"Tales from the Road"
Today is our first day in and on the water, seeking out sperm whales off Dominica Island.
The stories can be found on our “The Daily’s” page.
We won’t be updating our blog during our time here on Dominica, other than this post of course.
I will be updating the trip report at the end of everyday.
So if you want to know what is going on, please visit the link I will be sharing at the end of this post.
Thank you so much.
Blogging will resume when the sperm whale trip ends…
I finally made it to Dominica.
Only took me two days.
Because of where I live in deep South Texas, I am often forced to fly a day early to get to most of my destinations, just in case a flight is delayed.
Which sometimes happens.
Airlines are not perfect, they are full of flaws.
When I get to chatting with my travel buddies, we can sit down and trade horror story, after horror story of the crap we often go through to get from point A to point B on a plane.
But…in the end, I don’t mind.
To me, airplanes are highways to the world!
I love them, despite their many flaws.
This morning I woke up in a hotel in Miami, and now I am in a hotel on a beautiful island in the Caribbean.
I get to meet interesting people and see interesting places.
Monday morning I will be in/on the water looking for sperm whales to swim with.
Tomorrow is Sunday and I have the day for me. I am not sure what I want to do yet.
Explore the island… or go shore diving?
Not sure?
But thanks to a plane… these are my options.
Goodnight from Dominica!
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.
Well, a new year is here, and I am so grateful. Grateful to be alive and healthy, grateful that my loved ones are alive and healthy… and grateful for a new year full of possibilities and promise.
This will be an exciting year, and I can't wait to kick it off and get out into the world again.
I took a nice and much-needed break from travel and social media and just off-gassed from a long and fantastic season. 2022 was a tough and wonderful year.
On my personal journey, it was a challenging year, but on our professional one, it was an outstanding year with a lot of wildlife and beautiful moments out in the world; from orcas in Baja to mountain gorillas in Uganda, it was wild and unique and beautiful and just, Damn, Damn, Damn.
We did so much traveling. The year was so taxing, and I did not keep up with my writing and posting toward the end. Unfortunately, it seems I have a track record of doing that. I start strong, but towards the end of the season, I end up just exhausted and not writing or editing videos as I should be.
I apologize for that, and I will keep my postings much more regularly for you guys.
Anyway, onto 2023 and a new and magical year… It is here, and I am fired up for a new season of trips, especially since this is our 20th anniversary. Yes, sir, (or Ma’am), it has been 20 years of running trips, and I am completely blown away by that.
Never in my wildest dreams would I have seen this in my future and what I would be doing with my life; organizing wildlife adventures and bringing people with me to experience these amazing animals. It is crazy.
Our first expedition, May 2003, for sand tiger sharks off North Carolina.
The reality is I could have never done this without you all. Thank you so much for allowing us to introduce you to these wild places and for trusting me with your time and lives. I am forever grateful to you all.
Above are a few group photos from past expeditions. Click the button to see a gallery of images from our years of adventures.
If I wanted to create a highlight reel of all the years we have been organizing trips, it would be a nightmare to figure out how to tell the story. There are so many memories and moments that we have experienced... Where would I start?
All of it really feels like a dream.
Of course, it wasn't a perfect 20 years, I did have some hard times in there, but the beauty and the magic definitely shined way brighter than those dark moments. But hey, that is life. Life will constantly challenge you, which is ok. Life is often so messed up that you might as well go right to the crazy.
And crazy it has been.
With a lot of magic, and beauty mixed in there, with very special souls - of course, I am referring to the humans and the animals we have shared these adventures with. It has all been imperfectly perfect. The funny thing is I now realize that perfection comes in little moments, but I will take them all… All 20 years' worth of them.
It has been amazing, and thankfully it is not over. We are just getting started. 2023 is going to be another epic year, and I can't wait to get back out there with you all, sharing the stories and images from these places with you.
So again thank you for sharing this journey with me, and reading our blogs and watching our videos, and just being a part of our crazy world. I will end this New Years' Blog here… wishing you all a Happy New Year! May it be filled with love, adventures, and magic.
…with lots of love from the SDM Crew.
Day Six, our final day of the trip, and it was the BEST day of the trip too.
