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MARCH 24TH, 2019 · #TRIPREPORT CABO· PELAGIC SAFARI

Today was another beautiful day in the water. The spring is coming in to Cabo so we have been enjoying some hot days and perfectly blue skies.
We left the Marina and passed by to say hello to our favorite Sea Lion. Every morning he sits a top a small rock coming out of the water known as Lands End, the most southern point of the Baja Peninsula. He loves to basking the sunlight and is quite the poser.

We made our way into the pacific ocean to look for some whales, As the whales start to head north we are trying to soak up as much hump back love as possible before the end of the season. There were plenty of whales around and we were lucky to find one large adult whale breaching. As we cruised along the pacific ocean we were joined by a large pod of common dolphins who enjoyed riding our bow and playing with our boat.
We came to our chumming spot the Cardonal and started the challenge of attracting sharks. After just 40min the first Mako Showed up, we jumped in the water, but he was not in the mood for a party and didn’t stick around long. We weren’t left alone though, a little while later a large male blue shark showed up. He was quite inquisitive and liked to get personal, it always so much fun to be with Blue sharks in the water. After about one hour the blue shark had had enough and disappeared into the blue. Still this was not the end, just 10 min later 2 large Mako sharks showed up. Both the Makos came in with a lot of energy but after a few minuets got used to us, they were also very curious. They also stayed for about 1 hour. It was a very nice and personal interaction with the sharks. As usual they were as interested in us as we are in them.

As the sun got lower we headed back to the marina and ended the day with a mother and calf whale, the calf breaching joyfully as the mother calmly swam below.

Another amazing day on Pelagic Safari.

Pelagic Safari Team.

Today March 20th 2019 is the spring equinox. This is when the center of the sun passes exactly on the equator and officially marks the first day of spring for the northern hemisphere. This year it also coincides with the full moon. These events made the day feel special and today the ocean was beaming.

We started the morning as usual with a visit to the sea lion colony where we found a single male Sea Lion standing proudly on a small rock; the most southern piece of land of the Baja Peninsula. We admired as he stood proudly welcoming us to the Pacific Ocean to begin our safari. The pacific side was lovely and flat. Even though it’s coming to the end of the whale season, we spotted many blows and whale activity around. All the whales seemed to be traveling in the same direction: North. They are starting to say goodbye to their winter home in Mexico and head north for the summer.

After some whale waiting we headed back to the sea of Cortez, we decided to stay out in the blue as we travelled east and we are happy we did. The captain did a sharp turn and called to me; “there is something there, keep your eyes pealed.” And moments later I saw it; it was the amazingly tall dorsal fin of a large male Orca. I could barely contain my excitement. The Orcas have been in the area for the last weeks, but mostly stay far from shore and often travel hundreds of miles in one day. To spot them in the blue is a very rare occasion. As we followed the male the rest of the pod appeared. It was two males, two females and young juvenile. They were moving erratically and in all directions, we watched I awe from the surface and after a while they were clam and in a tight group. They had got used to the boat and finally decided to come check us out. They swam around and under the boat, their white marking unmistakable just below the surface. We finally had the chance to jump in the water and got to see the enormous male that was leading the group. The large male swam separate from the rest of the pod. He seemed to be trying to keep us entertained so that we wouldn’t bother the rest. We tried to get close again, but he was less interested in us, so we enjoyed watching the pod from the surface. They were heading south and led us more than 12miles from shore, as the wind picked up we decided to head back to Cabo.

On our way we spotted a large Fin whale just before it dove down. Their dorsal fi and coloring are unmistakable. These whale also often pass through there are on their travels to the Sea of Cortez. It was an amazing chance to have caught it on the surface.

We finally reached our shark spot and even through the surge was getting bigger we chummed hard. After just 30 min the first blue shark showed up. It was a male shark, measuring almost 2 meters, not long after the second blue shark showed up. We had a spectacular encounter with these two sharks as the danced and moved just meters below us. They were not too interested in the bait or the humans but gave us an unforgettable spectacle a few meters below.

Words cannot describe the day.
Always expect the unexpected

Pelagic Safari Team

Today was a WOW day, one of those days we will never forget.
Today we had the pleasure of going out with Indigo Safaris, we had 10 people, on two boats. as we left the marina we headed into the pacific to try our lick with some whales. The whales are already leaving Mexico and heading north so its a real pleasure to still find them and we were lucky. We were far from shore and found a young whale about 12m long it was happily breaching it was cruising north breaching every few minuets, and doing some pectoral fins slaps as if to say BYE!
After this beautiful encounter we started to head to our shark point. The journey there came with many treats. First we spotted a marlin jumping 10 feet out of the water, three time in a row, then as we stopped to watch the marlin we spotted a fin on the surface. A majestic smooth hammerhead cruised buy us slowly, we also spotted 5 olive Riddley turtles. The giant pyrosomes are arriving and we have already spotted many turtles ready to feed on them.
Finally we arrived to our spot 9 miles off shore and began to chum. We decided to chum with both boats close together, the more chum the better we say: This was defiantly the correct decision. After 2hours of chumming there first Blue Shark appeared. The first group got in the water and the next Blue Shark showed up, then the next and the next… Within one hour we had 9 BLUE SHARKS with us!
The sharks stayed mostly at 6meters depth but would often come up to the surface for a closer look.
It was absolutely spectacular to have all of these sharks as interested in us as we are in them!
Oh what a sight!

