I Said Goodbye to Brazil!

Looking at the full belly of a very big snake.

September 22, 2021 - I am back from Brazil, today is a travel day… writing this up in the Houston airport, and I have proper wifi again! Sadly the wifi at our hotel in Brazil was getting upgraded. So we did not have any wifi for me to update our blogs for you all. I am working on a trip report to share two weeks' worth of craziness. Not sure how I am going to write it up, but it will be fun. The sad part is that I was not able to give nightly updates because this trip was so good. But I will do my best to capture the spirit and essence of what this trip was… a pure raw, off-the-beaten-path adventure in search of a very elusive giant snake.

Of course, if the only reason we went to Brazil were for the snakes, then we would be missing out on what the heart and soul of the Pantanal wetlands are. It is so rich with natural beauty and wildlife both on land and in the water. It is just a fantastic place.

So this blog was just to let you know that I miss writing and sharing and am happy to be back in an area where I can, and I will update you guys with a lot of images and possibly a short video vlog edited by my buddy Steve. I regret not getting more underwater video, but I was hell-bent on capturing stills for this trip. So I am hoping I will have a few clips to share for that in it as well. 

I would get straight onto the trip report, but sadly I have a couple of things that need my attention first. That family emergency I mentioned in my last blog still needs attending too, and I have an article deadline that I missed due to Brazil and the family thing. My latest article for The Journal of Wildlife Photography fall issue is way overdue. So I will be writing through the weekend to get it to them by Monday. In the meantime. I thought I would get this up and to you to let you know I missed you guys, missed sharing stories and images with you all. I am hoping this storm passes quickly so I can get back to some normalcy in my world.

As always, thank you guys for reading!

Brazil and the HIGHS and lows of travel life.

September 7, 2021 - I am in Brazil. No words can express how blessed I feel to be back in this magical place. I have been dreaming of returning here every day since the last time I was here. This is one of my most favorite places in the world. I should be over the moon with excitement. Sadly the truth is I am not. Recent family events have cast an enormous shadow on my excitement of being here and leaving home. Getting on that plane yesterday afternoon was one of the hardest things I have had to do in a very long time.

Thankfully no one has died. No one is sick. It is just a very low moment for me and my loved ones… I could put on a game face and pretend that all is perfect in my world, but that would not be right. Part of sharing the travel life is sharing those low moments as well. On the bright side… I am hoping for some amazing news from home that will remove this dark cloud, but until then, I sit in my hotel room in Campo Grande, over thinking things and working hard to muster up some good vibes to send out to the universe.

From our 2018 expedition.

Anyway, off my soap box and onto some details about why we are here, and why you read this blog. It is that time… anaconda diving. Yup, it is time to go seek out the largest slithering reptile on the planet, the green anaconda. The largest green anaconda on record was 29 feet long (8.8 meters) and 550 pounds. Now that is one giant ass snake. I hope that our guests who are joining us for this trip find a few snakes like this to swim with.

Unfortunately, they are not easy to find, and each year, thanks to poachers, fear, and ignorance, they are becoming more scarce. Thankfully the private lands we visit during this trip protect the snakes there. So they do have some refuge here in Brazil, which is amazing.

Green anaconda from our 2018 expedition.

Like every trip we run, these are wild animals not from a zoo, so we have to search for them, and nature is nature - she is going to do what she does, and sometimes is not very kind. Thankfully we have been fortunate on our trips here, and I feel terrific about our chances of seeing some big girls. The females of the species are the ones with size. The males are normal-sized snakes. So with some luck, which we have on our side, we will find some snakes.

So the adventure begins tomorrow! I arrived a day early to ensure that I would get here on time. Unlike my Dominica flights, things went smooth - no late flights, an empty row for my 9-hour plane ride, no crazy customs, and no missing bags… it was nice. Our friend Pooja arrived here in Campo Grande with me, and tomorrow morning, we pick up our buddies Julian and Stefan at the airport and go off to Bonito.

The new adventure begins… now all we need are some giant snakes, and some good news from home.

Thanks for reading.

Travel Day... Goodbye Dominica, See You Next Season!

August 18, 2021 - 9AM in Texas! I made it home. Well, most of the way home. I met up with my family in Houston, we are roading tripping the rest of the way.  My flight home was a painful one. I ended up booking flights on Kiwi.com which got me home through the crappiest flight plan possible. Four stops and all with super tight connections that had me sprinting from gate to gate. I also had to grab my bags at each stop and recheck in, going through security check points as well. That was painful, but thankfully I have TSA, so it made it easier. I recommend doing that if you do not have it yet. It is worth it if you travel more than once a year. 

