I'm going to Holbox!

[Jonathan Bird]

Well, I'm off on a little family vacation getaway to Holbox, Mexico on Thursday. I'm going to investigate these claims of ridiculous numbers of whale sharks and get back to you. We can compare to the Galapagos, Donsol (Philippines), Exmouth (western Australia) and Utila (Honduras)--the other places I have been fortunate to swim with whale sharks.

We're planning on shooting a Jonathan Bird's Blue World episode there, so I'm hoping for lots of shark action and good viz. If my 4 year old daughter is up to it, I may even try throwing her in. She has been taking swim lessons for a year...but not sure she is ready for this or not.

Report to come next week!

Jonathan

[sorvju-f]

Well, I'm off on a little family vacation getaway to Holbox, Mexico on Thursday. I'm going to investigate these claims of ridiculous numbers of whale sharks and get back to you. We can compare to the Galapagos, Donsol (Philippines), Exmouth (western Australia) and Utila (Honduras)--the other places I have been fortunate to swim with whale sharks.

We're planning on shooting a Jonathan Bird's Blue World episode there, so I'm hoping for lots of shark action and good viz. If my 4 year old daughter is up to it, I may even try throwing her in. She has been taking swim lessons for a year...but not sure she is ready for this or not.

Report to come next week!

Jonathan

Enjoy your holiday ( whole family ).

4 year old...hmmm...remember that you might get tired in the water...they are not.

Just wait to see next episode!

Jukka

[Jonathan Bird]

I'm back! All I can say is WOW! I'll post some pics and a trip report once I get through the RAW files. We had probably 20 whale sharks around the boat at several times. Amazing!

Jonathan

[Clay Coleman]

What?!!??!! I've never heard of that. You were diving in the Gulf of Mexico north of the Yucatan? Details, man, details! What was your travel itinerary, who was the dive operator? I assume that these congregations are seasonal. What are the season limits? I can't believe I've never heard of this! I'm off tomorrow to the Durgon in Bonaire, but, man, I think I should be going to Holbox! -Clay

[sorvju-f]

What?!!??!! I've never heard of that. You were diving in the Gulf of Mexico north of the Yucatan? Details, man, details! What was your travel itinerary, who was the dive operator? I assume that these congregations are seasonal. What are the season limits? I can't believe I've never heard of this! I'm off tomorrow to the Durgon in Bonaire, but, man, I think I should be going to Holbox! -Clay

I have to admit that I was also serching by Google destination name Holbox....waiting Jonathan!

Jukka

[Jonathan Bird]

OK, I am supposed to be working now, but I'll give you some details, then more later when I have time.

Holbox (pronounced "Holbosh") is a tiny island on the north end of the Yucatan in Mexico. It's basically a small fishing village. They don't have cars on the island...everyone drives gas powered golf carts. It's weird. The people are very nice, I never felt unsafe. There are no panhandlers, yet. The fishermen have known about the seasonal aggregations of whale sharks (they call them "Dominos") for many years, but the word got out a few years ago and now it's becoming pretty much the place to see whale sharks.

You fly into Cancun, take a 2.5 hour drive north through the jungle, get on a boat and take a 1/2 hour ride to Holbox. There are several hotels on the island but only two with A/C. Since the season is June-September, you really want an air-conditioned hotel, trust me. The no-see-ums are absolutely brutal at sundown, you need to be inside then. The rest of the time the bugs are not bad at all. There are very few mosquitos in fact. During the day it's just too hot for them anyway.

You get up at 6:30 AM and get into these small fishing boats on the beach. You drive out about 1 hour, then you get to the sharks. We had as many as 20 sharks within sight of the boat at a time. I have seen pictures of this in Shark Diver Magazine but I expected those were the "shoulda been here last week" type pictures, a 1 in a million situation. Nope! We had 4 mornings with the sharks, and we had tons of sharks all four mornings. We also had mantas and plenty of dolphins. They say that you can only stay out for the morning because the wind comes up and the sharks stop surface feeding. That was not my experience. In our case, we left because the time was up and it was time to go back. When I go back next year (yes, I'm putting together a trip, and it will be cheap) I will negotiate that we stay out until we are finished, not until the time is up.

