Day 4... We Need to Find some Orcas!

It's 11 PM, and I am tired. I have been trying to do this for a few days, and already I am too tired to write - but I need to write. Well, no need to pretend…. we did not get orcas. They were a no-show.

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The orcas were around today, BUT they were 73 miles away from us. This morning when we left port, we had to decide which way we would go - South on the ocean or North. I chose North, and I was wrong. Three hours into our day, we got a report that orcas were hunting dolphins on a seamount. Sadly the seamount was 73 miles away from us, so we were screwed; it was too far for us to travel to. So close, yet so far!

While up in the North, we were looking for mobula rays to dive with. We found them, they were a bit scattered, but after some searching, we found a group, or a school of them, whatever you call them. Once we did, the boys tore it up and had some fun with them - until Al saw a blow in the distance. Our captain confirmed it, and I called the boys back to the boat.

It was humpback whales!

We hauled ass over to the whales, and they turned out to be a humpback, mom, and calf. We stayed with them for a bit, trying to snap some images of them. Finally, the whales were tired of our presence, and we left them alone and went back to find the mobulas. Sadly we did not find them, so we decided to call it a day. On the way home, a massive male humpback was breaching in the distance. It breached over and over again. It was a hell of a show, and we stayed with it for a while. Finally, this whale was tired of our presence, so we left it alone and called it a day.

Encountering humpback whales is wild, because this time of year they are supposed to be gone for the season. Maybe they are lost? Or maybe they are vacationing. lol

We have one more day tomorrow; despite all the amazing magic the ocean has given us, we are still determined to find us some orcas. Tomorrow is the day!

Thank you for reading and I hope to see you out in the world… somewhere… anywhere!

Day Three - Come on Orcas!

Day three and well, the challenge continues. Damn, I know I like a challenge but ok - orcas, it is time to come and say hi. Today was a beautiful day. There was a slight breeze, and the ocean was flat, flat flat! It was perfect. These are the days you dream of when you go out on the sea.

Unless you are chumming, then it is too calm, and there is not enough current, and your chum slick goes nowhere.

But if you are not chumming for sharks and looking for whales and dolphins, this is what you dream of - flat, perfect seas, not much current with a perfect sky. Today was perfection with excellent visibility as well. We just needed some orcas to make it EPIC. Sadly we did not find them.

Rich chilling on the boat. Being patient. Thank you brother.

Something changed in the water over the last few days, and we are just trying to figure out what. Sadly we are not even close to figuring out what it is, all we know is - it was enough for the orcas to change their patterns, and now the game is trying to see what they plan next.

We made the most of our time out there playing with a pod of very dark-colored bottlenose dolphins. They were almost black; they were so dark. I think they were just tanned by the sun. Hammerheads skin tans, so why wouldn't a dolphin's skin?

Even our Captain was helping us try to find orcas, steering the boat in his own unique way.

We took a bunch of surface pics of them and also a bunch of underwater pics. The majority of those underwater images were crap because the dolphins would not come near us. We tried, though, repeatedly to take close-up photos of them, but they were not having it.

We finished the day a bit frustrated because the orcas are still a no show, but we understand this game - tomorrow is another day, and we all ready for it!

Thank you for reading and I hope to see you out in the world… somewhere… anywhere!

Day Two Was a Bit of a Challenge.

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Well, damn, we finished up day two and no orcas. In fact, there were zero reports of orcas from any of our contacts today. We have a network of ocean people we chat with helping us with any news of orca sightings in the area, and today there was none. There has been solid orca activity in the area since Thursday of last week, I have been getting those orca reports.

Today… Nada!

Jay snapping the speed racers.

Maybe they needed a break from people, or they are just full and not in the mood to hunt today. I am not sure why the orcas were not in the area today; all I know is that it gets me excited for tomorrow because they will be hungry and out for Mobulas or even dolphins.

Which reminds me, we spent the morning with a super pod of common dolphins. They were hunting very close to shore, so the water they were in was very murky, so we did not try to get in with them; we just enjoyed watching the craziness from the boat. Richard, Al, and I grabbed our topside cameras and shot the spectacle.