 It was exhausting, but it made the 12 hours of travel pass quickly, and it made me appreciate myself and my journey much more. I mean, these are first-world problems. With all the real problems going on around the world, it makes my travel issues fall hard in comparison, so I am good.

What an adventure Dominica was… just wow! This trip exceeded my expectations, and it was everything I hoped it would be and more! Sperm whales are magical animals and true ambassadors for the whale species. I have spent time in the water with other species of whales, which are all special in their own way, but sperm whales are insanely amazing. 

Grey whale off Baja Mexico.

Grey whales are unique in that they willingly will swim up to boats and ask for interaction. However, the moment you jump in the water with them, they will swim away from you. I am not sure if this is true across the board or just how these whales off Mexico are conditioned? They do not allow people in the water with them either way, so it is hard to find out if they do. My belief is, they would enjoy it, or at least the juveniles and the females would. We are out there during mating season, and the females are incredibly flirty. So it is possible that they might want to interact with us if we got in. However, the males would probably be protective of the females and force them to move on if their behavior is anything like the humpbacks.

Female humpbacks often accept divers, but their male escorts will often move the females away from us. Putting themselves in between us, and the female and calves, and then swim off with them. My guess is an attempt to show the females they are brave and strong suitors.

Mom and calf humpback off Tonga. A male suitor in the back ground keeping an eye on me.

The sperm whales, however, showed us such fantastic behavior, and when they felt social, they all wanted to interact with us. A few of them came in close enough for us to touch. Of course, we did not. We all wanted to. I mean, who doesn’t want to touch one of these beautiful, friendly potato heads. But we were all respectful of the rules and did not. We just enjoyed the encounters and soaked up every single moment with them. 

The socializing whale encounters did not happen every day. Most days, the encounters with the whales were brief. The whales were in feeding mode and all business, and their time on the surface was limited. They spend an excess of 45 minutes underwater hunting down deep for diamond squids and giant squid. They would surface and rest for ten minutes, then drop down and do it again. It wasn't easy trying to figure out where they would emerge and when.

When they did finally surface, it was a race against time. The boat would motor over, and we would drop in for a chance at seeing and photographing the whales, as it or they swam past us. They are usually alone when they hunt. Those encounters were brief, but still fun, and what most of our time with them consisted of. 

Of course, the best was when the whales were done hunting for the day and then began calling each other to sleep together or play. That is when the magic happened and what we all were hoping for. When the whales do this, it is some of the greatest moments you will ever experience with a wild animal. 

How they call to each other is with clicks and sonar, as well as breaching. They do not breach often, but they use it as a way to get the attention of the whales in the area. Letting each other know that it is time to play or sleep, or notify them to change directions.

It is hard to describe what you feel when those moments happen. Imagine being in the water and having a pod of eight large whales swim right up to you, stop in front of you, and begin rolling and playing around each other - all of them looking at you. They were all clicking away, trying to talk to us; damn, I wish I understood what they were saying. Moments like that are pure magic and forever engrained in my memory.

One of my encounters with the whales. Image by Hunter Ledbetter.

So overall, it was a fantastic experience and a magical two weeks at sea. It was not always easy, and the whales were not always there. We spent twelve days at sea looking for whales, and we found them ten days, with three solid days of socializing. We experienced bits of social behavior on a few other days, but not for very long. All I know is I am leaving this island dreaming of next season and the amazing surprises these remarkable animals have in store for us. 

Thank you guys for reading.

Today was MAGIC... Pure Magic!

August 13, 2021 - (7:03AM)
This week has been a bit more challenging to find whales. But that is the way nature is, and I wouldn't want it any other way. It should not be easy to see one of the most desired whales in the world. There should be some challenge to it. Of course, you do not want it to be too challenging, because damn, it has been tough.

It is wild how quickly things change. Last week there were a lot of whale families hanging around. This week, most of the pods have moved off to deeper and wilder waters to hunt and maybe hide. We also encountered a few predators while we were out here. Pilot whales and pygmy killer whales showed up. Of course, these are the predators we got to see. We did not see, or do not know if any other predators arrived when we were not there. It is not easy being a whale in the wild, especially with small babies. Even though you are one of the biggest animals in the ocean, survival is not guaranteed.

