Sea change
February/25/2008
Made
two dives today, first one was 46-minutes to a
depth of 67-feet; the
second 43-minutes to 91-feet.
I encouraged Rafa to set sail for Carmen instead of Coronado. We had such a
fine adventure yesterday on Carmen that I was hoping for a repeat. I was to
later rue my big fat mouth.
Water was calm when we departed at about 9:30 am. We met a couple of fin
whales swimming in tandem about three miles off of Loreto Bay. We caught up
with them so Mark and Kelly (from Duncan Divers) could take some pictures,
however the two whales didn’t tarry and left quickly. Couldn’t see anything
else on the water, the dolphins from the day before were nowhere to be found.
Reaching the southern coastline, I was crushed to notice the plankton bloom,
realizing that our visibility was going to be about 6-10 feet. In we went and
had a non-eventful, pedestrian dive in the guacamole soup. We dove among some
beautiful black coral, inappropriately named because its polyps are actually
yellow but they encompass a black coral stem. There was a current that had
increased by the time we emerged and soon we headed off for a sheltered cove
to the north. Rafa noticed that the sea was beginning to get agitated but he
had the grace to keep it to himself. Fifty minutes later when we took our
second dive, the poor weather was evident to us all. Rafa grabbed the anchor
and threw it onto a pinnacle and after several tries, it stuck. The whitecaps
were rocking the boat so in succession, we all grabbed the anchor line and
descended.
We were going to explore two pinnacles and upon descending, I knew I had
finally found some fish. All my old buddies were there, except the trigger
fish whom I expect have moved to warmer climes. Even saw some parrotfish,
whose absence I had sorely missed. Schools of fish; golden snapper,
barberfish, giant hawkfish, grunts, chromis, giant damselfish, enormous Cortez
angelfish, King angels, chub, bass, Mexican goatfish, various species of
grunts, flag cabrilla and round stingray. Moving deeper, we came into a field
of black coral interspersed with varieties of fan and we dawdled down to
91-feet before ascending. On our way back, we peeked inside coral caverns to
spot a motionless horn shark sharing a room with a panamic green moray. Very
cool. Three of us had flashlights and used them to illuminate the pair. When
our ascent reached the thirty-foot level, we seamlessly integrated with the
armies of fish having a feedbag on the coral rock. We could sense the raging
storm above and made a beeline for the anchor rope. Breaking the surface we
were immediately buffeted by rough seas and a rude current. We struggled to
climb aboard.
At that point, Ramon Mandilon became Ramon Cabron and amid 10-12 foot swells
and a raging wind, brought us safely back to Loreto. We were all hanging onto
anything nailed down as Rafa’s boat took a terribly pounding on our way home.
second 43-minutes to 91-feet.
I encouraged Rafa to set sail for Carmen instead of Coronado. We had such a
fine adventure yesterday on Carmen that I was hoping for a repeat. I was to
later rue my big fat mouth.
Water was calm when we departed at about 9:30 am. We met a couple of fin
whales swimming in tandem about three miles off of Loreto Bay. We caught up
with them so Mark and Kelly (from Duncan Divers) could take some pictures,
however the two whales didn’t tarry and left quickly. Couldn’t see anything
else on the water, the dolphins from the day before were nowhere to be found.
Reaching the southern coastline, I was crushed to notice the plankton bloom,
realizing that our visibility was going to be about 6-10 feet. In we went and
had a non-eventful, pedestrian dive in the guacamole soup. We dove among some
beautiful black coral, inappropriately named because its polyps are actually
yellow but they encompass a black coral stem. There was a current that had
increased by the time we emerged and soon we headed off for a sheltered cove
to the north. Rafa noticed that the sea was beginning to get agitated but he
had the grace to keep it to himself. Fifty minutes later when we took our
second dive, the poor weather was evident to us all. Rafa grabbed the anchor
and threw it onto a pinnacle and after several tries, it stuck. The whitecaps
were rocking the boat so in succession, we all grabbed the anchor line and
descended.
We were going to explore two pinnacles and upon descending, I knew I had
finally found some fish. All my old buddies were there, except the trigger
fish whom I expect have moved to warmer climes. Even saw some parrotfish,
whose absence I had sorely missed. Schools of fish; golden snapper,
barberfish, giant hawkfish, grunts, chromis, giant damselfish, enormous Cortez
angelfish, King angels, chub, bass, Mexican goatfish, various species of
grunts, flag cabrilla and round stingray. Moving deeper, we came into a field
of black coral interspersed with varieties of fan and we dawdled down to
91-feet before ascending. On our way back, we peeked inside coral caverns to
spot a motionless horn shark sharing a room with a panamic green moray. Very
cool. Three of us had flashlights and used them to illuminate the pair. When
our ascent reached the thirty-foot level, we seamlessly integrated with the
armies of fish having a feedbag on the coral rock. We could sense the raging
storm above and made a beeline for the anchor rope. Breaking the surface we
were immediately buffeted by rough seas and a rude current. We struggled to
climb aboard.
