We finally created a vlog from our anaconda diving expedition. This was one of the best days I have experienced here in the water. It was an amazing time spent with good friends in an epic setting with amazing wildlife. This was taken from day three of our second week in Brazil. I am going to be cutting a couple more videos from this trip, but for now, here is this one. I hope you enjoy!
Thank You For Being You!
Today's blog is dedicated to you - the Wildlife Photographer, the Adventurer, the Shark Diver, the Surfer, the Hiker, etc... I want to thank you for being out in the world - for writing your blogs, for sharing your images and videos on social media, for writing books and publishing your stories in journals, and magazines.
And thank you for being on TV for everyone to see.
Thank you for risking it all… for risking ridicule, and embarrassment, and loneliness, and death. Thank you for putting yourselves out there and trying new things. For being bold, fun, and different. Thank you for expressing your art and sharing your moments with the world.
Thank you for being brave enough to escape boredom, fear, work, and routine, so that you can travel and experience life.
All of life, the good and bad.
It is because of all of you that I started on this journey. It is how I found the courage to start a magazine all those years ago and how I got to live this travel life I get to experience.
Your stories inspired me, and tens of thousands of people like me, to travel, and to want to experience adventures like yours. I grew up wanting to be like the amazing photographers I read about in National Geographic magazine. I wanted to be out there, experiencing incredible adventures - photographing wildlife in exotic places around the world.
Your work and sacrifices gave me permission to realize so many of my dreams.
So thank you, because I know first hand that the adventure life is not easy, at least for me it has not been. I have fallen flat on my face so many times; I can't count them all.
But that's part of what makes this crazy life filled with adventures so damn beautiful. It is unpredictable, it's not safe, and you have no idea how it is all going to end.
So to all of you out there living your crazy dreams - please continue living life on the path less traveled. Please continue making mistakes and taking chances, and please, please, please, continue sharing your magic with us all.
The world is a much better place with you out there… so thank you for being you!
New Video Blog - Photographing Giant Anteaters
I created another, Notes from the Road vlog from our September 2021 anaconda expedition. While we were out there we woke up early to seek out giant anteaters. Normally we go looking for them at dusk, but it was so hot during the day, that the anteaters would stay under the tree canopies until the sun went down. So we decided to try our luck at 6AM when it was still a bit cool to see if we could find them… We did.
Life Will Not Wait For You!
There is a sad reality on how many people go through life stuck in a routine. They wake up every day, go to work, come home, feed the kids (if you have kids), walk a dog, eat, then go to bed.
Wash, then repeat.
Don’t get me wrong. There is nothing wrong with routine; we all need them. I have mine. But if this is your whole life, without any twists and turns in it - no adventures, no fears, then yes, there is a problem.
I knew a guy who was fifty-five years old, and lived his whole life in my home town, as a freelance carpenter. He was terrified of driving 40 miles out of town to get to a potential job, so he wouldn’t take it if he had to go by himself.
I have trouble understanding that mindset. But hey, the guy seemed happy, always had a smile when I saw him. So, if this is how you want to spend your life, good for you. You know what you want... and that is all that matters, knowing what you want and living the life YOU want to live.
But if you are reading my blog, or subscribe to my newsletters, you probably want something more out of life, because that is what I write about... Travel, adventure, the magical world filled with wildlife, and the total unexpected.
I always wonder how many people live out their lives wishing they were doing something else with their lives? Or living somewhere else? Or just traveling more. I will be bold and say 90-95% of us do.
So it leaves me thinking... Why are we slaves to routine?
Why are we afraid to step out our doors without the certainty that we are coming back? Why are we all afraid to do something new or totally out of character?
This a harsh truth for some people to hear, I know and I am sorry. But sadly life will not wait for your "one day, I am gonna..."
Life will pass you by.
I know this is deep for a Tuesday morning, but I was thinking about this over the weekend, and I realize that people sometimes need a wake-up call - this one is yours.
Have an amazing week my friends!
New Video Blog - Crocodile Diving
A quick vlog from our crocodile diving trip this past 2021. These are Stories from the Road. Part of our weekly shares is going to be clips from our adventures. I have years of videos I have recorded from our different adventures and when we are not out on the road creating new videos to share. I will bring out stories from the past. To kick off the first video from this series, here is a video with me and David out in Banco Chinchorro swimming with crocodiles.