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Gervais Beaked whale

We head out today for day five, which means we only have two days left. The encounters we have had so far have been brief. In four days we have only had one encounter that was really good. Other than that, we have been blessed with so-so interactions.

Yesterday was our first official skunking. We saw no sperm whales, not a distant whale spout, no flukes… nothing. We did see a Gervais beaked whale and a pygmy sperm whale, but we got no water time with them. Although had I reacted quicker; I may have gotten an underwater proof of life shot of the beaked whale. It passed by the boat decently close. It would have been amazing to photograph that extremely rare whale. But I was too slow. And that is how it goes, you have to be ready for those moments if you want to see amazing things.

Well, we are heading out to sea. My fingers and toes are crossed.

I am hoping for magic… real magic today.

We need it.

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8:33PM (End of day 5 Report)

TODAY was EPIC!!! WOW, WOW, WOW! Is all I can say. Damn man, after a frustrating and slow start to this week's trip, it is so good to be able to walk off the boat having the experiences we had today. We saw our first whales and got in the water around 9:30 AM. After that, it was non-stop; the whale action just kept going. Our final jump in with the whales was around 1:30-ish. We were all exhausted but happy. That feeling of pure joy vibrates through you. I am sitting here writing in my hotel room, and my head is still buzzing from it.

The whales were feeling very social, and thankfully not in an eating mood. They instead were rubbing up on each other, rolling and playing. They were in a great mood. These are the encounters you dream of. Most of the time, the encounters you get are when the whales come up from a long feeding dive. They are tired and trying to replenish their blood with more oxygen to go down for another deep dive. So they completely ignore us or want nothing to do with us and will either pass by us quickly or just drop back down into the black abyss. Those encounters are short, and the images and videos from those moments are ok.

Spy Hopping. Not a great image but I wanted to show you what it looks like.

However, when the whales are feeling social, DAMN - those encounters are fun. The whales will swim right up to you, rolling around, turning upside down, some will spy hop,- and when the whales look at you… you can feel them really look at you. I am sure in those moments, they wish they could talk to us in a voice we could understand. I think the joy that would spill out of their souls in those moments would be too much for us to handle.

I know I am getting woo-woo right now, but I am on a high, and I do wish I could speak to them. I really do. Well, today, I did have one teenager speak to me, and I completely understood her. During one encounter, I was swimming towards a group of about six whales. I had not even gotten there yet when this fiery young lady stopped swimming. She turned around to face me and started clicking me hard with her sonar. I thought for sure she was trying to explode my brain, like in the movie Scanners. Thankfully there is nothing breakable in there, so I was safe. As she was clicking me, she let out one last click with what felt like a scream, telling me to Back Off!!! I don't speak whale, but I did understand that message loud and clear.

I was hoping for magic today, and we got it. I am so happy for all our guests who joined us this week. These are the days you want for them. You don't always get them, so you appreciate them to your very core when you do.

Damn, I am happy!

Sperm Whale Expedition... Summing up Trip # 1.

August 8, 2021 - Sunday, my day off. Wow, what a week it has been. It is hard to put into words what we experienced out here. However, I feel lucky and blessed to have been out here, especially with the covid craziness. It was an adventure just trying to get to this Island. Sadly our buddy Tom was supposed to be here, but due to covid restrictions, he wasn't able to make it. My heart broke, not just because I wanted to see and share another adventure with my dear friend, but also because he could not be out here with us to experience the magic of this place. Miss and luv you my friend.

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Dominica truly is a special place. The Island is magical and rugged, and wild. It is so green, thick with vegetation. The whole Island is mountains, and the villages are built on mountainsides. It has 365 rivers, and waterfalls, and hot springs, coming from active volcanoes. The Island looks like it belongs in a Jurassic Park movie, just spectacular.

The bonus is it also has a population of sperm whales that live here year-round, which is why we are here. There are no words to describe the magic we experienced this week. Everything you hope to see when diving with animals like this we did. We experienced every behavior, except courting mating behavior, because that happens in winter, not summer. Of course, no birthing either.

This week the behaviors we witnessed were; social behaviors (playing, rubbing, play biting, or gumming each other), sleeping whales, babies drinking milk, babies trying to play with us, adults trying to play with us (zero social distancing when they were doing that), breaching, spy hopping, it was fire... WOW, WOW, WOW!