It is not easy capturing stills of porpoising dolphins, especially since you have no idea where and when they will jump out of the water. I shot over 300 images in a short amount of time, and almost all of them are crap. I did manage to shoot a couple of keepers; but the rest are garbage. I set my camera up with a shutter speed of 2500 to compensate for the fast motion of the dolphins and the movement of the boat, and it worked for freezing the motion. But the 7D has a slow auto focus and it is difficult to capture tack sharp images because of it. However, every once in a while things come together and you can make magic happen.

After the dolphins, we continued our search for orcas; sadly, we did not find them today, and we searched all day. In fact, we left the marina at sunset. As we were leaving a grey fox trotted across the marina dirt road and into the thick bushes when it saw us. sadly no pictures. Foxes normally come out at night, so it was a nice treat as were leaving.

Anyway, tomorrow is another day, and I am looking forward to whatever the ocean may gift us with.

QUOTE OF THE DAY… Okay, I told the boys that I would throw in tonite's quote in the blog from our buddy Garin. It's officially the quote of the day; I know you guys will not understand what it means, but this has turned into a boys trip with all the nonsense that goes with it, and I said I would share;

"Just tell them you are the chief Barnacle on the Grey Whale, you f@#king Donut!"

As I said, it won't make sense to you all, but I had a good laugh when he said it.

Our First Day on the Water - Baja Adventure!

The trip finally begins… and well, no point stringing you guys along, we got skunked. Yup, the orcas were a no-show for us. They were seen today, just not anywhere near where we were. They found two pods of orcas today, one near San Jose, and the other pod was seen off La Paz. Both pods were far from where we were looking, especially La Paz. It was about 4 hours away from us.

Hoping for a better day tomorrow, and I feel really good about our chances for successful encounters. Today we did have a few Mobula ray encounters. The moment we left the marina and hit the open ocean, a large school of mobulas was there. Individuals were popcorning all over the place. Since it was the first day, our group wanted to jump in and test out weights and their camera settings with the large school of mobulas. I stayed on the boat, trying to capture images of the rays jumping out of the water.

We didn’t stay with them very long as everyone was itching to find some orcas. Well, you guys know how our day went. It was long and hot and a whole lot of nothing as we motored for hours trying to find the elusive pod. But that is what this is all about. If the animals were easy to find, there would be a circus of boats out here with them. So thankfully, there is a challenge to it, making the encounters with them so much sweeter when they happen. I wouldn’t want it any other way.

Towards the end of the day, we encountered a breaching humpback whale mom and calf, which was wild because this is the wrong time of the season for humpback whales here off Baja. They are supposed to be gone. We watched them for a little while, then called it a day, all of us exhausted from the sun but happy to be out on the ocean, where we belong.

Already looking forward to getting back out there tomorrow because it is going to be a great day… I can feel it!

Thank you for reading and I hope to see you out in the world… somewhere… anywhere!

Travel Day... Getting Fired up!!!

Travel day. Today I picked up the group that is joining us for this trip. We are short two guests who sadly were locked up by their country from Israel. They were not allowed to travel here to Baja, which is heartbreaking; they were just a week away from this trip happening when their government decided it was not safe to travel. I am so sorry, guys.

This morning I left Cabo with our buddy Al who is joining us on this trip. We Ubered it to the airport to pick up our rental van. After that, we went to the airport to pick up the rest of our group joining us. In total, four guests are joining us this week. All of them eager to get out on the water and look for orcas and anything else the Ocean wishes to gift us with.

The boys. Al (wearing his Game Face), Jay, Garin and Richard.

We drove to our hotel, checked in then went down to a small restaurant to eat a quick dinner and get to know each other better. Everyone joining us had traveled with me before, so I knew them, but they did not know each other. It was fun small talk and easy to see that this group of sketchy guys (inside joke), we're going get along, and it was going to be a fun week. Reports of orcas this week have been good, so I am very optimistic about our chances for a good week. We will see, tomorrow is our first day on the water, and I am super eager to get out there and start looking.

Insane!!!

Today the reports were that the orcas spent the day in Cabo Pulmo, and the video clip I saw was insane. They captured a video of the orca breaching extremely high… talk about EPIC!

