We Added a Basking Shark Expedition!

We just added a basking shark expedition to our trip itinerary for the 2022 season. This is a trip I have wanted to do for years, and we finally decided to set it up. Basking sharks are the second-largest fish in our oceans and one of the most mysterious. Sadly, this species was decimated by fishermen who wanted their livers for oil and because they were considered a nuisance shark.

Commercial fishers paid money to have these sharks killed on the East coast because the basking shark kept damaging their boats and nets. Basking sharks are filter feeders, so they swim on or near the surface, ram feeding for plankton. The sharks would often get caught in gill nets or hit the fishing boats causing financial damage. So they would kill every shark they would find. They nearly wiped out the entire East Coast population of these sharks in the process.

Thankfully these sharks finally won some protection, and since then, their numbers have been on the rise. They are still nowhere close to recovering, but they are on their way. Only a few places left where you can see them, and the Isle of Coll off Scotland is one of them.

Images courtesy of Chris Knight

I am very excited about going there and finally getting in the water with them. I am also enthusiastic about the other activities we will be doing once we are there. There are sea otters there, grey seals, and a healthy puffin colony that nests in the area. I have wanted to see puffins for a long time, so pumped that we will have a chance at them as well. We will try diving with them as well. They are a diving species, so trying to capture underwater images of these birds along with guillemots underwater will be a lot of fun. So if you are interested in joining us for our first Scottish wildlife adventure, visit our expedition page for more information.

Photo/Story of the Day - In love with Toucans!

Purple jay

Today's Image is a Toco Toucan. I captured images of this bird during our Anaconda diving expedition off Bonito, Brazil. The wildlife here has a special place in my heart. Everything about the wildlife here is fantastic. As a kid, one of the most common sights in our kitchen was the cereal Fruit Loops. And the mascot was Toucan Sam. So I grew up with this iconic animal always a part of my life. I remember as a kid seeing one in the Zoo and getting very excited about it.

Fast forward to our anaconda trip. I was sitting by a bird feeder at our host hotel in the early morning, waiting for our van to pick us up and take us to the river to begin our search for snakes. I was watching a very wet motmot zipping around, grabbing fruit left for them on the feeder. Next, a purple jay came in and grabbed some fruit. I snapped some images of him. The motmot images came out horrible, so I'm not going to share those.

After snapping a few jay images, I looked at the pictures I had just shot and decided to change my settings. The light was getting better, so I was able to drop my ISO some more. When I looked back up to the feeder - I froze. There less than ten feet away from me, was a Toco Toucan. For a moment, I thought I was dreaming. I had to blink, and then I remembered I was holding a camera. It was so beautiful; the colors on them are so powerful. My hands were shaking; I had to steady myself. I was star-struck when I saw it. I started shooting, holding my breath, trying to keep my camera from shaking. I remember talking to myself, "Please be in focus, please be in focus!"

The toucan was eating fruit, and I was hoping it would stay for a while. With birds, you never know how long you will get with them. Thankfully the toucan remained for a good three to four minutes, and I captured so many pictures of this bird. It flew off, and I ran to tell the rest of our group about the bird. They were already making fun of me because I am bird crazy, and they did not have much interest in Brazil birds, but this animal is unique, and I felt it was important to share. Sadly the toucan did not return, but I was happy I snapped a bunch of images of it before it flew away, and more importantly, it left me with a fantastic moment etched in my memory forever.

Thank you for reading!

Photo of the Day - Getting Really Close!

We are trying something new. On Social Media, we try to share an image every day of our travels and adventures. It is an excellent tool for sharing our world and getting people interested in our experiences. However, sometimes it is limiting when sharing an image or a story because the pictures are compressed down and not as visually stimulating, or the stories are too short. So I decided to add a photo of the day to our website as well. Trying it out, I may not be able to do this all the time due to limited wifi, but while I have it, I will attempt to do this as well.

Today’s Image - Getting Really Close!

One exciting thing about cage diving with white sharks is those up-close encounters with this sexy shark species. Having a shark brush up against the cage is always a thrill. But when they get so close that their pectoral fins slide inside the bars, you see divers lose their minds with excitement. It is the thrill of wanting to be outside the cage swimming side by side with these massive animals within touching distance. But the reality is we can’t. Not that we can’t, we are just not allowed.