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We also got to see pilot whales and pygmy killer whales, although they did not let us near them. We tried, but they wanted nothing to do with us. We had a massive pod of Fraser's dolphins come through, as well as Atlantic spotted dolphins. No water time, but I did manage a few jumping shots of them. I still need better images of the Fraser's jumping, but we saw them almost every day, so I'm hoping for another chance.

We all captured so much video and stills of the whales; it is hard to figure out what to share on social media and this blog. The most challenging images to capture during this trip were breaching sperm whale shots because they do not breach very often, so you have to be ready when they do. However, with a lot of effort and the help our guides, I managed a couple of photos of it. Unfortunately, it is still not the one I am after, but I have another week to try.

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Breaching sperm whale

Overall it was a fantastic trip with incredible encounters and thrilled sunburnt people. A huge thanks go out to our friends who joined us this week. Thank you for joining us out there… we luv you guys and looking forward to another adventure with you guys.

Thank you guys for reading, thanks you for comments and thank you for following along on this crazy journey of ours, I truly appreciate it my friends.

MAGIC!!! No Other Words Can Describe Today Properly.

August 5, 2021 - It is going to be difficult to describe today in words. MAGIC! That is the best way to describe it. The morning started very slow. Probably because of the pygmy killer whales that passed through the area. Sadly we could not get close to them. They are super shy and stayed far away from the boat. It was cool knowing they were around, and I snapped a few surface fin shot of them, but that was it. The day before, we had short fin pilot whales in the area. Both species are hunting for young sperm whales. So even though it is cool seeing these hard-to-find species around, it messes up our chances of finding playful sperm whales. The pilot whales were shy as well, and after a few failed attempts to get in with them, we decided to leave them alone to find sperm whales.

We spent the next few hours looking for the sperm whales. We found a few, but they were not interested in us at all and would drop down into the depths every time we tried to get close to them. Again, predators in the area made them uneasy.

A pod of Atlantic spotted dolphins entertained us for a while. They were riding our bow wave and jumping in our boat’s wake. However, they quickly got bored with us and moved on. So we kept on searching for the whales. Our Captain and guide, Kevin stopped every 30-40 minutes to drop the hydrophone in to listen and see what direction the sperm whale clicks were the loudest. They would listen, then head off in whatever direction they thought we would find the most amount of whales.

Around 1:30-ish, we found a group of four whales, and in the distance there were a few more whales all swimming in the same direction. Our guides suggested we follow them. Based on the behavior they were witnessing, they felt the whales were going to group up, possibly with more whales, to either play or sleep. So we followed them, and sure enough, more whales joined in, and then a few more. I think it ended up being around nine whales in total. The whales would swim, then slow down and start play, rolling and rubbing up on each other, play biting; they were spy hopping. They even breached a couple of times while we were in the water. It was awesome.

I snapped this image of Jean photographing the family of whales as they swam by.

We spent a couple of hours with them - we would jump in, play a bit, the whales would swim by and away, then we would get back on the boat, watch them for a while, then do it all over again. It was awesome.

It was almost time to call it quits when our Captain told us we had time for one more jump. So, of course, we all got ready. Our Captain positioned the boat near the whales, and we went in. There were around seven whales spread out; three of them went in one direction, the other four went in another direction; I followed them. I snapped a few images of the four as they swam by. They passed by me close and then kept going. I watched them swim off, then noticed that they stopped swimming and began rough playing. So I swam after them to try and get a closer look. I thought for sure they would break it off the second I got there, but they didn’t; they just kept playing. The water clouded up with bubbles and pieces of whale skin. Part of why they rough play is to help shed off their old dead skin.

They were rolling and rubbing and play biting each other. It was just MAGIC watching them play like this. I snapped image after image, stopping every once in a while to watch the show, and to get out of the way, because they kept rolling in my direction. I am not sure if they wanted to involve me in their play or not. The whales kept rolling towards me, and just a few feet away sometimes. It was WOW! I loved every second of it.

The four kept rolling and playing around us until the baby decided she had had enough and swam off. Only the three adults remained. They stayed playing for a quick minute-ish more, and then they went after the baby, leaving us alone and emotionally drained by what we just experienced. I popped my head out of the water and told my guide, “just shoot me now, nothing left to see after that.” moments later, our guest Lisa popped her head out and said, “you guys can shoot me now, I can die now.”

What a day… what an amazingly beautiful day!