After we returned from dinner, I grabbed my topside camera and decided to see what the local bird activity was like. The place we are staying at is a small seaside town, and there seems to be a lot of birds here, so it looks like it could be fun.

After a few minutes, I encountered a cat walking across the street. Normally domestic cats do not catch my attention, nor do I ever take pictures of them. However the tail and the markings on this cat captivated me. The bob tail and the color patterns on this cat made me wonder if maybe this cats momma might have danced with a wildcat, more specifically a bobcat? I snapped a few images of it, and after studying the images it left me thinking it is part wildcat. The cats eyes are captivating, and it has tiny tuffs on its ears… so who knows? It is an amazing looking cat though.

bad image of the hummingbird. But what a beauty.

I found a beautiful hummingbird feeding on some flowers. It was a species I had never seen before called the Xantus's hummingbird. It hung out for a little while, but then it flew off. I got a crappy image of it, but now… I really want to capture a nice shot of it, so I will be using any spare time to find it.

I also managed to find a couple of dead palm trees with some nesting woodpeckers and starlings in them. I focused my time there trying to capture some behavior images, which I am pretty happy with. I will try for more later, if I have time.

Overall it was a great day. Now we are all retired to our rooms to prep gear and get a good night's sleep… the adventure officially kicks off in the morning… FINALLY!

Starling momma feeding her chick.

Thank you for reading and I hope to see you out in the world… somewhere… anywhere!

Shy Sharks out on the Ocean!

The Dude! Jacobo of Cabo Shark Dive.

Day One of my Baja trip - We went out this morning to look for smooth hammerheads. I joined a morning trip organized by my buddy Jacobo, owner of Cabo Shark Dives. The morning was beautiful, the sun was out, with no wind, and the ocean was deceivingly calm. Of course, the boat is moored in the bay of Cabo San Lucas, and the waters here are always nice and calm.

As soon as we left the bay's protection, the swells in the Pacific started building, and the winds picked up. It was going to be a rough day out at sea.

We motored out about 7 miles, and the chumming began. Not even 10 minutes into chumming, a silky shark showed up and took a bite out of our hang bait. Sadly the excitement was short-lived because the silky did not stay very long.

We continued chumming; everyone's hopes were high.

Two hours later, we had another visitor to our chum box. This time it was a smooth hammerhead, but sadly, like the silky, the hammer did not stick around long enough for us to get in the water. It left just as fast as it arrived. The chumming continued for another hour, and we had two silky sharks show up, but again, they did not stay.

Watching water… chumming and waiting for sharks to show up.

It is so difficult to figure out why some sharks stay and others leave. Sharks all have their own personalities - Some are bold, some are curious, and like the four sharks that visited us today, some are shy.

Sadly we had to leave early as Jacobo had a group he was taking out in the afternoon. The wind and the swells kept building, and the ride home was a bit of an ass-kicking, so I opted to stay in instead of going out with him for the second session.

Although we did not get skunked, we did not have the morning we all hoped to have. But that is nature and the ocean, and you never know what you are going to get. That is why I always plan our pelagic shark trips with more than one day because these sharks are so difficult to find sometimes. You need more than one day for a shot at seeing them. But despite the lack of shark encounters and no cool pics to share, I had a lot of fun hanging out on the ocean with the Cabo Shark crew and my buddy Al who out there with us.

Plus any day you get to spend out in nature is ALWAYS a great day.

So the plan now is to pack up my gear, grab some dinner and get ready to meet the group joining us for the orca trip tomorrow morning.

Thank you for reading and I hope to see you out in the world… somewhere… anywhere!

A New Adventure Begins... Baja!

I am sitting at the airport in Reynosa, Mexico waiting for my plane to pick me up and take me to Baja for our orca and Mobula ray expedition. Super fired up about getting there already. Baja is a fantastic place, and this time of year, the ocean is thick with wildlife. These are exploratory trips because you never know what you will find. Like our pelagic trips in November off Baja, every day is different.

the adventure begins…

the orca pod we encountered.

On this trip, the goal is to find orcas, but we will also be stopping to check out any other wildlife we may find, including the tens of thousands of Mobula rays out there right now. So the potential for great encounters is there and could be epic when we see the large groups of these beauties.