Another unbelievable day on Pelagic Safari!

 

STATS
wind: 1-4kts
wind: E
Current: low/med
viz: 5-8M
Temp: 22-23C

Sometimes you feel you had a bad day until something incredibly amazing happens.

We left the Marina at 10 am to go to one of our shark spots where we had been seeing sharks on the previous days.
We were sailing calmly to enjoy the beautiful sunny day we had and also to be able to spot any possible creature to interact with.
We sighted more than 15 turtles on the surface having a relaxed bath and even the humpback whale season is coming to an end, we could see some whales crossing by the coast with their families on their way, maybe to leave Baja California Sur until next season.
We got to the shark spot around after noon and we stared getting everything ready to star chumming.
Hours passed and no sharks were around… and here comes the magical moment of the day! When we were literally staring to pick everything up in order to start our way back to the harbor, a couple of blue sharks showed up so we decided to get to the water as fast as we could! 2, 3, 4, 5 and up to 9 blue sharks at the same time with all of us in the water!
It was an amazing day with a fantastic way to end our safari!

This was a special Pelagic Safari, hosting Federico Forletta  filming a documentaries series called “ Last Paradise “; The marine and terrestrial ecosystems of  Baja California  is unique on this planet as treasure-troves of biodiversity where aesthetic beauty is combined perfectly with points of  cultural and scientific interest. This is a journey to discover an incredible place, inhabited by amazing  creatures, where the government is aware of its importance and fragility, and is strongly committed to protecting the environment by making Baja California one of ”Last Paradise ”.

We’ve had really windy weather here these past few days, but we are expecting beautiful weather in the near future. Even through the windy weather we have had some amazing trips with many Pelagic animals coming to visit us. We’ve been seeing humpback whales during all of our safaris lately, and also mako sharks, blue sharks & marlins!
Mako & Blue Shark activity is all around! This week we had a beautiful male blue shark of that swam with us for more than two hours. He was extremely elegant & calm at the same time! Blue sharks are known as excellent swimmers.
After the male blue shark we had more unexpected visitors! 2 more blues were swimming with us! and finally a shy mako shark!
We are still seeing humpback whales every day at Pelagic Safari around Los Cabos, but by the end of April, most of our baleen tourists will begin the long journey home toward Alaskan waters where the food supplies are plentiful.

We had an amazing  2 days with Federico Floretta, he is one of the most inspiring and motivational humans we have encountered and have had the pleasure to host!

Pelagic Safari Team

 

Orcas! That’s the first thing we heard this morning as we climbed into the mobula for another pelagic Safari! An air of excitement moved through everyone and we headed out of the Marina.
Cabeza Ballena 2 miles out, those were the indications we were give, this is just 15 min away. We held on tight and sped over to the spot, the first thing we spotted was the magnetic tall dorsal fin of the leading male, it protruded out of the water full of power as he led the pod. Just a few meters behind him another male came to the surface, his dorsal fin already strait and tall, but was obviously a younger male of the pod. Finally a couple of minutes after there’s of the pod surfaced; Everyone gasped! Their behavior was different to that we have seen before, they were moving in every direction and would sometimes swim directly towards our boat. We stayed with the pod for over an hour in complete amazement of what we whiteness. It is very likely that these Orcas were hunting, in search of a young whale calf. Seeing a male Orca is something that you never forget. After a while when the orcas calmed down and were moving slower, we managed to get close to the male. As he moved slowly parallel to us, we knew trhis was our chance, we jumped in! As we slid into the water everything goes silent. This huge animal moves with such power and grace. We swam next to him for a couple of minuets before he dove down and disappeared into the blue. The Orcas display such power and Peace at the same time that it takes your breath away. We swam with him a couple more times before leaving him to go back to his pod and continue on their quest.

We thought the day couldn’t get much better, but as we headed closer to shore we came across a pair of humpback whale courting. The moved and intertwined with each other on the surface like a dance.

We ended the day with a Arial display of humpback whales breaching, taking their entire 40ton body out of the water.

This is what we live for.
This is what calls us to the ocean every day.
This is Pelagic Safari.


STATS

Wind: medium
wind: am SW pm SE
Current: unsure
Temp: 22

Today we had Just as short whale watching safari. We headed out from the Marina and spotted a whale almost straight away. She was moving very slowly and would sink effortlessly down the from the surface. We watched in amazement as the 40 whale disappeared barely making a ripple in the water. Since we were still close to the marina we left the whale before the many other whale watching boats surrounded us.

