It's Monday... Countdown to Dominica Begins

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The week begins!

This weekend I spent my days doing normal life kind of things. Repairing things, lawn care… Domestic stuff that has nothing to do with the wildlife world.

So I will stop there with the boring unrelated to why you visit this page stories… on to the good stuff.

This week is prep week. I am sorting through last-minute gear prepping for next week’s expedition to Dominica.

Dominica is such a cool island in the Caribbean. There is a freshwater river for every day of the year. At least that is what the islanders boast.

365 rivers and hot streams that pepper the island, which is really cool.

It has waterfalls and lots and lots of forests. It is a beautiful island. A must-visit kind of place.

What is exciting for me and for our friends who are joining us, is the very healthy population of sperm whales that call the waters surrounding the island home.

I am looking forward to a great week of swimming with the whales. Hoping for magic to happen.

There are several pods / families of sperm whales that call Dominica home.

Some are friendlier than others. Most seek out interactions with people. Some don’t and that is ok.

Those whales we leave alone. But the whales that do want to share time with people, those whales are true magic and moments with them is the stuff that dreams are made of.

Either way, it is going to be a great week of good friends, beautiful scenery, and a week of life- in and on the ocean with big animals.

It doesn’t get any better than that!

Have a beautiful week everyone!

Hightlight Reel In the Works!

I am working on a new reel for our website. Well, it is a highlight reel for our recent grey whale trip. I have been procrastinating putting one together because reels take such a long time to create (at least for me. ) Some people can knock them out in a few hours.

It takes me longer than that.

I also have been pretty quiet on our website lately. I have been sharing daily on our FB and IG pages, but I have not been active on our website.

That is going to change.

I decided to begin sharing daily journals with you guys.

We are not always out in the world looking for animals.

Sadly.

We spend a lot of time at home in between trips.

During this downtime, I am constantly editing and writing, but so much of that content ends up not getting shared.

So I decided I want to share more on our website for those few who are interested in what we have to say and share.

The magic of this life is definitely out in the world looking for wildlife, but the art we create from those adventures happens while we are in the office sitting behind a computer, writing and dreaming about this wildlife world.

So expect more blog posts, because I plan to share a lot more…

Until Tomorrow!

2024 Grey Whale Trip Report!

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I just finished up our trip report for the first trip of the 2024 season. Grey Whales off Magdalena Bay, Mexico. And man what an epic trip.

I have to be honest, I was a bit nervous that the trip would be a bit of let down, because our 2023 trip was so good. I just could not see how this trip could be any better, or at least just as good.

It far exceeded my expectations and we all had an amazing time on this trip. Baja does not disappoint.

I have attached a link for you all to check out the story for yourselves. I hope you enjoy…

Final Trip of the 2023 Season!

We just returned from our final trip of the 2023 season.

Tigers and Great Hammerheads in the Bahamas.

It was bitter sweet.

It has been a long and year wonderful year.

I am grateful to everyone who has traveled with us. I am grateful to everyone who has followed our journey.

I am thankful that we are able to share so much magic with so many wonderful people.

This job has been a dream and I am filled with gratitude that I get to do this everyday.

Showing people animals and amazing places has become more than a job to me. Yes it is my passion, but I also feel it is my duty.

My responsibility.

My life’s work is to share and show people what is left of our wild places, and the animals that call those places home.

Hopefully these places will remain wild forever. Humans are so greedy for land and for progress that I don’t know if they will.

But as long as I have breath, I will continue sharing and showing our wild places to people to hopefully spark the need to protect what is left.

It’s an uphill battle, but it is worth it. Animals are worth it. The Earth is worth it, and people are worth it.

The world is full of magic my friends… My dream is to help keep it that way.

Going to be sharing a lot of highlights with you all as we near the end of 2023 .

Until the next post, thank you for reading and sharing this journey with me.

Virtually and out in the world… I appreciate you.

Tiger and Great Hammerhead Group Photo. Final one for 2023.

Bad Bears... Bad Bears... Whatcha Gonna Do when they Come for You???