Can’t wait for tomorrow. Thank you again for reading.

A Wildly FUN Day in the Water!

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Me snapping some shots of the whales. Image by Jean Dubois

August 2, 2021 - Day one in the water, and DAMN, DAMN, DAMN! What a day. When you plan a trip to a place like Dominica for one of the most coveted whale species in our ocean, you want it to be a good trip, and you want your guests to have excellent experiences. You have high expectations, and you hope for quality encounters, but the reality is that you never know what nature will gift you with, so you keep your expectations low and hope for some good wildlife karma to come your way.

Well, today exceeded anything I dreamed we were going to experience out here. WOW-WOW-WOW! I was blown away by what we all had today. I knew we were going to find whales, I just did not know how quickly we would find them, that was a big surprise to me. Not 30 minutes after we left port, we found sperm whales. We found one pod, or clan, or group, of sperm whales. Our guides did not know this group very well, and the whales were reluctant to let us hang out with them for very long. Thankfully the guides here do not harass the whales and so we did not spend much time with them.

It turns out there are about 20 different families of sperm whales out here, and some of them are friendlier than others. The next group we found tolerated us for a little while but then pushed out for quieter waters.

We had perfect weather today. Plenty of sun and glassy calm seas. Of course it made it harder to find the whales, you need a bit of wind to carry their spray un in the air so they can be easier to find.

We had a good encounter with two sleepy whales. They hung out on the surface for about ten minutes before they dove down to hunt for giant squid. That is right, giant squid… Our guide told us that they had found a giant squid tentacle on the surface, back in November, that was twenty feet long. Crazy.

We left that second group and hit the jackpot! We found another family of whales and spent the rest of our time with them. These guys were awesome. They had a wee baby with them, and it was so friendly and curious, it repeatedly kept coming to check us out. The baby was so close at times we could have touched it. We didn't, of course, but it would come in really close. During one encounter, the baby swam straight for us and almost ran over Eldad, we captured the whole thing on video. What a hell of a moment.

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During our time out there, we encountered a superpod of Fraser's dolphins. This was my first time meeting this species; they have pink bellies, which are really cool looking. I tried for some porpoising shots. Unfortunately, I did not get the image that I had in my mind's eye, but I got a keeper.

During the day, the whales scatter, I am sure hunting in different areas, searching for the best hunting spots. Towards the end of the day, they started regrouping. We finished our session with five of them, the adults, rolling and playing around with the babies and juveniles. It was such a rush to be in the water with these whales, hearing and feeling those clicks as they swam slowly by us.

Overall this was one of the best days of whale swimming I have ever experienced. Thankfully this is day one. We still have five more days to go. Well, I have another six days with our next group, but who's counting? Lol

Thank you for reading.

First Day on Dominica.

August 1, 2021 - Today is our first full day in Dominica. Tomorrow we head out for day one searching for sperm whales. I am excited about kicking things off and getting things started. I am filled with excitement for whatever nature has in store for us.

Today, three of our guests (Terry, Lisa, and Eldad) and I went on a land tour to visit some rivers, waterfalls, and hot springs in Dominica. All I can say is I am blown away by how beautiful Dominica is. Just wow. This island is so green, and it has so many mountains and rivers. You feel almost claustrophobic with how many and how close they all are. Dominica boasts that they have 365 rivers on the island, one for every day of the year.

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Above are some beautiful sights on Dominica, including this wild shot… A hurricane caused this tree to fall in 1979 on top of this school bus, and it has been there ever since. FYI, no one was hurt when the tree fell.

Below is this Puerto Rican Crested Anole (new species for me). I saw this little beauty in the grass eating this earth worm. I was trying to find a good angle to photograph it, but the grass kept covering it up, I just could not find a good spot. I was creeping around slowly because I did not want to scare it off. Suddenly it jumped onto this rock in perfect sunlight and stayed there. It looked like it wanted a better view of this strange human crawling around in the grass, trying to figure out what I was doing, and if I was a threat. I couldn’t of asked for a better moment to capture of this anole. Felt lucky and privileged to have been able to snap this. A great start to a new adventure!

We had a lot of fun doing the tourist thing, the waterfalls were amazing, we enjoyed swimming in the rivers, getting mudded up at the hot springs. It is wicked because active volcanos naturally heat the water. It was just so damn cool.

