Tomorrow a new adventure begins!

Well it is crunch time, getting ready for our summer run down to the Yucatan this month. It is going to be three weeks of going from spot to spot in search of wildlife. Super fired up about getting back out there to look around and see what we find. Summer in the Yucatan is always a great time for finding beautiful animals. Whale sharks are back, crocodile season kicks off, and the birds got their breeding colors going on. 

 I have plans to share the experiences in our blog, like we did for our Baja trips.  I think the only place I will not be able to share daily will be when we visit Xcalak for crocodile diving. The wifi there is a bit challenging because we are far out in the stixs, but other than that, most places have decent wifi, so should be able to update our days nightly.

On our Baja trip sharing stills vs videos allowed me to update the experiences every night. Of course what I learned from doing that was writing, and editing images at the end of long days on and in the water is tough. Some days you are just tired, sun burnt, or just emotionally drained. It is not always sunshine and rainbows, it can be very stressful. Bad seas, wildlife does not show up, or you just feel crappy or lonely from being away from family. But I will make sure to post nightly when wifi allows it. I know I am not forced to do it, but the truth is… I love sharing, I love writing, and I love this wildlife world that we are a part of. 

I also love sharing images. Capturing a nice image is challenging, and so much fun when you are out there. It adds to the experience and helps me to tell better stories.

So once I get out there, be ready for a lot of blogs, because it is three weeks of sharks, manta rays, crocodiles, and birds. Also going to try and finally photograph a loggerhead turtle. Year after year this species has eluded me. I have seen them and have photographed them in the past, but I still have yet to capture an image that I am truly proud of… this is my year to do it!

So it all begins tomorrow… we catch a plane to Cancun and the circus begins after that. Until then, thank you guys for reading and for being a part of this journey.

New Mobula Ray Video

I cut together a video from our recent trip to Baja. We encountered a group of mating mobula rays. This was a massive ball, consisting of tens of thousands mobula rays. Conditions were perfect, the water was flat calm, the sun was out and the sky was a beautiful blue - It was a great day at sea. We easily spotted this ball from a distance, the mobulas were popcorning all over the place. It made for great opportunities to snap some jumping mobula ray images as well. Anyway, without any further ado, I present our video, hope you enjoy.

Storytelling... I Absolutely LOVE IT!

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I just finished up my second article for The Journal of Wildlife Photography, which I was thrilled about. My second 3000 plus word article. It is stressful but in a good way. The reason it is stressful is because I want to tell a good story; I am hoping the reader takes something from it and is entertained at the same time. That is always my hope when I write, but you never know. It could be a total lemon, as I am sure I have written many lemons throughout my career. 

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Thinking about that got me to looking back at my role as a storyteller. I have been writing and sharing stories for years; on paper, in newsletters, in my journal, and my blog. I began writing in a journal right out of high school, and I started a blog back in 2005 on our old website. Sadly I took down that website to divert the old traffic to our new website, and in doing so, all those years of blogging disappeared. I am sure if I wanted to, I could find them floating in cyberspace, drifting endlessly among millions of other web pages. All of them lost with nowhere to go.

Thankfully, I still have those pages and writings saved on a hard drive, so they are there for me whenever I want to look back to read my thoughts from those long-lost days.

I do enjoy writing; I enjoy the art of getting lost in a story, or taking a reader on a journey. Sharing ideas and worlds and moments, I love that about writing. As a kid, all my favorite books were from writers who would take me with them to farway places; exotic lands, exotic animals, exotic people. I wanted to be there, I wanted to see that animal, to breathe in the air, to feel the wind. Those escapes are what helped to turn me into the person I am today. 

I do hope that when you read my blogs and stories, you feel the same way - That I have taken you on a journey. I know not all my stories have because sometimes they are just rants that I need to get off my mind. But hopefully, more often than not, I take you on a ride, somewhere… anywhere.

Thanks for reading.

The World MUST Continue to open up... Wildlife Depends on it!

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I was going through images from the 2019 season, and I was blown away by all the places we got to visit that year. I forgot how busy our schedule was, especially after what happened in 2020. In 2020, I was so busy feeling sorry for ourselves (for lack of a better word), trying to understand the new normal, that I quickly forgot about what 2019 was like for us. All the wildlife we experienced, all the places we visited, all the magic and the people. It indeed was one of the best seasons we have ever experienced.

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I am grateful that we finally see some light in 2021, and there is hope that the world will return to some normalcy again. It needs to because there is so much beauty out there, and it needs to be experienced. Wildlife needs our kind because without tourism and people fighting to protect them and wanting to see them (in the wild), all that will be left are the hunters and gatherers trying to kill or capture them all. When I think of all the wild places left unprotected last year because of covid, it truly breaks my heart. How many animals died because no one was there to watch over them.