The viz is 20-30 feet. The water is greenish and full of plankton. That's why the sharks are there. It's a soup of mostly little shrimp and jellies. The sharks are very actively feeding. They are swimming at the surface, mouths wide open, scooping water. Some are vertical in the water gulping at the surface. Nearby, mantas are doing barrel rolls feeding. There are bait balls of sardines here are there, making the water appear to boil. Dolphins are zipping through it. It's friggin' amazing. But the viz is only 20-30 feet, so it's hard to shoot. You need a W-I-D-E lens and get into the action. Better viz than Donsol for sure, but certainly not clear water.

They have adopted some very intelligent rules for whale shark interactions, as the WWF got involved early and gave them the same set of rule suggestions that they gave the operators in Donsol Philippines. (No strobes, only 2 people plus a guide in the water at a time, no touching the sharks, no scuba etc.) The rules are fair. They are very strict about not allowing people to touch the sharks, and the result is that the sharks are totally, absolutely unafraid of people. They will swim right up to you while feeding and pay you no attention. It makes pictures easy. We had a couple total newbie photographer friends with us and they all got good shots.

The surface photography is almost as impressive as the underwater. We had some people not even get in the water but get amazing topside shots of the mantas and the sharks.

My 4 year old swam with the whale sharks. There are so many that you don't need to chase them. Just get in the water and wait. Within a few minutes, one will pass right by you. She had mantas rolling under her feet and whale sharks zipping by left and right.

I did this trip with some friends as a "discovery" trip and I learned a LOT about how to run a trip there. I'll run one next year and now I know exactly how to run it right. All I can say is that this place is truly amazing and one of the few places I have been that actually exceeded the expectation I had of it. (Galapagos was another).

Unfortunately, there are plans afoot to massively captialize on the sharks. There are tons of hotels being planned and I think in short order it is going to get out of hand there. We'll see.

I'll post some pics shortly.

Jonathan

[Jonathan Bird]

What?!!??!! I've never heard of that. You were diving in the Gulf of Mexico north of the Yucatan?

Clay, yes! Your neck of the woods!

[Jonathan Bird]

OK, here are some pics!

[Jonathan Bird]

More pics....

[Jonathan Bird]

A few more....

[Jonathan Bird]

OK, two more and I'll stop!

[Daniel]

Amazing, thanks for sharing!!!

[tarczy]

OK, two more and I'll stop!

The one with the mirror reflection = amazinggg!!!! :D

[sorvju-f]

The one with the mirror reflection = amazinggg!!!! :D

I agree with Tarzy, it is simply the best whaleshark pic I have ever seen!

I hope you got also pic of whaleshark with the 4 years?

Jukka

[Jonathan Bird]

The one with the mirror reflection = amazinggg!!!! :D

Thanks bro...I got a whole series of those....not sure if that is the best one. The surface was so calm, it was like a mirror. I'm not sure if it is always like that in the morning, but we had 4 calm days in a row. The guide said some mornings are rough and it is harder to find the sharks. When it's rough the sharks do not aggregate as much either.

Jukka, I did not bring a camera in with me while we were swimming with my daughter....I needed to concentrate on making sure she was OK and holding her hand. Some people got some pictures of her with the sharks from topside, but nothing underwater. That's OK, it was more important to me that she have a positive experience. That being said, she has NO idea what an amazing thing she did. She thinks all 4 years olds do this stuff now!

Jonathan

[David White]

Absolutely amazing Jonathan, thanks for sharing. Put me down on the list for when you organize a trip next year. So what do you do for an encore with your four year old?

[Jonathan Bird]

Hey David,
The encore is she sleeps! :D

Here are some more pics to view from Holbox. The link will work for 90 days.

http://www.jonathanbird.net/cgi-bin/saved_light_box.asp?s=1045651576&t=39297.6033333333

Jonathan

[Jonathan Bird]

Here is a shot that Kerry or Linda Hurd got of us! Christine and I are on each side of Elise and there are 3 whale sharks in the vicinity!!