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July 24, 2023 - Damn what a day. We started our day with a sad but amazing morning watching the polar bear police and wildlife management tranquilize two bears. A mom and her three year old cub.

They had become problem bears. Sneaking into town at night and going through the garbage.

The polar bear police had set up traps to capture them, but they were not working.

So sadly the bears had to be captured the hard way.

We had just finished breakfast and were out for a stroll when we saw a helicopter in the distance. Underneath the chopper we could see the two bears running for their lives by the train tracks.

We jumped out of the Falcon, our trusty steed, and watched the story unfold safely from the distance. Thankfully we all had long lenses and were able to document this exciting capture. Of course I only had my 100-400mm with me and I definitely needed more lens to document it properly, but I am happy with what I was able to capture.

The helicopter was following the bears, and the bears were running back and forth trying to get away, but they couldn’t. By the time we got there, the bears were exhausted.

The mom and cub. Both are exhausted and stressed from the chase. You can see the dart hanging on the mom’s butt in this shot.

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They were using the helicopter to get close to the mother so that they could tranquilize her first. After they shot her, it didn’t take long for her to go down.

The loyal cub stayed by her side the whole time.

Once she was out, the rangers came in and shot the cub up close with a dart, that quickly knocked him out.

I felt bad for the bears. But unfortunately it was necessary. If the bears continued sneaking into town, eventually they would run into someone and an accident could happen and the bears would have to be put down.

So it is best to capture them, lock them up for a week or two, and make the experience as negative as possible, so that when the bears are released they will not want to return to town anymore.

At least in theory they won’t.

The moment, Shantel, the wildlife ranger shot the bear from the helicopter. I got lucky and captured it on my phone.

Once they were sure the bears were knocked out, they brought out a stretcher and hand carried the mom first to the back of a truck that was fitted with special wheels to ride on the rail road tracks.

She was big.

When they got the bears to the compound, they weighed them. The mom weighed in at 600 plus pounds and the cub weighed more than 400.

The ranger rode with the mom bear, keeping an eye on her while they she being transferred.

Once they got the railway truck to a level road they transferred the bears to the back of the ranger’s trucks and off they went to the compound where they will keep them.

The locals call it Polar Bear Jail.

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I have been traveling to Churchill for years. You hear about these bear captures, but I had never seen it. It was amazing to watch it all first hand.

I was torn on how to feel about it.

I felt bad for the bears… They do not know they are doing anything wrong. They are just being bears and living in a world that they do not understand.

On the other hand, I also get what the authorities are trying to do. They are trying to keep both people and the bears safe.

So it is a necessary evil.

They don’t want to do this to them. But when you have a town full of people to protect, it has to be done.

We watched the bears get driven off, all of us filled with emotions at what we all just experienced. We silently wished the bears well.

It was a happy/sad moment.

I just hope that the bears will remember this experience and never return to town again.

Mountain Gorilla Trip Report

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We just posted a trip report from our 2023 June Mountain Gorilla and Chimpanzee expedition to Uganda. It was an amazing trip with so much magic happening everyday.

It is so hard to put into words, just how special Uganda is. There is so much wildlife here, its mind blowing.

I put up a photo trip report up for you guys. I hope you enjoy!

Magic Moment!

June 30, 2023 - The day all of us were looking forward to was finally here. We were going to see mountain gorillas. This was my second visit to Bwindi to see gorillas, but it felt like the first. The feeling of being around these great animals is so hard to explain, but I will try.

We set off into the mountains at 7am, all of us anxious and hopeful. Last year, the hike was all uphill to get to where the gorillas were. This year, it was all downhill. I loved that. Of course, it didn't mean it would be any easier. We still had to hack our way through the thick forest vegetation. There are no roads or trails in the rainforest. There is the occasional game trail that has been carved out by forest elephants, but other than that, we had to cut our own trail.

We hiked and hiked and hiked.

Zach and Alex… check out that view!

Three hours in, and still no signs of gorillas. All of us were exhausted, except Zach, but he is not well (lol). Finally, our guides made contact with the scouts that had set out at 6am to find the gorillas for us. They found the family we were looking for. The gorillas were nearby!