I know I sound extreme, but sadly it has come down to that. It is no longer nature that decides what species lives or dies. It is 100% left up to men in suits. They determine what species will be allowed to continue living, what species can be hunted, what species can be harvested. And their decisions are based on how much money can be made (for themselves) by allowing this to happen. It is happening all over the world, and there is no end in sight. 

And what is worse is that the illegal trade of these animals is happening at the same time. Poachers and trappers are out there now, catching and killing everything they can get their hands on. So we have politicians deciding the fate of our wildlife (legally- most of the time) and poachers out in the world doing the same thing (illegally). 

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So wildlife tourism must go on; it has to continue. Because without it, these officials will find another way to make money off of our beloved wildlife. And left unguarded, poachers will continue to slaughter and cage up the rest of them. Wildlife tourism helps fund our politicians and slows down the poachers. 

Sorry for such a dark blog this morning. This is part of the journey that I am on, this is what I think about, and it is an essential reminder that the world needs to open up and we need to continue traveling. We need our researchers back out there, our game wardens, and our tourists to continue being a voice for the voiceless. Wildlife needs all of us. 

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

The Final Two Days at Sea!

May 29, 2021 - What an exhausting, amazing, and surprising trip this was for our guests and me. No words to express how grateful I am for having the privilege of bringing people out into nature and showing them the beauty of the natural world.

This trip was not perfect, but it was a great trip. The O’s sadly never arrived for us. They were always a bit too far, showing up in other areas that were many miles away. However, the ocean did provide an abundance of wildlife for us to enjoy, and if you were only here for the O’s, then you are missing the forest for the trees.

The Sea of Cortez is a magical place - we encountered three different species of whales, including the biggest of them all, the blue whale. Along with two species of dolphins, tens of thousands of Mobula rays, baitballs, sea lions - it was so much fun. The ocean just kept surprising us and bringing us gifts.

On our final two days in the water, we spent an hour with a friendly pair of juvenile humpback whales. One of them was breaching over and over again. It would breach, then flipper slap the surface, right next to our boat. We stayed with them for about an hour and left them to try and find the O’s. Reports came back that they kept playing for over three hours after we left. Insane.

Breaching right next to our boat, I did not have the right lens.

We also encountered a super pod of coastal bottlenose dolphins. We got to jump in and play with this pod as they swam around us, some of them coming in close to see what we were. It was a lot of fun. After we were done with our time in the water, we watched them breaching and jumping in our boat’s wake—many opportunities for stills and video. What was unique about these dolphins was their size and color. They are massive dolphins, and their skin is a charcoal grey, and when the sun touches them, they look black—such beautiful dolphins.

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On our final day, we had flat calm seas and found a mating group of mobulas. Easily over ten thousand mobulas were in this mating ball, and it was a sight to see.

They kept popcorning all around - even when we were in the water, a fantastic way to end the trip.

THE FOLLOWING DAY…

I dropped off Mark, Parag, and Boud at the airport, said goodbye, and then dropped off our trusty steed Alice at the rental shop. Garin, Sara, and I went to Cabo to jump on an afternoon session with my buddy Jacob and Cabo Shark Tours to try and find some sharks.

The conditions were horrible, absolutely horrible. When we jumped in the water, we spent most of our time chasing the boat being pushed by the wind in giant swells. It was worth it; we ended up swimming with four silky sharks, including one that was heavy with pilot fish.

Finally, I asked Jacobo to untie the baitbox from the boat and let it float free. We no longer had the swells pushing us around and the ocean, despite the rising swells was nice and calm. It was nice!

After that, the silkies were a bit shy but still stayed around. We also had a small school of young mahi-mahi hanging around - behind them, a seawolf came in. A huge marlin swam by us. It was magic and a hell of a great way to end this epic two weeks here off Baja.

Mahi-mahis.

A huge thanks to our friends who joined us these past two weeks - and to my buddies who helped me out in Baja during our time at sea. Thank you for sharing this adventure with me - these amazing experiences are forever engrained in my soul. Until the next one!!!

Day 3 - A BIG Surprise!!!

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humpback whale fluke.

Day three of our trip was another good day. No O's yet, but we had humpbacks, Mobula rays, sea lions, and a massive surprise at the end of the day… BLUE WHALES! We were already headed in at the end of the day when we saw them, so we did not get to spend much time with them. But it is thrilling knowing this mega-whale is here.

So on the trip, we have now seen the two biggest mammals on the planet - The finback whale and the blue whale. We would love to spend more time with them, and hopefully, before the trip ends, we will get that chance. What an adventure this week has been so far, and I got some better images of the blue footed boobie. I still need to visit Galapagos for in-your-face shots, but happy with getting a few more shots of them.