[bubbayeow]

Wow! What great shots. I cannot even begin to imagine what it was like to actually be there amongst those magnificent creatures. Thanks for sharing the pics.

Hello everyone. I joined a couple of weeks ago and have been quietly peeking in on all your conversations. As some others have said, this place is a treasure trove of information and everybody is so helpful.

I'm an old diver but a newbie to the world of underwater photography. Although I use an SLR topside, I think I'm going to stick to a P & S for down below. Am currently using a Sony Mavica CD500 in an Ikelite Housing with one DS50 Strobe and a DS51 on the way. My wife and I are headed to Lembeh Straits in Indonesia in a couple of weeks and will be spending almost three weeks at the Lembeh Resort, diving and just hanging out.

I was wondering if anybody else has been there, and if so, any advice?

[sorvju-f]

Here is a shot that Kerry or Linda Hurd got of us! Christine and I are on each side of Elise and there are 3 whale sharks in the vicinity!!

Really I can regognize you but sorry I havent seen your wife and doughter earlier:p ;) :cool: :eek:

Jukka

[sorvju-f]

[QUOTE=bubbayeow;2472]
stick to a P & S for down below.
QUOTE]

I think that now "the steering committee" have decided that "Point and Shoot" is due the bublic demand now "Digital compact"

Jukka

[Jonathan Bird]

My wife and I are headed to Lembeh Straits in Indonesia in a couple of weeks and will be spending almost three weeks at the Lembeh Resort, diving and just hanging out.

I was wondering if anybody else has been there, and if so, any advice?

There is a thread in the Pacific section:
http://www.uwphotochat.com/forums/showthread.php?t=43

I'm heading there for the 1st time in October and looking forward to it!

[Jonathan Bird]

[QUOTE=bubbayeow;2472]
stick to a P & S for down below.
QUOTE]

I think that now "the steering committee" have decided that "Point and Shoot" is due the bublic demand now "Digital compact"

Jukka

LMAO!! :D

I was going to say the same thing. "Point and Shoot" is now politically incorrect according to at least one of our members so we are supposed to call them Digital Compacts! :D

Jonathan

[bubbayeow]

I stand corrected. I am so totally politically incorrect.
Thanks for the links to Rod Klein's site. Now that I've seen those, I am even more excited about my upcoming trip.

Jonathan, sorry! I didn't mean to hijack your Holbox trip....

[beau_gust]

Great shots, Jonathan! My wife and I are interested in the trip you are planning. Let us know!

We got to see one (1) whale shark in the Sea of Cortez last year. It was great, but this looks unbelievable.

Is there any diving to be done around there? I know there's no scuba with the whale sharks, but maybe elsewhere in the area?

[Jonathan Bird]

Is there any diving to be done around there? I know there's no scuba with the whale sharks, but maybe elsewhere in the area?

It depends on your definition of "in the area." Several of our friends combined the trip with diving elsewhere in the Yucatan (cenotes, Cancun) but on Holbox itself, there is no diving, no dive shop, no scuba tanks and no compressor. According to the whale shark guide, there are precious few reefs around the island, mostly just sand. And the vis is what you see in my pics-- 20-30 feet. I'm working on the trip logistics now....I'll keep you posted. It will be July/August though (peak season for the sharks).

Jonathan

[Jonathan Bird]

Hey ya'all-
I have booked the trip for 2008. The price is still in flux, but should be right around $1500. I'm waiting for the updated hotel pricing for 2008. I am only taking 16 guests (18 people total with my wife, 6 snorkelers per boat, 3 boats).

Details here:

http://www.jonathanbird.net/holbox_trip.htm

Jonathan

[Jonathan Bird]

Another update. I have decided to reduce the group size to 12 for my Holbox trip to make the logistics easier. There will only be 6 people per boat, with 2 boats. I have 2 spots left on the trip is anyone is interested. Details here (http://www.jonathanbird.net/holbox_trip.htm). The price is $1499.00 per person double occupancy with a $100 discount for couples in a queen bed (because the room is a tad cheaper).