The New Year Begins!
Photographing sperm whales. Image by Jean F. Dobois
It is Monday, and the new week, to a new year has officially begun. So for all of you that have kicked it off with New Year Resolutions, we wish you all the best with them - We hope you achieve them all.
For those of you that did not create any NY resolutions - good for you, for not wanting or needing to start the year out that way.
I always kick off the year with new goals. I set travel goals, business goals, personal goals, and weight goals. In my past, some goals I accomplished, some I did not, especially that weight goal of mine. That one always seems to fall short, damn it.
But, this year, I do hope to fulfill my NY goal list. It just means more fun and a much more fulfilling year once I do., and my wetsuit will fit better. lol
Diving with a blue whale. Image by Graeme Purdy
Photographing green anaconda. Image by Daniel De Granville
One of my more important goals is to stay connected with you all via newsletters, blogs, and vlogs. I seem always to start out strong, and by the time our summer season arrives, the blogs get further and further apart.
Travel life can be taxing on a storyteller's soul. Of course, travel is where we thrive and find the stories that we share. But, some days are just emotionally draining on your soul.
So sometimes when you reach the end of the day, and you are have nothing left to give, you just do not feel like document your day. I have been there so many times. Some days are just emotionally draining on your soul. But reflecting, I need to remember that this is where the heart and soul of a story lies, in those moments.
photographing humpback whales. Image by Pat Ford
However with the craziness of our new global realities, I am no longer taking our ability to travel and see the world for granted. With how regulated many places are, I will be documenting everything, everywhere we go, and I will be sharing a lot more with you all. And - I invite you to keep me in check if I start slipping. Call me out on that shit please.
But I promise I will not this year. I have been really wanting to document an entire season from start to finish, I have never done that, but this year I will make it happen.
Anyway, the year has begun and the work starts. We do not begin our travel season until January 30, so until that time, I will be sharing past stories, from previous adventures that I have yet to share.
Until then…
Wishing you guys a beautiful start to the new year. I hope it is filled with a lot of love, light, and adventures!
Photographing a spectacled caiman. Image by Juca Ygarape
Thank You 2021 For Your Magic!
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I am trying to figure out how to tell the story of our year. It was so good, and we were able to experience so much magic and beauty out in the world. I am filled with gratitude because of it. The first place I will start is with our guests who traveled with us this year… THANK YOU so much. Especially after the craziness, we all experienced last year. You guys traveling with us means everything. We get to do what we do because of you, and we don’t take that for granted.
With the uncertainty of 2020, we were not sure we would be able to continue traveling, and doing what we do - thankfully the world started opening up, and we were able to visit a few places. We still had a few trips that had to be postponed until 2023 but we were grateful that most of the places we had planned to visit remained open. I plan to cut together an end-of-season video, something I used to do annually. The last one I created was back in 2019. Those videos are always fun to put together, and I am looking forward to working on one again. But what to do and how to do it?
I am thinking it will be ready around the middle of January, which is in a couple of weeks. Damn it is weird saying that already. For now, I will share a few short stories with some of my favorite images captured on some of our trips from this season. The wildlife we experienced was so good, and the photo and video opportunities the animals gave us were priceless.
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The grey whale season was really good this year. I was racking my brain trying to figure out what image to share in this blog, because we did have a lot of opportunities, as the whales were so interactive with us. There are no words to describe the feeling of having a wild and free whale swim up to the boat and ask a human for a face rub. The fact that these very intelligent species have forgotten, or chosen to forget that they were once hunted to the brink of extinction in this very Bay, says a lot about these animals and their perfection. So I chose this bubble blowing whale for my share on this blog, even though this is not my most favorite capture of the trip, its my second favorite. The whales do this to clean out their baleen, getting rid of mud and other muck that might clog them up when they scrap the ocean floor for food.