Our fatigue from the past three hours was quickly forgotten, and our energy renewed. The rush and excitement of seeing a mountain gorilla got us all fired up. We quickened our pace and kept on working our way through the bush. Finally, our guides stopped pushing forward and called us all over to them. There, sitting in the brush, was a gorilla.

It was a big female, she was so beautiful. She pulled a branch down and began eating the leaves off of it. We watched her in awe. Suddenly the forest came alive around us. We were surrounded by the gorillas. We couldn't see them because the vegetation was so thick, but we could hear them and occasionally see the brush moving.

They slowly started coming out of the bushes and walking around. One of them laid down nearby, and another walked over and started grooming it. The smiles on everyone's faces were priceless. This is what it is all about. Moments like this are what all of us live for.

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I snapped away. Image after image. Occasionally putting my camera down to watch them interact. It was magic. There were baby gorillas playing and rolling around clumsily. A huge silverback was nearby, watching over the family. He was acting shy so we didn’t get any great images of him.

When you realize there are only a thousand mountain gorillas left in the world, seeing just one in the wild is truly a privilege. I looked around; we had a family of eleven gorillas around us.

I was in heaven.

There was a female in front of me eating, I kneeled down and started taking pictures of her. She stopped eating and sat there, watching me photograph her. Maybe it was the sound of my shutter that caught her attention, I am not sure. All I know is I stopped shooting to look back at her, and felt this rush of adrenaline, because I knew she was looking right at me. I was filled with so much love for this moment.

She got up and walked towards me. Our guide told me to calmly move out of her way. I rolled out of the way as she passed by me. She was inches away from me. I was on fire and wanted to just sit there and soak up that moment. But our time with the gorillas was almost up, so I quickly got up and went over to another gorilla and kept shooting…

The Ocean is Always Calling!

We all have dreams—especially us wildlife guys (and girls). We dream about traveling, hiking, and diving in unique places and sometimes not-so-amazing places - all in pursuit of finding elusive animals.

I love the land stuff; the forests, the mountains, the Arctic Tundra. There is so much majesty and mystery out there.

I can't get enough.

But… there is nothing in the world like the ocean, and all her magic and all her beauty, and all her secrets.

I dream a lot about the ocean and all the beauty swimming around within her belly.

With the ocean, you never know what she will gift you. It is a fantastic place, and every day is different — she will always surprise you.

But as impressive as the ocean is, she can also be cruel, and she will test a person's soul to see if they are worthy of her greatness.

I have spent countless hours on and in the ocean, and there have been many times when I wished I had never set one foot on a boat.

There have been moments when I cursed the ocean, winds, and the tides, afraid for my life.

I have prayed and begged to be back in the safety of dry land.

Wishing I had chosen rock climbing, or mountain biking, or basket weaving instead of ocean wildlife as my passion.

Of course, when it is all over, and I am dry again, like a true addict, I am already planning my next ocean adventure.

The ocean continues to call to people like me. There is a deep love for ocean wildlife and a need to see them and interact with them.

It pulls at my very soul.

It is tough to explain to people who do not dive for animals. Because unless you drop down and see them for yourself, you will never understand the greatness of nature and the ocean.

Out there in those waters, magic happens, and dreams come true.

Out there is a beauty, unlike anything you will ever see on land.

Under those waves, we are free, and sharing mere moments with sharks, whales, or a sea horse is worth all the ocean beatings, all the wind storms, and all the freezing rain a human soul can endure…

Damn it!

Now I am all fired up and itching to get back out there again.

2022 Highlight Reel

We just cut together a 2022 Highlight Reel. I wanted to put something together that showed the beauty and magic of our season. It was a hard video to create because we experienced so many amazing moments, and it was hard narrowing it down to just a few quick moments. But due to the song I chose to share this video with, I was forced to make hard decisions, and many other great moments were left out. So here it is… I truly hope you enjoy it.

As a Kid I wanted to Work with Wildlife!

anaconda in the Southern Pantanal, Brazil.