While we were out sightseeing, I searched for wildlife, birds, replies, and mammals. There are quite a few endemic species on this island: some really beautiful lizards and birds. I am hoping to find as many as possible, especially the; Fantastic Least Gecko, Dominican Anole, Lesser Antillean Iguana, Imperial Amazon Parrot, Red-Necked Amazon Parrot, and some beautiful hummingbirds. I will be trying to find these species every chance I get.

Ok. it is late, but I needed to finish this report and I had to watch tonite’s Gold Cup Finals… The US vs. Mexico. The US wins. A fun way to finish up a nice day.

Tomorrow it begins!!!

Travel Day... We are Off to Dominica!

July 30, 2021 - Travel Day. I am Dominica Bound! Finally. This is our first time visiting this island, and I am so very excited (and nervous), about getting there. We are headed there to find sperm whales, a species I want to get to know better.

We are running two back-to-back trips this season, and as usual, before I head out on any trip, I am incredibly nervous but filled with hope. Hoping the weather is good, hoping the animals are there, hoping the trip runs smoothly. But, of course, our job is to get our guests out there and give them an at-bat at seeing the animals we all want to see. All we can do with nature is to get out there during the best time of the year for an opportunity to encounter them. Thankfully we have done an excellent job through the years to help our friends find the wildlife we are seeking out.

I wish I could say we had a perfect record, but sadly we can not. Nature is nature, and she will sometimes play cruel jokes on us. Sometimes it is the weather, and sometimes it is the animals. But we continue trying hard to help our friends have unique experiences with wildlife. And I love it; I love the thrill of the hunt—the hunt to see the animals, of course (photo trophies only). So much of the magic we have experienced out there is hard to put into words.

Baja Sperm Whale.

Train moving through.

Anyway… a new adventure begins, with a new place for us. I have seen sperm whales before in Baja and Norway. The water visibility in Baja was horrible, and those encounters were super intense because you did not see the whale until it was just a few feet away from you. At this point, your only instinct is to move out of the way before we were run over by the freight train moving through. Damn, that was fun!

In Norway, we could not catch up to them; the dry suits were too thick and slowed us down. Plus, the water visibility was not the greatest. So we never got close enough. But in Dominica, we will have amazing visibility and whales that are hopefully tolerant of us divers.

We will see. So much is unknown, when you are out there, which is exciting. The not-knowing is always difficult when it comes to wildlife expeditions, because you do not know if and when an animal will show up. But that is what I truly love about nature, there are never any guarantees. So when they do show up, it makes each encounter special.

That unknown is where you will find magic.

Norway Sperm Whale

More later. It is time to board the plane and off into the unknown.

Thank you for reading and your comments, I appreciate them all!

Crocodile Diving off Banco Chinchorro... Three day Report

July 20, 2021 - I am in Banco Chinchorro right now, and we just finished up our first day of crocodile diving, and what a freaking day it was. We had six crocodiles show up, including Gambit and Negro, a couple of the big stars of this amazing place. The water visibility was not the best. Sadly it was nothing like the water we experienced last season. But we had six crocodiles today and a bunch of thrilled, happy divers.

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Yesterday I picked up our guests from Cancun, and we headed to Xcalak, Mexico, which is about 5 1/2 hours away. It is a fun afternoon of driving. After we arrived, we said hello to the staff. I was excited, saying hi to my buddy Mathias who is our croc safety diver on the trip. It is always a good time when we get together. After we checked into our hotel and the dive shop, we filled out all the legal paperwork for the dive shop, which basically says we will not sue if a croc misbehaves. The typical stuff we have to do before we go diving with big toothy predators. 

We overnighted at the hotel, woke up at 7 AM for a quick breakfast, loaded up our gear on a panga, and made a very wet and bumpy crossing to Banco Chinchorro. Those wet rides are never fun, but it's the price of admission sometimes to find magic, and it has always been worth it.

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This is day one of a three-day adventure. When we arrived in Banco Chinchorro, we did a quick dive to try and find some lionfish to use as bait for the crocs. Lionfish are the only bait we are allowed to feed the crocs. Banco is a protected marine reserve, and they try to protect the wildlife here. Unfortunately, lionfish are an invasive species, and they are voracious eaters. They decimate local fish populations, so we do what we can to try and remove them when we see them. 

After the dive, we motored over to our cabana on the water. Casa Matraca (named after the old fisherman who owns this cabin) is where we will be staying for the next few days. It is rustic and old, but it is fantastic, and the view is impressive. 