That is a question I am often asked.. “why are we not allowed to swim with white sharks outside of a cage.” The answer is, we can. We are just not allowed to do it at white shark hot spots like Guadalupe or Australia. There are protection laws set in place that discourages outside the cage diving with these sharks. Operators will lose their permits if they allow it.

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Every so often, a white shark shows up somewhere, and lucky divers are gifted with the opportunity to swim with them without a cage. My buddy John Dickenson has had two encounters with white sharks off the coast of Jupiter, Florida, while on a dive, and our buddies Juan Oliphant and Ocean Ramsey have encountered a massive white off of Hawaii. So those encounters can and do happen, even though they are few and far between.

The main reason that cage diving is a law is to protect divers from these very dangerous apex predators, and I agree with that logic. But I also think the cages protect the sharks from us divers. Imagine if every boat was allowed to swim with white sharks without cages. You would have divers chasing away every white shark that showed up to the dive boats. And because 'outside the cage' diving is the ultimate in shark diving, there would be tens of thousands of divers trying to be there every year to do this activity. Humans tend to ruin everything and it would be chaos.

It does not mean I do not wish more people could dive outside the cage with whites, it is the ultimate. I love it, but I know it would be bad for the sharks. So knowing this, I am content with the thrill of seeing them through the bars of the cage, always hoping for that super close pass.

Mako Shark Expedition Highlights

February 21, 2021 (2:49 PM Sunday) - Travel day, flying home to Texas. I have been gone for two weeks for this trip. Lots of eating out, sharing time with guests, and I did stay pretty busy with wildlife on this trip. However, I did not film as much as I should have, nor did I write as much as I needed to - so behind on all of it, sorry guys. I am not making good on my word. I frustrate myself because I failed to keep proper records of this adventure. I have had this discussion so many times with myself. Talking about it and doing it are two very different things. Sometimes you come back from spending all day on the water and the last thing you want to do is write or record yourself, but I will get better at it. Ok, enough with what is going on in my head, on to the blog…

On our first day out, we ran into this baby humpback whale breaching over and over. It was such a happy baby, enjoying being alive.

Our mako trip went so well; I am very proud of it. We encountered makos every day we were out on the ocean. On day one, the mako only stayed for around 20 minutes, not a lengthy encounter, but enough for everyone to see it and get excited about seeing more makos. It was a small shark, about 3 feet long, super cute. On our second day, we had a mako show up about 20 minutes into chumming, a record for me. This shark stayed with us for about 45 minutes before it left. I think it was intimidated, because it was really tiny.

After that, we had two blue sharks show up about 3 hours later. Now that is a typical wait for oceanic sharks. We swam with them for about an hour, but finally had to call it a day. Conditions started getting worse, so we were forced to leave. Blue sharks are amazing sharks, they are very bold and will come in and stay for extended periods of time. It is a species shark divers dream of encountering. Very photogenic and not shy at all.

On our final day, we began chumming, and about ten minutes into the chum, we noticed a small brown-looking animal swimming towards us. We thought it was a sea lion at first, but it was blowing water out of a spout, so we thought it was a pilot whale. But it was brown; pilot whales are black. Then Fer had a moment when she realized it was a baby sperm whale. We automatically pulled up the chum and went after the whales, hoping for a shot at seeing them underwater. 

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I managed to snap one image that I am happy with. The rest are terrible due to the bad vis. I still feel so lucky to have spent some time with them. It truly was a dream come true for me.

This was a huge pod of whales, at least 20-30 members strong. They were scattered all over the ocean, hunting, I believe? We were all on fire. For whale encounters, sperm whales are one of the most coveted whales to hopefully encounter.

Of course with that first jump, reality hit hard - the visibility was horrible. We found out that unless we were within 10 feet of the animal, we could not see it. So it made the encounters a bit more intense. Everyone was super gung ho about it and did not mind, but it was always a shock to see this massive animal just appear out the green soup. Sometimes it seemed like the sperm whales were shocked as well. On one encounter one of the whales took a crap and then dove straight down. Our group was left floating next to the muddy water, huge smile on our faces. The pod was mostly females, with a few babies. The babies would stay at the surface while the adults would drop down to the depths, my guess they were hunting. I do not think we encountered any bulls, but there could have possibly been juvenile males there. 