Coastal bottlenose dolphin off the Baja coast. This was during our summer pelagic trip seeking out orcas, whales, mobula rays, and whatever else Baja offers. These adventures are full of surprises and so much fun, you never know what you are going to see when you are out there. Some of the fun is the topside action; breaching whales, mobula rays and of course dolphins. When I was capturing these images of these dolphins, I had to keep messing with my settings because these dolphins are so dark, I was having trouble capturing their details. I really thought I was seeing things, normally bottlenose dolphins are a grey color, and these guys are more of a dark grey when they are underwater, however, when the sun touches their skin, they look more black in color. Such beautiful animals.
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1/320, f9, ISO 640
One of the highlights of our year is having the opportunity to swim with these guys. I love how things have changed so much with how these animals are seen. There is still a lot of work to be done to change the publics perception, and maybe I am naive in this thinking, but I am holding onto hope that we one day will change how we see these animals. I will do my part to change that. We have been running these trips for 7 plus years now and I am always looking for ways to try and capture different images of the crocs, since the images are always pretty similar looking. I got lucky with the very top image of Gambit chasing a hang bait. I was originally trying to capture an image of Gambit coming up for a breath of air, with her eyes, just above the surface, but when she started chasing the bait, I managed a few shots that I really liked. The above pic of Gambit walking over some logs was pure luck. It created a very different look for my normal croc images.
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There are no words on how to express our sperm whale expedition this season. It was easily one of the best trips we have ever experienced. It was a very emotional trip for me, just overwhelming. We had many days where the sperm whales wanted to play and interact with us. That is truly the stuff that dreams are made of. Trying to pick my favorite image from this trip was difficult, as the whales gave us so many opportunities to capture great images. The above image is not my best from the trip, but easily one of my favorite moments.
The back story; A pod of whales were swimming off and I decided to try and catch up to them to snap a few photos of the group. While in pursuit, this young moody female saw me swimming after them, she stopped swimming, turned around and swam towards me. She was clicking her sonar hard at me and then hit the brakes, opened her mouth wide open and scream/clicked at me. I don’t speak whale but I got the message loud and clear. She wanted me to back off and I did as she commanded. The experience is one I will always cherish and never forget.
1/320, f4.5, ISO 1000.
Our anaconda diving expedition is always a great experience. Brazil itself is just one of the greatest places on the planet to find diverse wildlife. When I am there it feels like I am kid in a candy store, its just magical. During our two weeks there, we encountered 3 different female anacondas, all of them around 5 meters, if not bigger. One of the females had finished eating a capybara, or a marsh deer, and had a huge lump in her belly as she will be slowly digesting her meal over the next couple of months. The meal should sustain her for at least 6 months - if not longer. You can see a shot of her on my Blog header pic, love that shot of me with her. Image by my buddy Daniel.
We also encountered a fourth anaconda, but sadly this 5 meter snake was dead. She had tried to make a meal out of a wild hog, but these guys travel in family groups and as the snake was trying to eat it, the rest of the family swooped in and attacked it until it finally let the hog go. Sadly she did not survive that attack and died. After we found our dead snake, we encountered another big girl basking on the river bank. We spent the next two hours with her, which was a lot of fun. The above image is one I really liked showing not only the snake but our group swimming with her. LOVE this image.
1/500, f9, ISO 1250.
Marlin season off Magdalena Bay Mexico was filled with every emotion you can think off. The reason is the weather made it challenging this year. We got our asses kicked around by the seas. But damn was it special. From blue whales to humpback whales, we experienced some epic magic out there. The marlin were a bit of a challenge to find in the beginning of the trip, only because they were so far out and with the weather we had trouble getting to the good spots safely. Once the conditions smoothed out, it was game on. Epic baitballs, and a lot of amazing encounters. Mouth open shots of marlin are not easy to capture, I have struggled to capture the perfect one. I am getting close and the shot I captured this year is one of my favorites, until we go back next season and do it again!
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Tiger Beach was all time great this season. There were so many tigers, on both our trips this year. We normally run one in October and one in December. The December trip is a combo Tiger and Great hammerhead trip. The hammerhead part of the trip was great, but Tiger Beach was all time! This year, we were gifted with a massive school of horse eyed-jacks which made for amazing photo opportunities. I spent a lot of time trying to capture images of a tiger swimming into the school, this one was my favorite of the session.