After a quick lunch, the first croc showed up. Then a second one, then a third. By the end of the day, we had six different crocodiles visit us, including the star of Banco Chinchorro, Gambit. He is a big 3-meter croc and super tolerant of us divers, but very territorial towards other crocs. He is so mellow and a dream crocodile to encounter. He seems to love the attention and will chase off any other croc that comes into his area. He does not like to share. 

We spent the rest of the day swimming with them, all of us excited to be there. It makes me happy knowing that the guests we bring here enjoy being around these animals. These positive interactions do a lot towards helping change how people see and feel about these predators.

Ok, passing out, the ocean crossing, and a full day in the water kicked my ass. It is draining, but I am so damn happy. Tomorrow I will write more. 

July 21, 2021 - There is something so satisfying about waking up super early to climb on a boat and go diving. I love that so much. So we woke up, had a quick cup of coffee, and then motored over to a dive site to look for lionfish and see what was swimming around at this beautiful reef. While Mathias was hunting for lionfish, I looked around for turtles and whatever else was swimming around. We were greeted by a friendly nurse shark that loves to follow spearfishermen around, hoping to steal a free meal off of a speargun. 

While swimming around, I happened upon a big barracuda at a cleaning station. It was pretty neat seeing that. The cuda was all black, and when it left the cleaning station, it turned silver again. I wonder if that is something they do to show the cleaner fish it means them no harm? Not sure.

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After the dive, we returned to our hut and ate breakfast. We tried to chum in some crocs, but Mathias said it was too early for the crocs to show up. So we jumped on the boat and went to the Island to look at the local wildlife there. They have a healthy iguana population there; blacks and red iguanas are all over the Island. They are one of the staple meals for crocodiles on the Island. A healthy iguana population is why there are more than 500 crocodiles on Banco Chinchorro. Pretty wild. 

The big question is how the crocodiles got to Banco Chinchorro. One theory is they swam over from mainland Mexico many years ago. Another is researchers brought a pair to the island to help control the iguana population. The iguanas were eating all the bird eggs and to help the bird populations, they felt this could be a solution.

After the brief visit on the Island, we returned to our hut and began chumming for crocs. We did not have to wait long. Negro returned. He was with us all day yesterday. We spent all day with him, and he put on a hell of a show. We also had three other crocs come in. One came in for about a minute, did not like what it saw, and then went back to the Island. Cut tail came in for a little while. It is another local superstar. She has a crooked jaw; my guess is from a fight with a bigger croc. She is always great to have around, and she is a solid player. 

A new croc that showed up was this little croc, Mathias named Matraca because most of it’s teeth are missing. Like the owner of our hut. Lol. I have been calling her Baby M. Anyway, Baby M was a little shy, but still came in and stayed the rest of the day. It kept coming up to Negro, not sure why? Usually the little crocs want nothing to do with the big crocs, but this one was pretty brave. 

Baby M and Negro.

Overall it was a fantastic day with many opportunities for our guests to capture a lot of images. We still have one more day out here, and I am hoping that Gambit will return. Usually, when Gambit shows up on day one, she will not return the following day if she eats. Hoping she comes in tomorrow. We will see?

July 22, 2021 - We are back in Mainland Mexico. We left Chinchorro around 2 PM after a fun day with some crocodiles. It was not as exciting as the previous two days, but it was still good. Crocodiles are just amazing animals. They are so misunderstood, and we have so much to learn from them. I genuinely hope that dives like these are just the beginning of what is possible.

We woke this morning and went off for a morning dive to try and find lionfish. Thankfully it is getting more difficult to find them, which means we are doing some good. There are still many of these animals down deep, but here on the reefs that we can reach, there are very few. At least these reefs are safer for the local fish populations.

After the dive, we went back to our cabin, ate a quick breakfast, and then started chumming for the crocs. It took a couple of hours, but finally, a croc swam out of the mangroves and right towards us. It turned out to be Matraca, or Baby M as I called her, of course, she is still very shy, so we kept chumming, hoping for a bigger, more confident croc to arrive. About twenty minutes into the dive, a second one came. Then a third. We finished the day with four crocs around us. The dive was so much fun and a great way to finish up the trip. 

I want to thank our friends who joined us out there, I truly appreciate it, you guys mean the world to me. Tomorrow we finish up our trip here in Xcalak for a quick look around to see if we can find manatees.

We will see?

Thank you all for reading.