The best encounter of the day was when our buddy Roberta swam towards a group of about three sperm whales. She could not see them until they were very close, and when she looked up they were right in front of her. One of the whales had its mouth open, not sure if it did that to show her it’s very lethal pair of teeth or if it already was swimming that way. She filmed the encounter and this big beautiful whale close up. I pulled a frame grab from the clip. Such an impressive predator.

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Towards the end of the day while we were following the whales, we saw a mako swimming close to the surface. Officially making it three days in a row that we saw makos. This was such an amazing trip, filled with beautiful wildlife and surprises. It was everything you want from an open ocean adventure off the coast of Baja. Plenty of shark action and whale encounters as a bonus.

Baja always delivers. 

A happy happy thank you to all our friends who joined us for this adventure. Big hug until the next one my friends!

Grey Whale Expedition Photo Gallery

I hated leaving Magdalena Bay this season, but at the same time, I was ready to go because it was cold as hell. The arctic front that is sweeping across the US is also affecting Baja at the moment, and it is cold. But so worth it being out there. The memories I am left with are some of the best I have ever experienced on the ocean. I am thrilled that our whale encounters have been extraordinary, and it is tough to put it into words. But if it were only the whales we were here for, we would miss everything special about Magdalena Bay. The birdlife is so unique as well, we had a blast with them. The images I captured on this trip are the best I have ever captured here, and I am excited about sharing them with you. So here is a photo album from this season’s trip. I do hope you enjoy it.

New Photo Gallery - Florida Wildlife!

I just created a new photo gallery from our recent visit to Florida this past January. I was there to finish up a TV shoot, but while I was there, I thought I would check out a place my buddy Ross was telling me about for a chance at photographing bobcats. Well we found them, which was amazing. I had a whole blog written up about it, but decided I wasn’t going to share what I wrote up. This is my buddy Ross’s spot. He did all the work figuring it out, so it is only right that he shares the story about… when he is ready. For now, please have a look at my photo gallery from our visit there…Florida is truly an amazing place for wildlife.

I REALLY Need to Get my S#*T Together!

Janury 29, 2021 - We finished filming today. Hoping the interviews went well. The team they sent to do the interviews for Redrock was new to me. I had never worked with any of them before. But they were super cool, very professional and hard working… truly hoping we get to work together again on a future project. It was a lot of fun, getting to work on a new show about sharks. I wish I could share more details about the shoot, but I can't until it is closer to the airdate. All I can say is that it is a TV show about sharks, I am in the show, and it is on one of my favorite channels. The filming went well, but I realized that I REALLY need to get to my shit together and fast!

We are here in Florida finishing up some key interviews we did not have time for while filming principle photography for the show. The location for the interviews was at Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park. It is pretty here and away from the noise of Florida, which is excellent. All was grand while we shot, other than the occasional pedestrian walking by as we were trying to shoot. But we worked through it and got everything we were hoping to film.

Ok, so now on to why I need to get my shit together. We started shooting yesterday at the park. I think we were about an hour into shooting when I turned and saw four raccoons walking by our pavilion that we had rented for the day. Of course, I lost my mind when I saw them, excitedly telling the film crew that was distracted with changing camera cards and fixing lighting, about the raccoons. They casually say, "oh yeah, they are all over the place; just wait till lunch gets here." At this point, my jaw dropped, and I think my knees buckled—raccoons all over the place… what the hell. I began kicking myself because I did not bring my camera with me. I left it in the hotel room. I didn't feel the need to bring it.

Of course, the first thing that comes to mind was when we were filming bull sharks for the show, at the Bimini marina, back in December. I did not bring my underwater camera there either, because it was a cage dive, and apparently I am too arrogant to bring a camera to a cage dive.However in my defense, the water is ordinarily murky, so I left it in the room, but really I left it because it was a cage dive. Of course, we get to the marina, and the visibility is crystal clear, and there are bull sharks all over the place. The conditions are just perfect!!! aaannd I had no freaking camera. Despite it being a cage dive, it was an incredible dive, and I had a lot of fun, I did not want to get out of the cage. It still hurts that I did not bring my camera, as close as I was, the images would have been insane.

