Eli Martinez

May 1, 2022

The Adventure Begins... Day One on Dominica 2022!

Eli Martinez

May 1, 2022

May 1, 2022 - Day One of Dominica was a good day. We got skunked for sperm whales, but we still had a fantastic day at sea.

We spent quite a few hours searching for sperm whales in the morning. Sadly there were no signs of any whales. No clicks on the hydrophone, no blows in the distance… nada. We did encounter a small pod of pygmy killer whales, but they disappeared just as quickly as they had appeared.

Finally, our captain saw a few dorsal fins in the distance and motored over. It was a pod of pilot whales swimming slowly along the surface. We quickly got ready and jumped in. The pod was extremely curious and came in close to look at us. I was guessing around ten individuals, turned out it was more… a lot more. We guesstimated around 20 - 25 whales in this group.

We took turns jumping in with them and had an amazing two-hour session with these beautiful whales. This was my first real-time spent with this predatory species, and I was trying to soak them in and learn as much as I could about them.

The pilot whales were swimming very slowly and in no real direction. They were all spread out, just swimming in what seemed like a big wide circle, doing random patterns. I do not know a lot, but what I am guessing and what makes the most sense to me was that they seemed be hunting.

Possibly hunting giant squid below, using sonar to detect when a squid rises from the deep, or maybe they were hunting a deep water whale, like a beaked whale or something. Not sure, but on our final jump of the day, the whales all gathered up close, and then one of them let out a whistle, and they all dove down deep and disappeared. We did not hear the whistle when we were in the water, but I captured the whistle on my gopro and the whales all dove right after. It was awesome.

We didn’t get sperm whales today, but the ocean gave us a unique and wonderful gift for our first day in Dominica. I can’t wait for tomorrow.

Eli Martinez

January 26, 2022

The 2022 Travel Season is About to Begin!

Eli Martinez

January 26, 2022

January 26, 2022 - The month is freaking gone! Damn, where does the time go?

So this week, I got fired up to write, I wrote a blog earlier this week, but decided to write another one. I do love writing.

I also was going to cut a new video blog, for the second part of our 2021 anaconda diving trip. Check out the first one if you have not seen it.

However, I was inspired to share a video from last season’s Baja shark trip. So I will be cutting together a short vlog from our 2021 mako and blue shark trip instead - which will be out on Friday or Saturday (hopefully Friday). - NOTE; I apologize, I was not able to cut a video these past two days… got tied up prepping to leave to Mexico. But planning to get some great stuff this season for you guys.

Our first trip for the 2022 season is for makos and blue sharks off Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.

Historically, I have run this trip as a three-day expedition; however, I am running this years trip as a five-day. I am pleased about this because it gives us more time to see if we can encounter more wildlife, and right now, Cabo is on fire; whales, orcas, mobulas, and lots of sharks.

It is just alive and going off, and I am very excited about seeing what we might find out there.

Last year we had a really good trip, with surprise visitors on our final day out there.

SPERM WHALES!

We were chumming for sharks when we saw a lot of blows in the distance. Once we figured out what they were, we ditched the chum and took off after them. We ended up spending the rest of our day swimming with a family of sperm whales.

An extremely close encounter with a massive sperm whale. Image by Roberta Manchino

Unfortunately, the visibility was not the best, the water was green and murky. The encounters were a bit intimidating because you could not see the whales until they were less than 20 feet away from you.

Even though the vis sucked, it was epic… we had sperm whales! At the end of the day we were all exhausted, our nerves were shot, but so very happy.

Anyway, I am looking forward to the trip, and the unknown, and the magic, and the fun with our guests… and of course the sharks. Plus, Cabo is always a fun town to hang out in after a day in and on the water.

After our mako trip, we leave Cabo and head North to San Carlos to Magdalena Bay for the annual grey whale migration. Mag Bay is one of my favorite places in the world to visit. The wildlife here is all-time great.

San Carlos is a sleepy little fishing town, with really nothing going on most of the year. Tourists flock here during grey whale season, and that was it. When the whales left, the locals would revert to fishing, and the town would go quiet again.

Of course, when tourists started visiting Mag Bay for the marlin migration, in the wintertime, the town exploded with tourism again. But there is twice as many people there for marlin season, then the grey whale season. The amount of people wanting to swim with the marlin is something that still surprises the locals.

Anyway, the area was initially made famous for its friendly grey whales. The greys migrate here to breed, socialize, and pup, then they head off to where ever it is that they go for the rest of the year.

The whales here are so much fun, they will swim up to the boats, ask for face rubs, and they will do it over and over again. It is such a fantastic feeling having a wild animal like this come up to you and want you to give them a rub.

The experience is truly magical; there is nothing like it in the world. This expedition is possibly one of the most underrated trips that we offer. Because people just do not understand how EPIC an encounter like this truly is.

Anyway, I will be posting a lot while I am in Cabo, and it will slow down when I am in San Carlos because the wifi sucks. But that is ok and part of the experience. Sometimes it is nice to unplug for a bit and just get lost in nature. Mag Bay is one hell of a great place to do that too.

Oh yeah, while I am there, I will set up my camera traps again. A couple of years ago, I brought a camera trap out there to try and find a good spot for coyotes. We found a great site, not only for coyotes but also for bobcats. So I will set the cameras up again and see if the cat action is still good.

I am addicted to those amazing looking wild cats.

If it is, then I will bring a more sophisticated camera trap set up in the wintertime when I return to try and capture high res stills of these Baja wild cats. (more on that project later)

Bobcat scent marking in front of our camera trap. We managed to record three different cats at this spot.

Well, that is my update for today, I need to get back to packing for the trip and I think I have carried on for a while.

Get ready for more than s few posts over the coming weeks, our season is about to begin, and we get to go back out to do what we love… all day, every day!

Thank you for reading.

Eli Martinez

December 26, 2021

Thank You 2021 For Your Magic!

Eli Martinez

December 26, 2021

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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!

Eli Martinez

August 19, 2021

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

Eli Martinez

August 19, 2021

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 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.

Eli Martinez

August 13, 2021

Today was MAGIC... Pure Magic!

Eli Martinez

August 13, 2021

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.

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.

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!

Eli Martinez

August 8, 2021

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

Eli Martinez

August 8, 2021

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.

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!

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.

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.

Eli Martinez

August 5, 2021

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

Eli Martinez

August 5, 2021

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.

Eli Martinez

August 2, 2021

A Wildly FUN Day in the Water!

Eli Martinez

August 2, 2021

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.

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.

Eli Martinez

August 1, 2021

First Day on Dominica.

Eli Martinez

August 1, 2021

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.

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!!!

Eli Martinez

July 31, 2021

Travel Day... We are Off to Dominica!

Eli Martinez

July 31, 2021

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.

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.

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!