We still have two days left, and we are all still fired up for unforgettable days at sea.

Blue whale

I'm going to keep this one short… writing this blog at 10:45 pm, and I need to get some sleep ASAP. We have 6 am wake-ups in the morning and full days at sea and late nights of writing have been kicking my ass, but I do enjoy sharing these updates with you all. I hope you all do as well.

Big bull sea lion swimming by me… growling at me as he swam by.

Thank you guys for reading, tomorrow night - another report from our Baja adventure.

What a Fun, Fun Day at Sea.

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What a day today was! It was an incredible day. Sadly we are still zero for orcas, but today was so much fun. Exhausting, but fun. We went out to look for sea pandas and the big schools of Mobula rays. Well, it turned out the orcas were over in Cabo today. Too far for us to get to, but despite not having those badasses here, we had incredible encounters with massive schools of Mobula rays. They were popcorning all over the place. I snapped some images but could not get that perfect shot. So I gave up for a bit and jumped in to enjoy the incredible underwater show.

After we finished up with the mobulas, we cruised by a small island with a pretty healthy sea lion colony. Most of the sea lions were not there as it is breeding season for them, and love is in the air, along with very aggressive male sea lions. We left the colony, but before we did, I experienced some wicked cool magic. Up high in the rocks was a lifer sea bird for me - A blue-footed boobie! It was perched high up on the cliffs. I excitedly snapped a proof of life shot of this very iconic bird. I thought I would need to visit the Galapagos for a shot at this famous beauty. It turns out they frequently visit Baja. I still have plans to visit the Galapagos, but happy to have seen this bird. I want better images of it, but glad to have gotten this shot.

We left the colony and went out to look for finback whales to photograph. We found them pretty quickly, but they were shy and stayed far away from our boat. So we watched them for a little while then moved on. Shortly after, we ran into a superpod of common dolphins hunting sardines. It was chaotic and so much fun to watch. We tried jumping in several times, but the visibility was total crap. So we watched a fantastic topside show.

We left the bait ball and started motoring back to port, all of us sunburnt and exhausted from a bit of ocean fun. On our way in, we encountered a big pod of those beautiful black bottlenose dolphins. They started using our boats wake to launch themselves out of the water, and we were treated to a fantastic aerial show. While we were watching them, one of our friends, Garin, said, “I just don’t understand how anyone could lock up these beautiful things in an aquarium.” I have to agree with him.

They all should be wild and free.

Overall it was an amazing day out at sea. Looking forward to the surprises tomorrow has in store for us—can’t wait.

Ok, super tired and headed to bed. Thank you for reading, guys.

A New Week of Adventures Begins!

Today was day one of Week Two of our Baja adventure. Yesterday I picked up the group in our rental van. Whenever I rent a vehicle for our groups, I find it important to give it a name. Last week we dubbed our van, The Grey Whale. This week our crew added some deeper thoughts into what we were going to name our ride. After a few back and forths, we dubbed our big beautiful white beast Alice.

We chose Alice as our van's name because somewhere in the 1960s, there was an albino orca out in the wild; the researchers had dubbed her Alice. Well, since orcas are one of the animals we are all hoping to encounter this week, it was a fitting name.

We began our morning in perfect conditions. It was flat calm, with no wind, and our group was excited about getting things going. We left the marina and motored into the bay. After a few miles, we spotted some birds dropping down to feed on a bait ball at the ocean's surface. There was a bunch of common dolphins and sea lions hunting the bait ball. Flashes of them would explode out of the water.

We quickly geared up and jumped in to watch the carnage that was happening just below the surface. Sadly the water visibility was horrible. We could see the bait ball and the predators attacking it, but barely. It was murky. I snapped awful images of the excitement - it was just fun getting to dive on a bait ball. We jumped in and stayed with it as long as we could. It was great when it was just us. However, two other boats showed up, and the waters quickly got crowded, so we decided to say goodbye to these beautiful babies, let the other boats have some fun, and see what else we could find.

Not long after, we ran into a pair of massive finback whales. Finbacks are the second-largest whales on the planet. It truly is a privilege to be around them. We still had not heard reports of any orca activity in the area, so we decided to spend the rest of the day checking out these big badasses.

The pair of whales we encountered were not the only whales out here. There were at least ten finback whales scattered about, and it was awesome. There is something extra special about whales. No words can honestly describe them. We spent most of our time with them until we got a radio call from a friend, letting us know that orcas were spotted about five miles away from where we were. We said bye to the whales and hauled ass in search of the sea pandas. Sadly after a couple of hours of searching, we could not find them. We decided to call it a day and began a slow ride back home to the marina.