Back to yesterday, I guess I did not learn from that mistake, and now I missed out on a fantastic opportunity to photograph wild and free raccoons that were very tolerant of people. Just damn. Even as we were driving out of the park at the end of that day, there were families of raccoons just hanging out in the parking lot. I swore to myself that this would be the LAST time it would happen.

Today, I woke up and prepped for the morning shoot, and this time, I got my camera ready. While I was packing up, I could hear parrots squawking outside my balcony window. I walked out, and a pair of mitred parrots were hanging out on the high wire, dropping down onto the parking lot floor to drink from a puddle of fresh water left by the night's rain. I snapped a couple of quick pics before they flew off. The birds were on a power line, which I am not a fan of - but these are parrots, and you have to take pictures of wild parrots every time you see one. In fact, I think it is a state law, or it should be. I just took it as a sign that I was going to have a great day.

We spent the morning filming what was left of the interviews for the show. In-between takes, I would scan all around me, looking for raccoons. Sadly, nothing was around. The entire day, not one raccoon passed by our pavilion. We shot all morning, and sometime after 1 PM, our producer Sam called out, "That's a wrap!" As soon as he said that, I jumped up, grabbed my camera, and hit one of the dirt trails in search of those beautiful little trash pandas. I did not even wait for our sound guy to remove the mic he gave me to wear, I was gone. I walked for about a 1/4 of a mile with no luck, and then reluctantly, I had to head back. Sam was my ride back to the hotel, and I didn't want to miss it. I walked super slow, scanning the trees and the floor all around me… still nothing. I was about to give up when I spotted a raccoon in the shade of some trees, right in front of our pavilion. It found a piece of fruit, grabbed it, and climbed up high in the tree to eat it in safety.

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I looked around at the surrounding trees and could see that the way the raccoon went up was how it had to come down. So I happily and patiently sat there waiting for it to finish its snack and return to the surface to look for more food. It finally started its climb down, my camera Gloria itching and ready for me to push the shutter button. The quick session with this raccoon was so good. I captured a few pretty images of it; climbing down the tree, foraging in front of the tree, and standing up. It was just fun. The raccoon could have cared less that I was there, which was so great. Having habituated raccoons posing for your camera does not happen every day. So I took full advantage of it.

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The little raccoon we found on Bimini that was sick. We gave it to the Bimini Shark Lab.

This was a total dream come true for me. When we were in Bimini filming for the show this past December, I really wanted to photograph a raccoon. the island has an invasive population of these guys. We found one while we were there, but it was sick, so I never did get to photograph it. However, I had already sent the message to the universe that I wanted to photograph one and the universe provided. I know, it sounds woo-woo, but I don't care what it sounds like, I got to snap images of a raccoon, and I am happy because today was a good day and it seems like I am finally getting my shit together.

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Thank you guys for reading and I will see you for next week’s blog as my Florida adventures continue…

My Favorite Images of the 2020 season!

Sitting here in a hotel room in Key Biscayne, Florida - wishing I was out photographing today. Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park is down the road from the hotel I am staying at right now, and it looks like there should be some decent birding opportunities there. But I am here to finish up a TV show shoot I was part of that we filmed in the Bahamas, back in December. A few key interviews are left, and I was on stand by all day waiting to see if they needed me. Sadly they didn’t. So I made the most of my time, reading, writing, and my favorite, editing images.

While I was editing and thinking up a blog to share with you all, I realized that I did not create an end of season highlight video for you guys. Well, this year was pretty crazy for us all, so understandable that I did not. Of course, it makes me think that an end-of-year video is extremely needed - especially because of the crazy year we all shared.

Maybe later, but for this blog, I figured the next best thing would be to share my favorite images I captured from the 2020 season from the trips we did get to run. I know most of you have already seen most of them, but just in case you guys are new to our blog and social media pages, I thought I would share them, along with short stories behind the image, my setting used, and why I like them.

The hard part was choosing my favorites, because I really liked so many of my images I captured for so many reasons. But I decided to pick just one from each trip to make things easier.