At that point, Ramon Mandilon became Ramon Cabron and amid 10-12 foot swells
and a raging wind, brought us safely back to Loreto. We were all hanging onto
anything nailed down as Rafa’s boat took a terribly pounding on our way home.
Turtles, whales and dolphins
February/23/2008
Another
stellar day for diving. Accompanied by Salvador,
Anna, Alfredo and
Peter from Chicago, we set out for the north end of Carmen Island just after
8:30 am. The water was like glass, the sun reflected its surface with a
brilliant piece of weather. We spotted nothing for 20-minutes and then a blue
whale appeared a mile to the north, its enormous fin a give-away even at that
distance. Ramon Mandilon gunned the engine and tried to get us beside, but the
whale wasn’t interested.
Continuing on, Ramon brought us into a secluded cove surrounded by basalt and
cactus. This time, a dozen bottlenose appeared and Rafa wanted to follow.
Dolphin expert that I am, I predicted that they werent interested in playing
and 10-minutes later, I was proven correct. We could all see how much krill
and nutrients were in the sea that morning and we just couldn’t compete.
I was the first diver down. The equalization of my ears was better. The boys
threw me a buoy and dragged me to the anchor line to counter the strong
current. The water was 63-degrees but clear with a visibility of about 40-
feet. Once down, we separated into two groups, Salvador, Anna and the camera
in one and the rest in another. Fish were sparse but we were rewarded
instantly with the appearance of a greenback turtle that I tried to follow.
This guy’s performance is the antithesis of that on land. Ran into a school of
Cortez angels and barberfish before nearly stumbling on a giant stingray that
had buried itself in the sea floor. With a shutter, it sensed our presence and
shaking the sand from its body, with beautiful wing undulations, lumbered up
and sped away. We spent the remainder of the 46-minute dive combing the coral
rock, trying to coax damselfish, wraisses, goatfish and king Angels out of
their hiding places.
As we navigated to our second dive spot, we caught up to a battalion of
long-nose dolphins, at least 200 of them according to Rafa. The water was a
cauldron of energy as Salvador with his HDV camera and I slipped into the
water among their midst with anticipation of close encounters. But before we
had completely submerged, the dolphins blew us off, immediately changing
course and leaving us in their wake. Happily, we could hear their squeals and
whistles under the water, contenting ourselves with those few intimate
moments.
Our second dive followed a more open coast populated by pinnacles that
attracted schooling fish. The current was slack, making descent uneventful. As
soon as we had all descended, we were treated by an appearance of more
dolphins about 50-ft away, barely visible but audible. Will the taunting never
end? I spent most of the time microdiving with my eye glued to the magnifying
glass. Little nudibranches, starfish spores, coral polyps. The boys came
across a juvenile moray eel that they persuaded to leave its lair. I was
shaking my rattle to get the camera’s attention to film a large balloonfish
shyly laying back in its cave. I found some wraisse I had never previously
encountered and still can’t identify. I was left to my own devices as everyone
ascended ahead of me because of the cold water. I stuck around examining coral
until, with 800 psi left, I too surrendered and left.
Peter from Chicago, we set out for the north end of Carmen Island just after
8:30 am. The water was like glass, the sun reflected its surface with a
brilliant piece of weather. We spotted nothing for 20-minutes and then a blue
whale appeared a mile to the north, its enormous fin a give-away even at that
distance. Ramon Mandilon gunned the engine and tried to get us beside, but the
whale wasn’t interested.
Continuing on, Ramon brought us into a secluded cove surrounded by basalt and
cactus. This time, a dozen bottlenose appeared and Rafa wanted to follow.
Dolphin expert that I am, I predicted that they werent interested in playing
and 10-minutes later, I was proven correct. We could all see how much krill
and nutrients were in the sea that morning and we just couldn’t compete.
I was the first diver down. The equalization of my ears was better. The boys
threw me a buoy and dragged me to the anchor line to counter the strong
current. The water was 63-degrees but clear with a visibility of about 40-
feet. Once down, we separated into two groups, Salvador, Anna and the camera
in one and the rest in another. Fish were sparse but we were rewarded
instantly with the appearance of a greenback turtle that I tried to follow.