Of course, we had to stop and snap some images of a colony of sea lions sleeping, fighting, and barking on a tiny island of rocks. Sea dogs are always a lot of fun. We thought about getting in the water but decided just to go home - maybe tomorrow.

Overall, day one was great and a great way to kick off a new week of adventures. I can't wait to see what tomorrow has in store for us!

The Journal of Wildlife Photography - Oh yeah!

Cover of the Spring Edition

Taking a day off from our adventure journal (today was a travel day.) to share some excitement, at least for me, it is. I was waiting to share this news with everyone until it was official, and it is now - The Issue is finally done!

I had my first article published in the Journal of Wildlife Photography- Spring 2021 edition. Which is something I am humbled and honored to be a part of, especially since there are so many great shooters who write for this magazine.

Last year while I was chatting with the publisher of the Journal, Jared Lloyd, he asked me if I would be interested in writing for them. I said, "sure, sounds fun." Of course, I thought he was saying it in passing, as we discussed trips and diving and photography, and I figured that maybe he would forget about it since we chatted about quite a few things that day. Well, he was serious about it, and a few months later, the managing editor of the Journal, Jamie Banjak, emailed me to discuss the details on what kind of article I was going to write. My mind went numb, and I was lost for what to say exactly. I was stunned that they still wanted me to write for them, to be honest with you.

The reason is I suffer from imposter syndrome. Not sure why I do, especially after all these years working as a professional photographer, but I do. I look at my work with such a critical eye and am always concerned that it is just not good enough. I asked myself - Is my work good enough to be in this publication filled with such talented artists?

A small piece of the article.

A personal goal of mine has always been to have my work published in National Geographic magazine. Of course, that is every wildlife photographer's dream. It is such a high goal, and the talent level in that publication is insane, so my work needs to be at that level if I want to fulfill that achievement. This is why I have always been so self critical of my work—constantly questioning if it is good enough for the big leagues?

One of the images chosen for the article.

Fast forward to the writing request from the JOWP, and I am super nervous because this is a high-quality magazine written and edited by wildlife photographers for wildlife photographers. The images in this publication are amazing and Nat Geo quality.

Then I start thinking, how am I going to write this article? I don't speak camera. I know how to use it and how to change settings, but I don't speak camera nerd at all, and this is important when writing for a photography magazine. I made this clear to Jamie, and she said I would be fine, that some of their best articles are written in layman's terms. So that helped calm my nerves there.

The imposter himself!

They wanted an underwater photography article. I automatically knew what I wanted to write. The one subject that is not covered enough is shooting using natural light. The first thing is because most professional shooters always crap on it. I have always enjoyed it - I love the freedom that comes with it, and it has forced me to become a better shooter because of it. So even though most pros, shit on it, I feel passionately that this style of photography can be amazing if its done right.

So fast forward to yesterday and seeing my work published in this Journal. I was filled with pride, seeing my work there. Of course, when I first opened it up and saw all the other images, I was automatically overcome with imposter syndrome instantly because the photos in this issue are so freaking amazing.

However, I must say that when I got to my article, I was thrilled with how the images looked and the pieces chosen for the story. I felt like maybe I wasn't an imposter after all… and maybe one day soon, my images will be ready for that coveted magazine with the Yellow Rectangle.

The only way to find out is to keep shooting and writing.

Thank you for reading!

Day 5 - Final Day of the Trip!

Writing this blog a day late. I did not have a chance to write last night as it was the group's final night, and we went out for a few drinks and lots of laughs. Well, no orcas this week. Sadly we were always in the wrong spots when they visited the area. It is a vast ocean, and that is nature and the difficulties of seeking out wildlife. A huge thanks go out to our friends who joined us this week. It was such a great trip, and you guys made it fun.

We did find a massive school of Mobula rays which we spent a lot of time with. Conditions made things difficult for a while, and ten-knot winds kicked up the swells. There were white caps everywhere which made searching for big animals difficult. We got lucky with the mobulas because they were popcorning when we found them. If it weren't for them jumping, we never would have seen this school.

Thankfully they were, and we finished the day dropping down, snapping images and videos of them. It was a great experience and a hell of a lot of fun. The winds died down as we were motoring back to port, which made trying to scan for big fishies a bit easier. Sadly we ran into nothing along the way home. Overall it was a good trip. It was not perfect, but we made the most of it and had a lot of fun along the way. Until the next one, my friends - miss you guys already.

Our buddy Jay dropping down to grab video of the mobulas. In his hands is the Monstro Red camera, what a beast!

Until the next one my sketchy friends!!!

Thank you all for reading and following along with my journey. Tomorrow week two of our orca and Mobula ray trip, begins!