So with no further delay, on with the photo show…

Pelagic Thresher, Malapascua Island, Philippines. (1/250, f9, ISO 1000). This was our first day in the water with these sharks. I had been dreaming of visiting this magical place for years, and finally having the opportunity to dive this spot was a dream come true. Of course, everything I had heard and the images I have seen come out of this place, I did not have high hopes for capturing anything worth sharing. Thankfully since I shoot almost exclusively natural light, I have an advantage over strobe shooters when diving places like this, where strobes are not allowed. So when this thresher came up from the depths into the shallower water, I had plenty of light, and my settings were spot on to try and capture some images I could get excited about. The available light hit the shark's dorsal surface perfectly, and I was able to get her beautiful golden color as she swam by my buddy Chris as he was snapping images of her.

Orangutan, Dermakot Rainforest, Borneo (1/400, f5.6, ISO 3200) - This was our first encounter with a truly wild orangutan. We encountered orangutans earlier during the trip, but these were habituated to humans. This guy was 100% wild, which made the encounter extremely special. We were driving in our safari truck looking for wildlife, and I spotted this big orangutan sitting in the shade of the forest floor next to the road. We screeched to a halt, and we all jumped out. The orangutan started climbing up the trees into the safety of the forest canopy to hide from us. We lost it in the thick vegetation, but we could still hear as it climbed up. The branches were snapping under the weight of this animal; I thought it was going to come crashing down.

I remember standing there on the muddy road with our friends who joined us on the trip; my feet were sinking in the mud. We were all on fire, knowing there was a wild orangutan just a few yards away from us. We could not see it; the vegetation was just too thick. Thankfully the area where we heard all the crashing sounds had an opening up above. That spot was our best chance for getting a glance at this beauty. The orangutan kept climbing up, and then… I see a hand appear. Seconds after that, this massive animal emerges from the thick bush. It was a male orangutan, and he was huge! He kept climbing up, then reached across to another tree. He stopped for the briefest of moments and looked down at us, damn he was beautiful. After that, he swung over to the other tree and disappeared back into the bush. I snapped a few images of the encounter. They are not the greatest images, but I don’t care. I love these shots, because they take me back to that moment that I will never forget. And that is what images are supposed to do. They are supposed to bring you back. I just get so wrapped up sometimes in trying to capture a perfect moment, that I forget to just enjoy it for what it is. Well this image reminds me to do just that.

Grey Whale. Magdalena Bay, Mexico (1/320, f8, ISO 800) - This was my first decent over/under of a grey whale. There was a lot of cloud cover thais day, so the sky looks blown out. However, I still really like this image, it is just fun. Our grey whale trip is one that is often over looked by our guests, because there is not much water time with the whales. We spend more time in the Bay playing with the whales and leaning over to snap images of them. But I often think people miss the forest for the trees with this one. There is something so special about whales that want to interact with people, it is just an indescribable feeling. Let the idea of that truly sink in. A whale is asking for attention from a person, because it wants to have it’s head scratched. The experience is true magic.

American Crocodile, Banco Chinchorro, Mexico (1/320, f10, ISO 200). This by far is my most favorite capture ever from our croc trips. The stars just lined up for this one; Gambit swam up and over me, I got super lucky that the water conditions were just perfect and that the sun was in the right position, and my camera settings were spot on. It was a perfect moment and I love this shot.

Whale Shark, Isla Mujeres, Mexico ( 1/320, f10, ISO 800 ) - When you swim with whale sharks the moments you are seeking out is when the shark is coke bottling at the surface. Coke bottling is when the shark is floating in one spot, suck feeding in the currents. This means you can enjoy watching a whale shark in one spot, vs. trying to keep up with it, as its’ swimming along, ram feeding at the surface. And as a photographer, it allows you to try and set up different angles, seeking out that perfect shot. When I captured this one, the sunlight above was just right, and it lit up the water bubbles around her, which really adds to the image I think.

Free Jumping Striped Marlin, Magdalena Bay, Mexico ( 1/2000, f5.6, ISO 800 ) - Now this is a shot I have been after for quite a few years. Whenever we go searching for striped marlin hunting baitballs, we always see free breaching marlin. I have always wanted to capture images of one, but it is so hard to predict, when and where they will jump. Well this year, the stars aligned, it seems like it was a good year for that.