This guy’s performance is the antithesis of that on land. Ran into a school of
Cortez angels and barberfish before nearly stumbling on a giant stingray that
had buried itself in the sea floor. With a shutter, it sensed our presence and
shaking the sand from its body, with beautiful wing undulations, lumbered up
and sped away. We spent the remainder of the 46-minute dive combing the coral
rock, trying to coax damselfish, wraisses, goatfish and king Angels out of
their hiding places.
As we navigated to our second dive spot, we caught up to a battalion of
long-nose dolphins, at least 200 of them according to Rafa. The water was a
cauldron of energy as Salvador with his HDV camera and I slipped into the
water among their midst with anticipation of close encounters. But before we
had completely submerged, the dolphins blew us off, immediately changing
course and leaving us in their wake. Happily, we could hear their squeals and
whistles under the water, contenting ourselves with those few intimate
moments.
Our second dive followed a more open coast populated by pinnacles that
attracted schooling fish. The current was slack, making descent uneventful. As
soon as we had all descended, we were treated by an appearance of more
dolphins about 50-ft away, barely visible but audible. Will the taunting never
end? I spent most of the time microdiving with my eye glued to the magnifying
glass. Little nudibranches, starfish spores, coral polyps. The boys came
across a juvenile moray eel that they persuaded to leave its lair. I was
shaking my rattle to get the camera’s attention to film a large balloonfish
shyly laying back in its cave. I found some wraisse I had never previously
encountered and still can’t identify. I was left to my own devices as everyone
ascended ahead of me because of the cold water. I stuck around examining coral
until, with 800 psi left, I too surrendered and left.
Back to my heart's home
February/19/2008
I
finally got on the water today, 11 days after
arriving back to my beautiful
Loreto. My divemaster Rafael greeted me with raging flu and chills when I
landed from the Alaska 602 flight. Poor guy was apologetic for being ill,
suggesting that he might not be able to dive the next day. I greeted him
warmly and replied that we certainly wouldn’t be diving for at least a week
until his health returned.
I expect Rafa was grateful for the respite as he slept for the entire week.
High winds and rough seas kept us shore bound for another few days until
finally the weather broke and we were awarded a generous forecast. Complying
with a request for a whale diving expedition, we set off at 7:00 am to pick up
a party at Loreto Bay and headed southeast towards Carmen Island where Rafa
felt we would find some action.
Twenty minutes later, we found a school of dolphins however their intentions
were to feed, not play. They were working the sea, as is their custom, all
surrounding the bait in a large circumference, driving it further into the
centre for the easy pickings of the group. They were pretty much focused on
their stomachs and left us to our own devices. Shortly after, Rafa spotted a
fin whale. These giants are slightly smaller than the blue whales, about 88
feet, and are of the baleen family, having no teeth, unlike our native orcas.
Gliding effortlessly atop the water for the time it takes to gulp several
breaths, we barely have time to rush to it, before it arches its back and
takes a languid roll into the water with the final flash of its jagged fin to
let us know it had gone to feed. Three other boats were already on the scene
so we elected to go further south to continue our search.
We were rewarded by running into another school of bottlenose dolphins,
already satiated and ready to play. Rushing to greet the wake of our bow, they
cavorted, sped up with crescendos of airborne leaps, and generally surrounded
the boat in a relaxed, engaging manner. I am as usual, straining from hanging
over the bow edge like an idiot in a desperate attempt to stroke them as they
run with the boat. I was enjoying some nice eye contact, when one of them to
the starboard begins to play dead. Neither I nor Rafa had seen this behaviour
before, typified by the dolphins swimming upside down with its nose upward
and head thrown back, simulating a dead dolphin. Astonishing performance.
We rounded the southern tip of Carmen and headed northeast where Rafa’s
intuition was leading us. We spent a delightful hour cruising along the
shoreline, full of green cactus, basalt and limestone outcrops. We stopped at
an isolated white beach framed by lava caverns where we took a snack and
spelunked among basalt that housed embedded petrified shells and fossils.
Wonderful shell detritus littered the beach including molted remains of
lobster shells.
We headed back in the direction from which we came, the look of desolation on
Rafas face evident because he felt he was disappointing us with his
performance. His four passengers, including the effervescent captain Ramon el
Cabron, were having a marvelous time enjoying the splendid weather. We
negotiated around the point and a couple of miles toward Loreto we cut the
engine and enjoyed a spectacular lunch of shredded beef, chiles and bean
burritos provided by Rafa’s wife, Margarite. Cracking open a couple of Tecates, we laid
back until Ramon, choking back his food managed to excitedly exclaim that he
had just spotted a blue whale. Another boat far away came to the same
conclusion and we all raced to find a blow hole.