This is BY FAR the cheapest and easiest way to see whale sharks, and probably the best overall whale shark experience you will ever have. I have dove with whale sharks in Honduras, Holbox, Galapagos, Western Australia, and Donsol (Philippines) and Holbox is the best experience, hands down.

Jonathan

[Jonathan Bird]

Hey Everyone,

We're leaving on Wednesday....I will post a trip report when I get back or a "blog" while I'm there if there is decent internet access! Clay will be there too, so uwphotochat is in the capable hands of Tarczy while we're gone!

Jonathan

[tarczy]

Have lots of fun Jonathan!

Don't get eaten by the sharks!! :eek: :rolleyes:

We'll keep the lights on for ya!

[Jonathan Bird]

Hey Gang,
We made it here and we have internet access, to stand by for a pile of trip report pics in the following week from me and Clay!!


Jonathan

[Andrew]

We are ready and waiting....

Andrew

[Clay Coleman]

Hey Andrew, I'm ready and waiting, too! It's Thursday night, and we leave early tomorrow morning for our search for the sharks. We'll let y'all know what happens tomorrow afternoon. Wish us luck! -Clay

[Jonathan Bird]

Hi Gang,
Well, the hurricane that moved through a few days ago left a bit of a challenge for us. Our guide Andreas says that today was much better than yesterday and tomorrow should improve more. But we have a little wind, chop, and murk. The plankton layer is deeper. Basically, the sharks are harder to find and less cooperative than is normal. Fortunately, we are here for 5 days of interactions, so hopefully conditions will improve. Here are a couple from today, shooting with a Tokina 10-17 as wide as it goes!!

Jonathan

[Clay Coleman]

Hey y'all! Jonathan already gave the report on conditions, and I wasn't ready for them today. I shot with a 12-24, which wasn't wide enough. I'll shoot the 10.5 fisheye tomorrow. While the conditions aren't great for whale sharks, it certainly is pleasant enough! Here's one shot from today--better ones (I hope) to follow:
Clay

[Jonathan Bird]

Nice shot Clay....looks pretty darned good to me!

The viz has been a little murky so the real action has been above water. Today I spent most of the time shooting topside video, but I hopped in the water a few times and got a few eyeball shots, etc.

Here are some shots and also a few of the island.

Jonathan

[Jonathan Bird]

Una mas! Shark feeding...

[Clay Coleman]

The viz is still murky, but it's getting better. If the improvement continues, we'll be in for a treat for the next 3 days. Here's one from today:

[Andrew]

Great pics even in those murky conditions... you should trying diving here if you think that is bad viz... ;)

Good shooting over the next couple of days and we look forward to seeing and hearing more about your trip.
Andrew

[Clay Coleman]

Big improvement today--calm seas and several sharks. I had a bit of a problem with my housing (water on the wrong side), but the camera and housing back (where the electronics are) were apparently unscathed. Anyway, here's a shot from today (Sunday). -Clay

[Jonathan Bird]

Hey Gang....kinda quiet in this chat recently but I hope someone is reading!!

Well, today was a lot better! The seas calmed down and fewer boats. No shark sharing today. The first one we found was swimming in and out of a huge patch of plankton-filled yellowish pea soup with viz less than 10 feet. So we found another shark in clearer water. This one had a damaged dorsal fin and a tag. They have put visual tags on more than 600 whale sharks here in Holbox and learned that they share the population with the ones around Honduras, Belize and even the ones that show up occasionally up at the Flower Gardens in Texas. Anyway, the tagged one was only somewhat cooperative. Later, a second one came by while we were still working with the tagged one, so we decided to try the new shark. This one turned out to be the sweetheart of the day and gave us a lot of photographic opportunities. The water was much clearer today, fortunately. Tomorrow we are hoping for even more improved conditions. I'm going to try video tomorrow.

Here are a few shots from today.

Jonathan

[Neptune7]

Hey guys,

Great stuff! There are some truly great pictures posted. WOW.
But one question: I have noticed the bait balls under the whale sharks, is there any predation on the smaller fishes?