Earlier in the day, we ran into a super pod of dolphins, so my topside camera was already set up for fast action. So when this marlin started breaching, all I had to do was grab my camera from my dry bag and fire away. Not only did this marlin jump several times for us, it was also jumping near our boat. Often when marlin jump, they keep jumping. Once we counted almost 20 breaches in a row. Of course I still had to track the fish, but thankfully, after practicing with the porpoising dolphins, my eye was trained to follow fast moving animals and thankfully it all worked out.

Tiger Shark, Tiger Beach, Bahamas ( 1/250, f9, ISO 2000 ) - I ran three trips to Tiger Beach this year, so instead of picking three images from this amazing place, I decided to pick my favorite from this season, and it was for sure a shot from one of our night feeds with the tigers. I bought a pair of video lights this year which I was planning to use for our anaconda dive this past September, but that trip was postponed until 2021, thanks to covid. So I brought them out to try shooting some stills with them, and I know that I will be criticized by my strobe shooting buddies for using video lights for stills, but I was just having fun and trying things out. Anyway, I was really happy with how this image came out. My buddy Ryan is doing the feeding, and Maui the tiger shark, gave us all a good show.

Great Hammerhead, Bimini, Bahamas ( 1/320, f9, ISO 1600 ) - I did not have to think at all about my favorite great hammerhead image. This shot I snapped of Finch dancing with this hammer was so cool, I was on fire when I saw it on the computer. The hammer just looks so amazing here and my buddy Finch looks like a badass, especially because he is wearing his pink unicorn shark helmet. Well, it is really a little girl’s bicycle helmet, but when Finch wears it… it’s a Shark Helmet!

Well, there they are. My most favorite images of the 2020 season. I could of kept going, but I did not want to overwhelm anyone with too many images. Hope you enjoyed these and I will see you guys next week!

Cheers and thanks for reading.

ALWAYS Bring Your Camera!

I drive a country road here in South Texas almost daily when I am home. Next to the roadway, is a brush field. It is vast, growing wild with cactus, tall grasses, and small mesquite trees sprinkled about. As soon as I hit that road, I slow down and start scanning because there is always a herd of wild nilgai grazing out there. They are never close, but they are there everyday. I love stopping to watch them for a few when I am passing through, and even though they are far off, you can see their size - Nilgai are massive antelopes. 

I have always wanted to photograph them because nilgai is such an impressive looking animal. But of course, I don’t want to photograph them from across two football fields; I want to snap some images of them closer than that. But they are always out in the distance, so I have always contented myself with just watching them out in the distance. It makes me happy, that there are still wild places where I live, where wildlife can be wild.

Of course, nilgai does not belong here in South Texas. It is an Asian species and endemic to the Northern Indian continent. However, in the 1930s, the King Ranch released a few in South Texas, which they brought in for game hunting. This hearty antelope thrived in our South Texas environment, and now the population is estimated at around 37,000. Because they are considered an invasive species, hunters are allowed to shoot them year-round. So our population of these antelopes is very skittish, and every time I stop, their ears perk up, and even though the nilgai is very far away, they begin a slow retreat into the thick bush to hide. They are taking no chances.

Well, magic happened after seeing them there for the last few weeks. One afternoon as I was driving by, the nilgai were very close to the road, or at least close enough for some nice shots with a 400mm lens. But since I was not bringing my camera Gloria, I did not capture any images of them. DAMN IT! And, it was a group of male bachelors, which are the images I would love to capture. The males can grow as heavy as 700 lbs… they are big. So I cussed and kicked myself for missing out on that opportunity. 

After that brain fart, I have been bringing my camera. Of course, since then, I have only seen them way out in the distance. But happy to report and share, that I did manage to capture a few images of them. Nothing I am crazy about, but a few decent landscape style images, and some with early morning fog rolling in.

What I am really after is a shot of a buck, close up, looking directly at me, where you can see that massive neck. So I will continue to bring my camera, just waiting for that day that the nilgai get brave enough to wander in close enough to my crosshairs and my chance at capturing some up close shots of them. 