Plus, this is also prime-time smooth hammerhead season off Baja, and they are probably here because of the mobulas as well. I flew out a day early to join up with one of the local shark operators to spend a morning looking for these guys. Pelagic sharks are always fun. They are hard work to chum in, but when they finally do arrive, they are so much fun.

smooth hammerhead

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mating mobula rays

We ran our first trip off Baja for orcas back in 2019, and thankfully it was a success. We found them on day one and had some fantastic encounters with them. We also spent some time with mating Mobula rays which were unique and beautiful to experience. So our first trip was a truly memorable experience, which got us fired up about running another one. Sadly due to the corona crisis, we had to cancel our 2020 trip.

Despite a few hiccups along the way, we are all set to run the trip this season, and now we are just a plane ride away from it all beginning!

THE CORONA CHRONICLES BEGINS…
The goal is to share as much as I can with you guys daily—Internet permitting, of course. I should have wifi at our hotel where we will be staying to share updates nightly (when possible) with you guys. I will try not to bore you with too much writing. I am just trying to find an interesting way to share our world with you all, along with the highs and lows of the travel life in this post covid world. I tried it with videos years ago, but it was challenging to record/edit and then post, especially with sketchy wifi, so I gave up the ghost.

Anyway, they are now boarding the plane, so I got to go. But super fired up about this trip - well, two trips, we are running this one for two weeks, back-to-back, and I am excited about sharing it all with you guys.

Tomorrow morning I head out to look for smooth hammerheads… so look for a report late Tomorrow night.

big orca male we encountered in 2019.

Thank you for reading and I hope to see you out in the world… somewhere… anywhere!

New Photo Gallery is Up - Birds of Color!

I created a new photo gallery for our website dedicated to the beautiful birds of South Texas. Some are migratory birds and others are year round residents. Sadly many of our wild places are disappearing and with them will go many of our migrant species that stop through here during migration season.

I truly hope we can preserve what is left of our wild places for nature and for the world to enjoy. This album is a work in progress, I still have a lot of birds to add to the album, but I really wanted to create a portfolio to showcase these amazing animals in all their feathered glory... I truly hope you enjoy.

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The World Needs Your Fingerprint!

Do you have a story to tell? I am talking about an in-your-face, heart-pounding, hair-raising, exciting adventure story, or maybe it’s about a beautiful day spent at your local hike and bike trail. Hopefully, it's about your experiences with wildlife, but it could be another outdoor activity; tubing down the river, mountain biking, or a walk through the woods, just anything adventurous in nature. If you don't have a story like that, then you need to go out and live one.

Everyone should experience an outdoor adventure that will make you nervous, and excited, and happy, all at the same time. So move out of that comfort zone and attempt something fun and new, at least once a year.

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The next thing you need to do is document it (if you're not already). You need to write it up! DO NOT allow a great adventure to die, left buried in your memories. Not when you can pass it along.

Why... you ask?

People out there need your stories; they need your adventures; Your highs, your lows. Your experiences may inspire someone to get up and go live out their own dreams, especially in these crazy-Covid times. People need to remember that the world is still an amazing place. Plus, nature and the local communities around them need eco-tourism. Without it, it isn't easy to protect the animals and wild places we love so much.

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Maybe you're thinking to yourself, "I wish I could, but I'm not a writer." I say the second you pick up that pencil and scribble out your first lines; YOU ARE A WRITER! It does not matter if your first writing attempt is good or bad, "you are a writer." With practice, you could one day be a great one. So break out that notepad or your laptop and start writing. Just write from your heart, and you can't go wrong. And if you would like someone to read it, send it to me. I'd love to experience your story.

Remember, the world is full of people who have stories to tell. The problem is, most people don't have anything interesting to write about… you do or you will.

Thank you for reading and I will see you out in the world - somewhere… anywhere.

New Crocodile Video up on Youtube.

I edited a video from our 2020 Crocodile Diving Expedition. I wanted to create something a little different and share a more poetic look at these ancient creatures. Crocodiles are so misunderstood, yes you need to respect them, because they can be dangerous. However if you follow the rules they can be very safe to dive with. Hope you enjoy this video…