I am left with moments and memories floating through my heart and soul. Thanks again to the beautiful people who joined us out there and for making these trips amazing. Our final images in our blog are from my phone. Just a few captures of the people and places that helped make these trips special. Until 2022… thank you again and thank you for reading.
Love you guys!
Tigers and Great Hammerheads... Final Trip of 2021.
This is my trip report for our final trip of the 2021 season… I do hope you enjoy.
Day 1 - We arrived at Tiger Beach, Bahamas around 2 PM. The sharks were waiting there to greet us; 30 plus reef sharks were already swimming around, along with a handful of lemon sharks. Down below on the ocean floor, we could already see tigers. Conditions were beautiful, the kind of water you dream about when you plan trips to this spot. This first dive was a gear check, so we did not add any bait to the water. But, I tell you, it is always a great check-out dive when you have tiger sharks hanging out. Without adding chum in the water, we had four tigers hanging around.
The view under the boat.
When I dropped in, I noticed the massive school of horse-eyed jacks hanging out underneath the boat. There were tens of thousands of them. It was a nice-sized school, the biggest I’d ever seen. Looking at that, I knew if the weather and the vis held up, it would be great opportunities for everyone to capture different images of the iconic sharks that hang out here.
One of my favorite things about this dive site is the reef itself off Tiger Beach. Because there are so many sharks on this reef, nobody fishes or spear fishes here, so it is stunning and filled with life; Massive groupers, hogfish, huge snappers, reefs filled with cleaner fish. It is a sight to see, just perfection, unlike anything else you will ever see in the Bahamas. Most of the reefs with no sharks are empty compared to the spot we dive at TB.
We finished the day with two dives and four tiger sharks…it will be a great week of diving!
Day 2 - Conditions were murky today, so we decided to dive with the sharks without feeding them. We had a bunch of hungry tigers hanging around, so I know they were disappointed with this decision, but for the safety of our guests, I felt it was best not to bring a box down and just enjoy the action diving around the area with the sharks. It was a really good day of diving and so much fun. We also had our first bull shark of the trip show up. It was a solitary individual hanging around us. Usually though, when one shows up, more will follow.
We had five different tiger sharks here with us. Jitterbug, Emma, Carrie, Kim Possible, and Freckles. It is always great seeing these big sharks show up. Especially old friends like Emma, she is still around, which makes my heart happy. Unfortunately, she showed up with a damaged jaw from a hook on the left side of the corner of her mouth. Poor girl, we almost lost her. It truly is tough being a shark.
Bull shark.
Day 3 - Today was an EPIC day of diving. From the moment we woke up to every single dive of the day. Damn, it was so good. We started the day motoring over from the spot the captain took us to for sleep. He always leaves Tiger Beach at night to sleep in calmer waters. When we arrived at Tiger Beach, we were greeted by a pod of Atlantic spotted dolphins. They were in a social mood, and Finch asked us if we wanted to go for a swim with them. Of course, most of us said yes, and off we went. We had a couple of fun sessions with them, dancing and rolling around - after we returned to Tiger Beach and began our day of diving.
We dove four tanks today. Our final dive was a dusk/night dive with the tigers. From the word go, it was just a great day of diving. I fed on the second dive, and it was crazy good and scary. We had 11 tigers show up. Ten of them were players, all coming into the box. There were a lot of intense moments for me on that dive. But thankfully, the tigers were all well behaved, and it turned into just one of those dives that will stay with me forever.
We also had a great hammerhead do a swim by today. Everyone was super excited to see it, especially Steve. LOL, He saw the hammer and swam after it to get a better capture of it, mid-swim he caught himself and said, “Uh-oh, I screwed up.” LMAO, the hammer was gone. In all fairness to Steve, the hammer would not have stayed around. Unless the great hammerhead goes in for food, it will not stay around. They are timid that way. It was just fun to watch Steve kicking himself over it.
The whole day was just so much fun and beautiful. We had excellent conditions and a lot of tigers; it was the kind of day you dream of and want for your guests.
Day 4 - This is our final day of diving here at Tiger Beach. We have had a really good time here with a hell of a lot of tiger sharks. Today another bull shark showed up. So now we have two hanging around... It adds to the excitement of the dive, for sure.