This a good perspective shot to see the size difference between a nilgai buck near a white tailed deer

I will be out there again tomorrow, hoping it will be my lucky day… until next week my friends, thank you for reading. 

First Adventure of the Season!

We just returned from our first trip of the new year… Bull sharks off Playa Del Carmen, MX. Actually, this is a trip we were secretly planning, and I could not mention it in my last blog because we wanted to surprise our boy David, who lives and works there as one of the main shark feeders for Phantom Divers. This was a family trip, and all of us went. By all of us, I mean his siblings and Mari and me. He was surprised. He loved it but wished he had known we were coming to order some parts he needed for his camera; they are hard to get in Mexico. So I guess this was officially our last surprise trip to visit him. We have to let him know in advance now.

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Chino and the old Phantom Dive shop before it was torn down and remodeled.

Phantom Divers are the guys who started the shark diving craziness in Playa. Every winter, bull sharks migrate through the waters off Playa, following prey. The length of their stay is different each year. Some seasons it is two months, other seasons it can be five months. I had heard stories about bull sharks visiting these waters many years ago when I was still publishing Shark Diver Magazine. I remember contacting Chino, the owner of Phantoms, to discuss writing a story about it. They were thrilled and had me come down.

Since that first trip, we bonded well, and the Phantom crew has become family to us.

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From 2009. Shooting video with the Sony EX1 in an Equinox housing. Image by Paul Spielvogel

That first trip was back in 2009 before they built the new dive shop. The first photos I saw taken by my buddy Gerardo del Villar looked terrific, and I had to see it for myself. It was very raw back then; there were no rules for the dive, just big bull sharks, lots of bait, and one crazy shark feeder (Chino). It was not a safe dive back then, that is for sure, but it was a lot of fun. The dive is exceptionally organized now, with plenty of safety divers to keep everyone safe. Despite these much-needed rules, the dive itself is still a hell of a lot of fun.

My boy David is now one of the head feeders. What is fantastic is that Phantom Divers is where he got his c-card back in 2011 - MANY moons ago. I was looking through the video clips today from that time, and it makes me smile. Seeing him go from that 15-year-old skinny kid to the badass pirate shark diver that he has become makes us very proud. He worked extremely hard to earn his position, and watching him in the water now, as a master of his craft, is truly a privilege.

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David and one of the big female bulls, Cavezona

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One of the other high points on this trip was bringing my boy CJ out with us. CJ never really had an interest in going diving. However, since he took over the merchandise portion of SDM, he decided that he needed to get scuba certified to find out what this is all about and immerse himself into our world. Well, I truly enjoyed having him out there, watching him fumble about learning how to dive… wide eyed and doing extremely well. He was always a fast learner. All I could think of as I watched him drop down on his very first dive was… welcome to our normal boy!

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We did have one solid hiccup on this trip; Mari got the skin bends from the shark dive and had to spend time in the hyperbaric chamber. Thankfully our buddy Chino has a chamber, and we were able to get her in, which helped so much. She was in a lot of pain and had trouble walking, but it was all but gone after an hour in the chamber. She was able to dive the next day with zero issues.

She was stuck in the chamber for over an hour and a half. We would monitor her through a camera, and communicate with her through a CB radio mic. Of course she got tired of me asking her to remove all her clothing through the mic. I figured, if we had to sit there and wait for her, she might as well entertain us. FYI; She did not think it was very funny. lol

Overall it was a great first trip of the new year, with some much-needed travel, great times catching up with friends and family, and excellent diving. I managed to snap some images I am proud of. Including a couple shots I am collecting for an end of year wildlife album, I will be putting together. Thanks again to Phantom Divers for hosting us, Ayy Chabela’s for feeding us, our buddies for great laughs and good times and thank you all for reading.

The SDM Crew

FYI, I will be coming out with new blogs each week, sharing the adventures and wildlife we encounter this year. Some will be in writing, others in video. I love creating both, so it depends on what we capture during the trip and what I am really in the mood for.

Until next week my friends, hope to see you out in the world… somewhere… anywhere.
Cheers

A few more shots from the trip… Bull shark images by my bro Ramon Magana

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