Pierre

Jonathan: Enjoy the warm waters of Mexico. It won't be as warm in two weeks from now on the North Shore...;)

[tarczy]

Hey guys!

Great shots! I was out diving Catalina Island for the last three days, so I didn't have a chance to comment on all your images. Looks like you guys are havin' a blast. I'll bet the Coronas are free flowing too!! ;)

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i284/mongo255/Miscellaneous/corona_unplugged_800_600.jpg

Ha ha!!!

BTW . . . GOOD NEWS! Christine is now a certified diver!!

Oh yeah . . . one more thing . . . Underwater Photo Chat is about to have its 500th member sign up!! We should throw a party.

[Clay Coleman]

Hey everybody. Back from the water on Monday. It was another perfect day--flat seas and plenty of sunshine. Our boat (different from Jonathan's) worked one shark all day, and we had good luck with it until other boats showed up. Pierre, I think the bait fish are seeking refuge beneath the sharks. There are huge bait balls and the pelicans are having a field day with them. We got good shots of a manta feeding at the surface today. Mark: Congrats on the newly certified diver. There's a book out on that subject, you know! Here are a couple of shots from this morning (our shark didn't have any accompanying bait fish):

[Jonathan Bird]

Mark: Congrats on the newly certified diver. There's a book out on that subject, you know!

Gee, you wouldn't be referring to this one (http://claycoleman.tripod.com/id121.htm) would ya? ;)

[Jonathan Bird]

Jonathan: Enjoy the warm waters of Mexico. It won't be as warm in two weeks from now on the North Shore...;)

That's for sure! we'll be freezing our butts off with (hopefully) another shark species! I can't wait!

Lots of fish feeding in the plankton at the surface in large groups. Occasionally they all jump out of the water and make a massive splash, but I have yet to get in the water in the school and find out what is happening below. When we pull the boat up to the school, they all dive down.

Today I free-dove down to the bottom. Even 90 minutes out from Holbox, the water is only 30 feet deep. But you can't see the bottom until you get down about 10 feet.

Jonathan

[Jonathan Bird]

BTW . . . GOOD NEWS! Christine is now a certified diver!! Oh yeah . . . one more thing . . . Underwater Photo Chat is about to have its 500th member sign up!! We should throw a party.

Congratulations to Christine!

Lets join her up as the 500th member! :D

[Jonathan Bird]

I have noticed the bait balls under the whale sharks, is there any predation on the smaller fishes?

I have not noticed the sharks attempting to feed on the fish. When there is nobody in the water with the sharks, the fish are spread out around the shark feeding on the same plankton, up in the first few inches of water. (You can see that in one of the surface shots I posted previously). When you get in the water and approach the shark, the fish spook and hide under the shark, which is cool and makes the sharks look like they have a big beard made of fish. Really neat, and something we didn't see last year. WAY COOL pictures of this!!

Today I took my video camera and dove down below a shark to shoot the school of fish under there. It taxed my free-diving skills which are not what they used to be! Free diving beneath a whale shark is fun stuff.

There are also tons of mantas around, but they are not that easy to approach in the water. You can swim up to them, but when they see you, they turn the other way, and they swim faster than the whale sharks when they are feeding....very hard to keep up with.


Jonathan

[Jonathan Bird]

Well, today was the last day! I shot video mostly, but I got in the water with one manta ray for some feeding shots. I never did swim fast enough to get a mouth shot, but it did a few barrel rolls! Pics...

This place is SO LAME!! :D

[solisti]

You are getting some very nice shots, even if the viz is not that good! Keep'em coming!

[Ken Hawk]

Thought I better post, I am watching this thread with intrest ;)
Ken

[Jonathan Bird]

Thanks guys!

I finally jumped into a "bait ball" the other day just to see what was going on, and it was a bit anti-climactic. Basically, it's just a huge school of fish feeding near the surface, which is why the surface is jumping with fish. But other than an a few pelicans diving into the fish from above, there were no predators below, so the fish were not really balled up. I'm sure that if you get lucky and get into a school where the dolphins are feeding, you will see a true bait ball, but I didn't see that. What I did see what a school of fish of epic proportions!