We headed to Palmille a spot where we have been seeing many mothers with calf’s. On our way there we spotted 5 turtles. 4 Olive Riddley and one Green.The Turtles are arriving and we look forward to seeing more of them over the next moths.

Once we arrived in Palmille we found what we were looking for; A mother whale with her calf. The mother seemed to be teaching the whale some surface behaviors. The mother would breach and then the young calf would follow. Later the mother would fluke slap and the little whale would copy. They continued doing this for more than an hour. The young calf did not tire of playing and learning. Calf’s spend a whole year right next to their mothers as the grow and learn from them each step of the way.
On our way back to the marina we spotted at least 10 more whales, we spotted a competition group of bout 6 males. They were moving fast and sometimes head lobbing as they came up to breath. This is another amazing whale behavior we witness in Cabo. The males compete with each other in order to get the chance to mate with the desired female. Its amazing to watch from the surface, but in reality the whales are being quite aggressive with each other as they dive down.

Thank you to these amazing mammals that bring such magic to Cabo in the winter months.

Pelagic Safari Team

 

STATS
Viz: Good
Current: Medium SW
Wind: 3-7kts SW
TEMP: UNKNOWN

Today’s plan was to find some sharks. The mako season is here and going strong.
On our way to the shark spot we came across 2 different whales. We stopped to watch as one of the was slapping its pectoral fins, It did one large breach just before we headed off. Before we made it to the shark spot we spotted more than 10 turtles. One green turtle was very calm on the surface, we got close and it did not seem bothered so we got in the water to have a face to face look. The seaturtle stayed with us for a few minuts, it had many barnacles on its face a shell and looked like it was quite mature.

We chummed for 2 hours and just as our divers were starting to lose hope a small mako showed up. He was darting around checking out all of our chumming toys and we quickly suited up and got in the water. The mako was extremely intense, like he wanted to be everywhere at the same time. We got well positioned on the safety line and watched him speed in and out of sight. After about 40min a second shark showed up. This one was also a juvenile male. The original Mako tried to chase him away but he was not successful and after a few minuets they both came back. These two little sharks were loving the chum. They moved quickly in every direction and came close to check us out. Their shinny blue backs glistened in the sunlight, as they checked out the Shearwaters and seagulls that confidently sat on the surface.

The wind and swell started to pick up so we ended the day watching whales cruise all around us.

Today was an exciting and adrenaline packed day. The sharks were as excited as we were.
Another fantastic day on the ocean.

Pelagic Safari Team

 

STATS

Visibility: Very good
Wind am: 4-8kts
Wind pm: 6-11kts
Wind: SE
Current: low NW
TEMP 22º/71,6F

A day to remember!

Pelagic humans! Can you imagine seeing mako sharks, seaturtles, humpback whales, grey whales, dolphins, sea lions and some móbulas breaching in just one day?

YES! That was our day TODAY!

Our first idea in the morning was to spend some time looking for whales and after midday, chum in order to attract some sharks!

Nedel, our captain, received the message on the radio that the makos were in Sea of Cortez side so we decided to change our plan and have some shark action in the morning.

After just 20 minutes chumming, a beautiful little female mako shark appeared and stayed with us for 1 hour, curious and but not intense in crystal clear blue water.

It started to get windy so we moved to the Pacific side where we saw an amazing pod of Grey Whales relaxing and swimming.

Then, the end of the day was magic… we were literally sailing side to side with humpbacks, dolphins and sea lions AT THE SAME TIME!

It was a beautiful day with beautiful humans and, of course, with beautiful marine encounters!

Pelagic Safari Team

Mako sharks are back and with them amazing projects happening at PELAGIC SAFARI !
This last 2 weeks we had on board on several safaris Steve De Neef  & Regi Domingo for the creation of a film to call all humans to help convince all governments & citizens to include makos in Appendix II of the PROPOSAL at this year’s world CITES conference in Sri Lanka !
Mako sharks are listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. They are reported to be among the most heavily fished sharks in the world mainly as result of bycatch in the tuna and swordfish fisheries. However, significant demand for shark fin soup & their meat has led to them being increasingly targeted in pelagic shark fisheries.
We belive they worth more alive, with appropriate conservation policies, sharks can begin their recovery, a road that could be both enjoyable and profitable through ecotourism. Shark tourism can change your mind about these predators, once you share the water with them you will see they are beautiful creatures and the fastest shark in our oceans but sadly they are loosing this race… Like many top predators, this species is in decline and continues to be overfished. It’s meat is known to be high in mercury, something that can have detrimental health effects to humans. We encourage everyone not to eat shark meat & join ecotourism as creating a successful business model that can be reproduced in other destinations we believe that we can make a genuine contribution to shark conservation and Mako Sharks.
Pelagic Safari Team