I genuinely love this place. There is so much magic at this spot. Thanks to TB, we have learned so much about tiger sharks. The amount of time we can spend with them on a dive is genuinely a unique experience. A piece of my soul will forever be here. Tonite we leave for Bimini and the great hammerheads. We also discussed trying to find dolphins in the morning before we head to the hammerhead spot. It will be a cool way to kick off the Bimini part of the trip if we can find them.
Day 5 - We woke up to the sound of the DD engine starting up. Capt Scott arrived at Bimini in the wee hours of the morning and then passed out. So early this morning, he cranked the engine to life, and off we went to find some dolphins to swim with. It did not take long. We found a small pod of about five dolphins swimming around, wanting to play. So we quickly geared up and off into the water we went. It was a quick, fun session, and we managed to swim with them for almost an hour. After finishing with them, we went over to the hammerhead spot to begin chumming for these extraordinary animals.
Nurse shark.
The boys dropped in and began scraping bait, hoping to attract a hammer in early for us. It took a couple of hours of chumming before the first great hammerhead showed up. After a while, a second shark arrived. Of course, we also had a lot of nurse sharks hanging around as well. What a thorn those pesky nurse sharks can be, but they were entertaining during the downtime while we waited for hammers to come in.
Day 6 - We started chumming right after breakfast for the hammerheads. Playing with the Bimini hammers is so different than the TB sharks. Here off Bimini, you have to wait much longer for the sharks to show up, and the pace and the action are often much slower. Of course, when the hammerheads arrive, it is game on, and they are so much fun. I love them. It is always a fun ride.
Overall the trip was a huge success, the guests had a lot of fun, and the animals were on point! A huge thanks to the DD crew for always taking care of us, and to my guests who joined us...Thank you so much for the laughs and the fun, love and miss you guys… until the next one!
Love you guys!
Marlin Mayhem!
November 11, 2021 - We finally got a break in the weather. Today we had flat calm seas with beautiful skies. Unfortunately, we got our asses kicked around by the angry seas for the first three days. This made the long days on the water even longer trying to find the hungry marlin hunting bait balls. The choppy seas and the cloudy skies made it difficult to pinpoint where the marlin were. Of course, the first few days were not an entire bust, we did find a blue whale while we were out there, along with humpback whales, so despite the bumpy rides, the days were still good for wildlife. Just not great.
Blue Whale
Today though, we found them. It was a really good day, and our guests all had a blast experiencing bait balls. We didn’t have long bait ball encounters, but we did get a good taste of some bait ball action. Overall it was a fantastic time, and our guests had fun. They even helped out a turtle in distress. It got trapped in some fishing line, and our friends, Brad and his girl Alyssa helped out the turtle and managed to untangle the poor baby. What was so great was the turtle allowed them to help - it did not struggle or move as they were removing the ropes—wicked cool. Tomorrow the weather will be even better than today, and I am excited about what the day has in store for us.
Humpback whales
This was one of the reports I wrote from two weeks spent at sea on our marlin baitball expedition this past November. Thankfully, the weather was kind to us for the rest of the trip, but it was brutal on the body those first three days. But I always say, if you want epic moments out on the ocean, you have to put in the time, take the hits when the ocean is angry, and when she shines on you, she will really shine… and she did. We were patient, and it paid off. We had great moments on this trip, with many animals and some beautiful days at sea.
The marlin were running hard, and they were everywhere. This was also a good year for schooling mobula rays, sea turtles, and whales. This season, the whales were out in full force, humpbacks, blue whales, and hunting brides whales.
We had such a good time this year, there was just so much going on. When you visit places like this, you are always hoping for encounters that our guests will get excited about. I am happy to report that yes they were happy and more. I spent two weeks here, and it just did not feel like it was enough time. I really wanted more. Maybe next year I will stay longer?
Here are some images from the trip. I do hope you enjoy…
Brydes Whale
Schooling Mobula Rays
On one weather day we swam with the sealions in the Kelp Beds.
Pacific Black Seaturtle
Coastal Coyote on the rocky shore line.
5am starts allowed us to visit Bird Island to get some images of the rising sun when the birds were starting their day.
Thank you for reading my blog!
Tigers Sharks... ALL Day and ALL Night!
