”.

They truly are amazing animals to swim with and even if you do not get the chance to join us, for one of our two trips, (off Baja and we also offer Norway trips to swim with them), I truly hope you go with someone else to experience these animals.

Before it is too late…

and by that I mean, there are only a couple of places left where swimming with orcas is allowed, and currently there are talks of researchers shutting down swimming with orcas in Norway as well. So just like swimming with beluga whales off Churchill was regrettably shut down, you don’t want to hit that day where they no longer allow swimming with orcas as well.

CHECK OUT OUR BAJA ORCA TRIP FOR THIS MAY

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PHOTO GALLERY

Before we go, here are a few images from the trips we just returned from. Hope you enjoy!

Thresher shark off Malapascua Island, Philippines.

That tail!

The reefs off Malapascua, some of the prettiest I have ever seen.

Orangutan mom and baby.

Proboscis monkey. These guys are endemic to Malaysia.

Pygmy elephant. We waited over an hour for a chance to see these elephants dip into the water to cool off. It was worth it.

Thank you for reading… have a great week!

WE HAVE A PODCAST!

We just added a new podcast to our website and diverse social media outlets. This is something we have wanted to do for years! Super excited for this and really excited about sharing it with you all here. I am working on getting it on all the different outlets that carry podcasts and as we get picked up by the different places, we will let you guys know where you all can listen to it and hopefully subscribe to our show. For now it is available on Anchor and Spotify. Here is the link for you, if you are interested in checking it out. We will soon have a page dedicated solely to our podcast.

For our first episode of SDM’s Wild World, we sat down with Captain Scott Smith of the Dolphin Dream. The DD is a liveaboard we have been chartering since 2005 for our tiger sharks and great hammerhead expeditions to Tiger Beach. During this podcast, we talked, sharks, dolphins, eco-tourism and the life he has been living as a dive boat captain for the past 40 years! Hope you enjoy.

I sat down with Capt Scott Smith, owner of the Dolphin Dream, the boat operator we have used to dive Tiger Beach for the past 16 seasons. We talked sharks, dolphins, eco-tourism and the past 40 years of Captain's life, living and working and playing in the Bahamas

Trip # 1 of the New Year!

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.

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.

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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.

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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.

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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!

Green Anaconda Photo Profile

WILDLIFE PHOTO PROFILE
Green Anaconda. Bonito, Brazil.
One of the best 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 the general public for years. When I jumped in the water with them, I was not sure what to expect. I knew they were not the monsters they were made out to be, because, the one thing the media is good at is - over exaggerating all predatory species. But I wanted to find out about their temperament. How tolerant they were with divers, how passive were they towards another species, once they have been seen. I just was not sure.

When we jumped in with this very large 4 meter snake, she wanted nothing to do with us and swam away. First, she swam off fast, then when she realized we were not a threat, she slowed down. She still kept swimming away from us, but she was not in a hurry. The snake was a total sweetheart, and I felt truly blessed to be in the water with her. The greatest thing I learned about her, was that again, the public has vilified another predatory species without knowing anything about them. This encounter happened, over a year ago, but I can still see it in my mind's eye. It forever will be one of my most treasured encounters with a wild animal.

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