Jonathan

[sorvju-f]

Thanks guys!

I finally jumped into a "bait ball" the other day just to see what was going on, and it was a bit anti-climactic. Basically, it's just a huge school of fish feeding near the surface, which is why the surface is jumping with fish. But other than an a few pelicans diving into the fish from above, there were no predators below, so the fish were not really balled up. I'm sure that if you get lucky and get into a school where the dolphins are feeding, you will see a true bait ball, but I didn't see that. What I did see what a school of fish of epic proportions!

Jonathan

Sorry not to comment so far...been also away from computer...10 days wreck diving in murky waters of Finland and holiday with my wife in an island without net-connection. Actually I didn't know that there can be viz of 20 meters in Finland...great.

Looks like there is greenish waters like in Finland also in Holbox...anyhow lot of nice pics....I am little bit jealous...specially those pics which have light rays going trough the pic stayed in my mind.

Jukka

[sorvju-f]

Jonathan, when the water is greenish and not so much light are you adjusting ISO-values?

Jukka

[Jonathan Bird]

Jukka,
You may be surprised to learn that I used a higher ISO value on the surface camera than the underwater one.

Topside, I was using a telephoto lens (Nikon 28-200 mostly) to get tight on the sharks face as it feeds, and I was using a polarizer which loses 1-2 stops, plus shooting into dark water. So even though the sun is blazing and it's broad daylight in Mexico in July, I was still shooting at 400-800 ISO so I could keep my shutter speed above 1/500th.

Underwater, I was using mostly 400 ISO, since I am shooting ambient light and trying to keep the shutter speed above 1/250. Keep in mind that underwater I'm using a fisheye, so I can get away with less shutter speed than with a 200 mm telephoto on a rocking boat, but I'm still swimming as fast as I can alongside a big fish. 1/60 ain't gonna cut it.

Jonathan

[Jonathan Bird]

I forgot to mention that since the D300 is natively 200 ISO, going up to 400 is only one stop, and up to 800 is only two. There is almost no difference between the noise at 200 and 400, so I felt there is essentially no loss of quality there. The difference between 200 and 800 (two stops) is detectible, but hardly objectionable....a lot less objectionable than a blurry picture! I am astonished how much better the D300 looks at 800 ISO than the D200 did.

Jonathan

[sorvju-f]

I forgot to mention that since the D200 is natively 200 ISO, going up to 400 is only one stop, and up to 800 is only two. There is almost no difference between the noise at 200 and 400, so I felt there is essentially no loss of quality there. The difference between 200 and 800 (two stops) is detectible, but hardly objectionable....a lot less objectionable than a blurry picture! I am astonished how much better the D300 looks at 800 ISO than the D200 did.

Jonathan

This is intresting...new cameras are able to work with higher ISO values without bigger quality change so this means also that your objectives are more powerfull concernig light.

I haven't played a lot with ISO...but looks like there is reason to do it!

Jukka

[Clay Coleman]

Now that I'm home, here are 2 more that I put on my web site. The first one (can you see Sharon on the other side of the shark?) has some pretty bad camera tilt. It's hard to compose when you're swimming absolutely as fast as you can to keep up! -Clay
http://claycoleman.tripod.com/dfebdd30.jpg

http://claycoleman.tripod.com/e05bdd50.jpg

[Jonathan Bird]

That's not tilt...it's creative composition! All in your interpretation! Nice shots Clay!

Jonathan

[sorvju-f]

Now that I'm home, here are 2 more that I put on my web site. The first one (can you see Sharon on the other side of the shark?) has some pretty bad camera tilt. It's hard to compose when you're swimming absolutely as fast as you can to keep up! -Clay


Clay...WOW!

Jukka

[Daniel]

Very nice Clay! The water in your second shot looks nice and calm.