I travel - I keep visiting new places, and I keep seeking out new animals. It’s what I love to do, and it’s what I live for. As a young kid, I ate, slept, drank, and dreamed of wild animals. I always wanted to be around them. All my toys were animal toys (until Star Wars arrived, then it was all Star Wars stuff), and all my books were animal books. I would read stories about wildlife and the places you could find them. I dreamed of being there, of going there.

I grew up in rural South Texas; my views were of orange orchards, plowed fields filled with corn or melon (I still can’t stand melon to this day). There were small ranches, with horses and cattle peppering the area. We had one neighbor, the Curls. Bob Curl was an old horseman, he never liked me much, I always asked too many questions I guess. My days were spent outdoors, running around on dirt roads, looking for lizards, snakes, ground squirrels, and birds. It’s what I filled my days with.

When the evenings would come, the toads would come out, and I’d try to catch them. As the sun set, the light bugs lit up the sky, and I ran around trying to catch them too. Of course, when the light bugs would come out, I knew it was time to head inside and have dinner. I’d go in, hungry, sweaty, covered in dirt, runny nose, with a big smile on my face.

It was a good childhood.

Growing up I wanted to be a veterinarian, but not for cats and dogs. I never had much interest in that. I dreamed of being a vet that worked with wildlife. I wanted to go to Africa and care for lions, elephants, giraffes… animals like that. At the time, it was the only way I knew how to get into the game. I didn’t know about wildlife filmmaking or guiding, or photography. Being a vet was the one way I knew I would be able to get close, and be close to wildlife.

Photographing sperm whales off Dominica. Image by Jean Dubois

That was forty-something years ago, and here I am at the age of 51, still eating, sleeping, drinking, dreaming of wildlife and wild places, where I can go see animals.

As a kid, I wanted to be close to them, and that hasn’t changed. I can’t help it. It is just the way I am. My daughter Sophia has always joked, “there is close, and then there is Eli close.”

Having a bit of fun, sizing up an American crocodile off Banco Chinchorro, MX. Image by Mark Rangi

Dancing with my beloved tigers, Tiger Beach Bahamas. Image by Jack Meadows.

I just enjoy the feeling of being there and smelling that rare air. It is a fantastic feeling. Of course, I understand and respect when I have to keep my distance, and I do when I am supposed to. And there are some animals you just can’t and shouldn’t get close too… sadly. Lol. But those moments when I can be close, where there is no blue between us, or a silverback is walking just a few feet away… it is the best feeling in the world.

Of course, I have often been accused of being an adrenaline junky because of it, but I am far from that. I am just comfortable in that environment. It feels normal to me. It feels like I am home. Weird, I know, but I don’t have any other way to describe it.

With my partner in crime, Maritza Martinez. Tiger Beach Bahamas.

This year we are celebrating twenty years of running wildlife expeditions. It is crazy that I have made a career out of this, that showing people wild animals is my job. I am eternally grateful that I get to do what I do. I love helping people on their wildlife journeys, helping them make their dreams come true. Knowing that I am part of that makes me so happy, and gives me purpose.

Of course, without the love and support of my family, especially my wife, dad, and brother, none of this would have been possible. They believed in me and every single one of my crazy dreams. Why, I will never know. But they did.

As I write this blog, I wonder what compelled me to write this up. Then I remembered, it was a social media post that sparked it. Someone asked me to tell more of my story, so here it is. Well, a tiny piece of it. There is so much more there, motorcycle days, bull riding days, teenage years… but I don’t think this blog is the place to post those stories. But sharing where my crazy love for wildlife came from definitely is.

Giant anteater, Bonito, Brazil.

Writing this helped me to remember so many things I had forgotten about, so many great memories of my childhood started flooding back. Of course it wasn’t perfect, nobody’s is I guess. But the good for sure outweighed the bad, and the good is all I care about. It also helped me realize that this journey that I am on, the job that I have, the people that I share time with, and the wildlife I encounter - it has never been a career with wildlife I am chasing… it has always been about living out a little kid’s dreams.

Thanks for reading.