Tiger Beach was a huge success. It was so great - everyone on the trip was a repeat guest. All 12 have joined me at Tiger Beach before. Such an amazing and humbling feeling to have people want to join us on our adventures, but to come back again... there are no words for how great that feels.
Taylor giving a resting lemon a back rub.
I was torn on what and how to write up a blog for this trip. Tiger Beach means so much to me. TB is where I truly began my journey into the shark world. The place is special. Special for the animals that call this place home, and special to the people who have had the chance to dive here. There is so much beauty that happens down there, and I learn so much on every trip. The sharks here are all so different, each with their own personalities. I continue to ask myself why they do the things that they do. For example, why do the lemon sharks always choose to stop and rest right next to us divers? How do they see us divers? What do they think we are? Why do they feel safe around us? I have so many questions.
I mean, maybe the lemons are just following our lead, and since we are all kneeling in one spot, they decide to do it too? I know they are simple-minded animals, driven primarily by instinct. I try not to anthropomorphize them, but sometimes there is no proper way to explain what is happening with these animals. It is stuff that even the scientists have trouble explaining. I have learned so much about the lemon sharks here, they are fascinating animals, and their behavior is so curious to me. I need to do a vlog just on their behavior. Maybe on my next trip out there with them in December, I will create something? We will see.
The notorious Jitterbug. She has a heart shaped head, which should signify that she is a sweetheart… but it is a lie! lol
As for tiger sharks, it was an EPIC week of diving. A total of eight different tigers spent the week with us, including the Queen herself - Emma, and the notorious Jitterbug, the mischievous bad girl of TB. The weather was fantastic, we had great seas all week, and low tide was not too bad. Typically low tide brings in dirty green water, with very low vis. But the vis was not that bad, and we were able to dive all the dives still. We even went out for three dusk/night dives.
Thanks to the excellent weather, we managed a total of 18 dives this week, which is a lot. We had tigers on all our dives except on our first-night dive; they were a no-show. The following two-night dives, we had tigers. The first-night dive, we had one tiger - Emma, and the second we had with five tigers, which was a first for me. We have never had that many tigers before on a night dive. It was an intense dive for all of us, especially me, because I have all these souls in the water that I worry about. All the big girls showed up for this one, and all the smaller ones left. We had Emma, Maui, Carrie, Marilyn, and Jenn. All of them are big freaking sharks!
Not just tigers on our night dives… all the kids want to play!
The dive started as a dusk dive, which almost all our night dives start that way. But of course, it ended in pitch black. I admit my heart was hammering, and I felt fear. Not only was visibility severely limited, but it was hard to tell where the tigers were coming in from. I was not just worried for myself but our guests as well. It is so hard to keep an eye on the waters behind them, to make sure nothing sneaks in, which of course, happens on a night dive.
Big beautiful Emma!
It is tough enough keeping an eye on the tigers during the day, especially when there is a lot. But when visibility is severely restricted, the intensity and emotions of what we are doing goes up. I am so glad we had an extra safety diver in the water with us at all times. That different set of eyes down there helps a lot. Ryan and Finch were helping me this week to keep things safe. They are freaking rock stars in my book.
And with Jitterbug back to her usual mischievous self, having those extra eyeballs helps a lot. It was intense and fun, and a dream - and a nightmare, all rolled up into one. I love the fire you feel inside when the tigers are excited, and they remind you that they are apex predators, which demand all your respect - all your senses are on full alert. It is so much fun and a great way to feel truly alive.
I can’t believe I am posting this pic… but Tu-Tu Tuesday is a thing on the DD. A tradition I have not embraced, but my beloved guests have. It would be a disservice to them to not include this image in my write up.
One of my favorite things is when you get back on the boat after a dive like that, and you hear everyone sharing stories, all of them laughing, jumping out of their skin with excitement, with an ear-to-ear grin. I live for those moments, and I am filled with so much gratitude. Not only that everyone comes back from the dive safe and happy, but also because they all just experienced a life-changing moment that will stay with them forever… Damn, I love my job!
Thank you guys for reading. Until the next adventure my friends!
Thank you, thank you, thank you - to these amazing souls who joined us out here. Miss and love you guys! Until next year.