Cheers!
Daniel :)

[Clay Coleman]

Thanks, Daniel! We had 2 days of flat calm weather. I dive in the Gulf of Mexico quite a bit, and It's rare to see it so calm. I guess I've been diving on the wrong end! -Clay

[atlantis_shark]

OMG! What fantastic shots! I was hoping to get at least ONE marginal (recognizable shot) of the whale shark but my housing fogged. Nothing came out.I am seriously the world's worst photographer but I am thrilled to see these shots.Well done guys:p

[Jonathan Bird]

Well, tomorrow I'm heading back to Holbox for the third year in a row. Should have some interesting stories. I'll try to post some pics from down there. Marty Snyderman is coming this year and David Haas is staying at the next resort over. And I'm taking the whole family this year.

Throw the kids in with the sharks!!

Jonathan

[dhaas]

Fantastic,

Well have photos of kids being snacked on by Whale Sharks :)

But they'll get spit out anyway unless your kids look like plankton...... LOL.

See you in Mexico!

David Haas

[Jonathan Bird]

Hey David! Good to have you on here! Yeah man, I'll be looking forward to a poolside beer with you. :D

Jonathan

[Clay Coleman]

Man, y'all have fun. The weather has been great in the northern GOM; hopefully it's great down there as well. Say hello to Marty for me. I'm heading back to the Bahamas on Thursday with Dave B. to chase dolphins. We plan to swing through the 'glades on our way (sort of) down. I'll let you know if we find any clear 'gator holes.

[Jonathan Bird]

Hey Gang,
Well, sorry I have taken so long to post an update on the trip. I have my family here, and there isn’t much time between being a group leader and taking care of the kids to get on the internet. I haven’t really even had much time to check e-mail.

Right now my son is taking a nap and I’m writing this off-line…I’ll upload to the website later.

The trip started out pretty much the same as last year’s trip. We all flew into Cancun on various flights at various times from our respective cities and stayed at one of two hotels I had selected in advance. We stayed with the kids at a place on the beach so they could play in the surf for an afternoon. The next morning (July 9) we had arranged for the vans to pick us up along with some of the group at the same hotel, then we headed to the other hotel to pick up the rest of the gang. Most of the group this year was new faces for me, but my old buddies Roger Hocker, Marty Snyderman and Steve Ando came along on this trip, so it was nice to see them again! We also convinced some friends of ours from home to come along—their kids and ours are pals from school, so we have plenty of kids to keep each other company.

Our ride from Cancun to Chiquila (spelling?) was only 2 hours instead of 3—the road is improving. Then we took a boat over to Holbox and we were in our rooms by 1 PM. We hit the pool for the rest of the day, ordered up some Sols (beer equivalent to Corona) and floated in the tepid water.

The next morning we divided the group up into two boats, and headed out. The first two days were not as calm as I would have liked, though certainly not very rough. The viz was a typical 20-30 feet and I was producing images pretty much like those from the previous years. I was getting bored with the same old shots, so I started working on things like close-ups of the claspers and teeth—challenging myself to free-dive under the sharks and get creative.

Christine took the first day off from diving to watch the kids. On the second day she stayed with our son while my daughter Elise went out on the boat with me. On day three, it was my turn to hang with the kids while she went out on the boat, and things changed dramatically. Overnight, a huge plankton bloom wafted into the area. The water turned to various shades of red, orange, yellow and brown. At times it looked like tea, at times like orange soda. The sharks loved it and started feeding in it. Unfortunately, within the plankton bloom, visibility ranged from 1 to 4 feet. Needless to say, it’s pretty funny to jump into the ocean, practically right on top of a 30 foot shark, and not see it until it nearly bumps you. It made for spectacular topside photography, but underwater, forget it.

When Christine and the rest of the group returned and told me what they saw, I couldn’t imagine just what it looked like.

[Jonathan Bird]

Today Christine and I were both able to go out together because one of our friends stayed back with the kids. We searched around for sharks for a couple hours but couldn’t find any. Finally the captain said that the only way we would find them was to go back to the “muddy water”. All the sharks were following the plankton bloom. We weren’t going to find any in clear water today.