We left at 9am this morning and motored out to the South side of the island to listen for sperm whales. We knew the Utensils pod went south when the pilot whales arrived three days ago, but we were hoping they would come back.
The Utensils pod is one of the friendliest pods off Dominica, and is great for interactions. We dropped the hydrophone and listened, but zero clicks. No sperm whales were around. So we decided to head North and see if the sperm whales were on the other side of the island.
While in route, we found out why the sperm whales were gone from the South side. The pilot whales had returned. The pod we encountered on day three was back. When we found them three days ago, they were headed South and out into the Atlantic. The pilots returned and were now headed North.
At this point we knew any search for sperm whales would be difficult, so we decided to embrace what nature has presented to us and just hang out with the pilot whales.
I am so glad we did.
We positioned the boat 100 yards in front of the whales and killed the motor. The pilot whales did something we did not expect, they swam straight up to the boat, stopped swimming and all of them began spy hoping. We were all putting on swim gear, but this sort of stopped us in our tracks. What were they doing?
A quick video of the pilot whales behavior. I was torn between capturing topside and getting in the water, so its a short video.
A group of about thirty whales were all on the surface, not swimming, just hovering there by our boat, seemly taking turns sticking their faces out of the water, looking at us. It was insane!!!
I was torn between filming the spectacle and grabbing my kit and jumping in the water. Bill, our captain said he has never seen this behavior before. Not in the numbers that we were seeing today.
I captured a few stills, and tried to record a little bit of video, but my need to get in the water won me over, and I put the topside camera down and went to grab my swim gear.
I am trying really hard to find the words to describe what we all experienced today, it really is hard to find the words. To quote Jodie Foster from the movie Contact… “they should of sent a poet, no words.” I know it sounds cheesy, but the day was above and beyond anything I normally have experienced with whales.
The whales would hang out, then swim off. We would get back on the boat, get ahead of them and jump in again. The whales would swim back to the boat and interact with us again, and we did this over and over again for five hours straight.
The whale would swim up to us, roll, and play, and hang around us and then swim off again. Sometimes dropping down into the depths, other times just swim off into the distance. It was true magic.
After about three hours we decided to give them a break, eat lunch and just watch them from the boat. I was about to eat my wrap when the pilot whales swam back to the boat to find out what happened to us. It seemed they wanted to know where we went. They again were hovering right by the boat, some of them were spy hopping, waiting to see if we were going to jump back in.
My heart and mind were exploding.
So we scrapped the lunch idea and back into the water we went. We continued swimming with them. It was non-stop… the whales kept coming up to us. One of the juveniles took a big interest in our cameras and kept coming up close to get a good look at the dome ports. Maybe it was looking at it’s reflection, I don’t know?
This went on for the next two hours.
On our final jump of the day, we jumped in and the whales dove down to avoid us. We took that as a sign that they were done and it was time to call it a day.
The emotions on the boat were at an all time high. All of us were on fire… this was the stuff that dreams are made of. I have had some amazing moments in the water, but this day ranks up there with the very best of them.
Sandy, one of our friends on the trip said it best, “Days like today are why I would want to live forever.”
Wanted to say a special thanks to the beautiful people of Dominica, and a HUGE thank you to our friends who joined us out there, it was an amazing week. Luv you guys.
Until the next one and thank you guys for reading.
Day Four of our sperm whale expedition off Dominica was ok. We found the sperm whales, but they are still a bit skittish from yesterday’s pilot whale visit. Most of the whales have moved out into deeper waters. A bit too far for us to follow, so we didn’t try to find them.
We did have a pod still hanging around, but this group is unknown and did not want anything to do with us. We tried a few jumps, but the animals kept their distance. We did get a few jumps in with them, but nothing like our previous days. So we decided to leave them alone and try and find a friendlier pod.
Sadly we did not have any luck.
During the down time, our friends Tatiana and Graeme recorded some clips for a project they are working on.
We did get a few jumps in with them, but nothing like our previous days. We had some fun passes (while we were on the boat), from spotted, and Frasier’s dolphins., thats always fun. Plus we were in good company, so it was a nice day... But hoping for some better action tomorrow.
We still have two more days. Hoping the sperm whales return so we can finish up this trip with a bang.
Until tomorrow, thanks for reading.