The next hour was spent tracking this leviathan and enjoying the show it put
on for us. One cant imagine the size of these beauties because as they
surface for air, you barely get to see the expanse of their backsides. Its
only when they arch their backs in preparation for submersion, slowly breaking
the surface and lifting a huge tailfin that you realize you are witnessing the
largest creature on the face of the earth. Truly a magnificent and humbling
experience; everyone on both boats cheer mightily after the big blue dives
back to the depths.
We repeated this same experience four times until Rafa could no longer contain
the wide grin on his face. We returned back to the marina, heady from joy and
awe for a day that will be perpetually etched in all our memories.
God bless Loreto. My joy knows no bounds now that Ive returned to my hearts
home.
Loreto. My divemaster Rafael greeted me with raging flu and chills when I
landed from the Alaska 602 flight. Poor guy was apologetic for being ill,
suggesting that he might not be able to dive the next day. I greeted him
warmly and replied that we certainly wouldn’t be diving for at least a week
until his health returned.
I expect Rafa was grateful for the respite as he slept for the entire week.
High winds and rough seas kept us shore bound for another few days until
finally the weather broke and we were awarded a generous forecast. Complying
with a request for a whale diving expedition, we set off at 7:00 am to pick up
a party at Loreto Bay and headed southeast towards Carmen Island where Rafa
felt we would find some action.
Twenty minutes later, we found a school of dolphins however their intentions
were to feed, not play. They were working the sea, as is their custom, all
surrounding the bait in a large circumference, driving it further into the
centre for the easy pickings of the group. They were pretty much focused on
their stomachs and left us to our own devices. Shortly after, Rafa spotted a
fin whale. These giants are slightly smaller than the blue whales, about 88
feet, and are of the baleen family, having no teeth, unlike our native orcas.
Gliding effortlessly atop the water for the time it takes to gulp several
breaths, we barely have time to rush to it, before it arches its back and
takes a languid roll into the water with the final flash of its jagged fin to
let us know it had gone to feed. Three other boats were already on the scene
so we elected to go further south to continue our search.
We were rewarded by running into another school of bottlenose dolphins,
already satiated and ready to play. Rushing to greet the wake of our bow, they
cavorted, sped up with crescendos of airborne leaps, and generally surrounded
the boat in a relaxed, engaging manner. I am as usual, straining from hanging
over the bow edge like an idiot in a desperate attempt to stroke them as they
run with the boat. I was enjoying some nice eye contact, when one of them to
the starboard begins to play dead. Neither I nor Rafa had seen this behaviour
before, typified by the dolphins swimming upside down with its nose upward
and head thrown back, simulating a dead dolphin. Astonishing performance.
We rounded the southern tip of Carmen and headed northeast where Rafa’s
intuition was leading us. We spent a delightful hour cruising along the
shoreline, full of green cactus, basalt and limestone outcrops. We stopped at
an isolated white beach framed by lava caverns where we took a snack and
spelunked among basalt that housed embedded petrified shells and fossils.
Wonderful shell detritus littered the beach including molted remains of
lobster shells.
We headed back in the direction from which we came, the look of desolation on
Rafas face evident because he felt he was disappointing us with his
performance. His four passengers, including the effervescent captain Ramon el
Cabron, were having a marvelous time enjoying the splendid weather. We
negotiated around the point and a couple of miles toward Loreto we cut the
engine and enjoyed a spectacular lunch of shredded beef, chiles and bean
burritos provided by Rafa’s wife, Margarite. Cracking open a couple of Tecates, we laid
back until Ramon, choking back his food managed to excitedly exclaim that he
had just spotted a blue whale. Another boat far away came to the same
conclusion and we all raced to find a blow hole.
The next hour was spent tracking this leviathan and enjoying the show it put
on for us. One cant imagine the size of these beauties because as they
surface for air, you barely get to see the expanse of their backsides. Its
only when they arch their backs in preparation for submersion, slowly breaking
the surface and lifting a huge tailfin that you realize you are witnessing the
largest creature on the face of the earth. Truly a magnificent and humbling
experience; everyone on both boats cheer mightily after the big blue dives
back to the depths.
We repeated this same experience four times until Rafa could no longer contain
the wide grin on his face. We returned back to the marina, heady from joy and
awe for a day that will be perpetually etched in all our memories.
God bless Loreto. My joy knows no bounds now that Ive returned to my hearts
home.