So we drove another half hour and ran into the plankton. Wow! I have never seen ocean water such pastel shades! In addition to lots of whale sharks, there were also dozens and dozens of mantas feeding. Many of them were swimming upside down, as if showing off. I’ve never seen this behavior before. I’ve seen them doing rolls, perhaps lingering upside-down in a roll for a few seconds, but this was several minutes of feeding, completely upside-down, white underbelly showing.

We tried hopping in the water, but underwater photography was useless. We called the visibility “less than 2 feet” because I couldn’t see my two feet. Literally. The good part about this is that I gave up underwater photography entirely for the day, dried off and concentrated on above-water photography. Soon, we noticed that the mantas were starting to breach, flying completely out of the water and crashing back in with a massive splash. Were they dislodging remoras? Showing off? But it seemed like every 5 minutes another one would do it. Very often a manta should breach, then 2 seconds later breach for a second time. Rarely, even a third time. So all the photographers tried to train their camera on the splash every time a manta unexpectedly breached in a new direction, hoping for a shot of it again. Most of the breaches were too far away to make a decent photograph, but finally, wouldn’t you know it, one breached not too far from the boat. I quickly zoomed all the way in on that spot and held my breath. It breached again. Click-click-click….I had it on motor drive. Three nice frames of an airborne manta ray and clearly the best shot of the trip. (So far, I’m not ruling out tomorrow yet!)

Tomorrow is our last day. I’m actually hoping for some clearer water so I can try some more teeth close-ups. I’ll let you know.

Jonathan

[Jonathan Bird]

Grand finale shot....

[Clay Coleman]

Weird stuff! I've never seen the Gulf look like that and I practically grew up in that pond, albeit the other side. The shot of just the water is fascinating in itself, and the colors make a nice contrast to the surface shots of the sharks. Regarding the finale photo of the breaching manta: if that shot hasn't been cropped to get that straight horizon, then a giant tip o' the hat to you. Damn, you're good! Hi to the lovely Christine. Good luck tomorrow.

[sorvju-f]

Grand finale shot....

These gives the power to continue...Big Congratulation Jonathan!

Jukka

[scubagirl]

LOVE that grand finale shot, Jonathan! Way to go! :)

[Sharp]

Grand finale - WOW! I didn´t gnow that mantas can fly on the air?! Really amazing!

[solisti]

Mantas have killed people by leaping out of water and hitting someone lucky enough sitting in a speedboat! (imagine the odds...)

Nice shots Jonathan!

[Jonathan Bird]

Thanks guys! Clay, no need to tip your hat, it has been straightened to fix the crooked horizon and even cropped in a tad to enlarge the manta. But shockingly, the horizon was only a couple degrees out.

I got home last night, exhausted from flying all day with little kids and the typical airline snafus I always seem to enjoy. (Cancelled flight, re-route, etc.)

I'll post some pics from the last day later. We had nice clear water again, clearest of the trip, the day after all that orange water. Go figure. The place is so different from day to day.

Jonathan

[tarczy]

Jonathan . . .

Can't believe that with airline travel down more than 25%, the stoopid airlines still manage to screw up your itinerary. Classic!!

Your Manta Ray shot is stupendous. I'm sure I'll see it in Nat Geo very soon. Congrats!

However, I like the kid shot better . . .

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i284/mongo255/Miscellaneous/JBird_UWA4673.jpg

The drama of a big-assed fish, with a mouth twice as big as the kid, coming out of the murky waters toward the kid as if he is going to eat him - absolutely fantastic. Well done!!

P.S. Was that your kid? :p

[Jonathan Bird]

That kid is a fully grown Mexican divemaster. Of course, he is only 5 foot something like me!

[Andrew]

Hey Jonathan, Great report, pics and that wonderful last manta shot which is out of this world! What were the other frames of the Manta like? Andrew

[Ken Hawk]

You lucky lucky man :D

[Daniel]

The Manta Ray shot is very impressive! WTG!!!

[Jonathan Bird]

Thanks Daniel...90% luck, 10% skill, like most everything I shoot!

Jonathan