Day three of our expedition and everything was different. The sperm whales were not very friendly. One of the whales lifted its tail out of the water and slammed it hard on the ocean's surface. This was the first time I had seen them do that.
When it did that, I didn't overthink about it. I just excitedly grabbed my topside camera, hoping it was going to do it again. I thought it was being playful… it wasn't.
It was a warning to back off.
We, of course, find out why the sperm whales were on edge. The pilot whales were around. It was a pod of about 25-30 strong. Pilot whales are dangerous predators for baby sperm whales, so it makes sense why they behaved the way they did.
This was the reason we had so much trouble finding sperm whales during our May trip earlier this season, the pilot whales were there almost every day and the whales were spooked.
So we decided to leave the sperm whales alone and spent the rest of the day with the pilot whales, and damn, what a good day it was. They were highly social and allowed us many opportunities to see them up close.
I really like these whales. They are cool looking, and you can see them thinking when they look at you. I really wish I could understand what they were thinking because you can almost feel it when they come in close.
It was fun, and we jumped in a lot with them. The big males are the most curious, and when they come in for a look, they come in close. The moms and calves are more nervous about us and try to keep their distance.
We spent a good two hours with the whales before we called it a day. With each jump, they were getting further and further away from the island, moving into the Atlantic. Hopefully, they were just passing through and had no plans of staying. If they stay, it will make interactions with the sperm whales more challenging.
Let's just see what tomorrow brings. Until then, thanks for reading.
sperm whales poop before they dive down to the depths.
Day two on the water. It was a good day, and the weather stayed beautiful all day. I am super happy about that. We immediately found the Utensils group of sperm whales and decided to stay with this pod all day. There are quite a few pods around; some are not as friendly.
The utensils pod is one of the friendlier pods in this area, so we stayed with them, hoping that we would be treated to some epic interactions when they were done hunting for the day. Sadly the pod spent the entire day hunting, so all our interactions with the whales were very short.
It was still fun, but we are hoping for some solid interactions with the whales when they socialize. That is the stuff of dreams. The whales will play and roll and bite each other. Playfully, of course. It is a hell of a thing to witness and what I hope our guests will experience. It is pure magic when it happens.
We still have four days left, so hopefully, we will have an opportunity to see the whales interacting.
At the end of the day, we were motoring over to a whale that had just surfaced when we heard a loud bang. Sadly our motor died. A piston rod broke and tore a big hole in the engine block. So we had to have our boat towed in. She is a good little boat, and we will miss her. We will head out tomorrow on her sister ship. It is a bit bigger and slower, but she will do. As long as we find the whales, it is all good!
Heading out tomorrow a bit later in the morning to change things up and see if we can get some socializing whales. Fingers crossed.
Thank you for reading.
Sperm whale briefing before we headed out to sea.
I am back in Dominica for another week of sperm whale diving. I really like this place. I mean, what is not to like… a beautiful island with resident populations of sperm whales.
The place is HEAVEN.
Today was day one of our trip, and I am super happy to report that we had fun encounters with some friendly whales. The whales were hunting today, so we did not spend much time with them. When the whales are hunting, they go down and spend between 45 minutes to an hour at depth hunting squids. When they finally do come up, it is short.
They come up for around ten minutes, replenish their oxygen supply, and possibly help feed the youngsters in the family pod. Young sperm whales cannot go as deep as the adults, so they stay shallow, listening for sonar clicks from the adults below, to follow them around.
Sperm whales live in pods, except the males; they are solitary, or form bachelor groups. The sperm whales in a pod all help to raise the young. Each female will feed milk to any baby in their pod that is too young to hunt for themselves. It is wonderful.
The morning was fantastic. The seas were calm, and the sun was out. It was a great start. But that quickly ended when a tropical depression moved through the area in the late afternoon.. and just like that, our beautiful day ended.
Thankfully the storm passed towards the end of the day. We had a good morning with plenty of whale action in good light and pretty water. It was an excellent start to the week. We returned to port in the middle of the storm, and we all rushed to our rooms to dry up and download our images and video from today.
Day one was a success… looking forward to seeing what tomorrow brings.
Until then, thanks for reading.
I cut together a short video from our first encounter with pilot whales on Dominica Island. It was a very good day and so much fun swimming with and getting to know these predatory mammals. I hope you enjoy.
