Howard Hall - Simply Amazing

There's the world of underwater film making and then there's Howard Hall. Thanks to Blogfish for the heads up on this simply breath taking clip:

Sperm Whale Encounter from Howard Hall on Vimeo.

Oil Rigs and Sperm Whales - Amazing

Down at 3000' in the Gulf of Mexico a drill teams ROV is doing a visual search of ongoing drilling operations.

That's when things got very, very interesting:

Sea of Cortez - Production Adventure 7

Good friend Captain Greg Grivetto of Horizon Charters is on another eco adventure and this time in the company of the BBC as they film their much acclaimed series,“Last Chance to See”. Biologist, naturalist, writer - Mark Carwardine and esteemed actor Stephen Fry host this series and will be aboard aswe search for blue, sperm and humpback whales.

For the next two weeks he'll be sending us his "notes from the field":

We've all seen video and photo of the aerial majesty of the humpback whale. If you've not heard the song of the humpback you have probably lived in a cave since the invention of the hydrophone. But there is a difference between what you see and hear on television and true life experience.

From dawn to dusk we were surrounded by humpbacks that seemed to be as comfortable out of the water as in! At times we could look north, south, east and west with whales flying in every direction. There was more than one occasion when two to three whales from a pod would be out of the water in unison. It is a tremendous sight watching a 45 foot humpback become airborne!

Late morning we shut down Horizon's powerplant one final time and quietly deployed BBC's hydrophone to give a listen to our aquatic surroundings. The sound that emanated through the speaker system on our back deck...words do not do justice. I found an immediate smile on my face as did all present. Once again, to hear it on the tele and to hear it live are completely different.

The remainder of the day was spent with one pod of whales or another as we enjoyed an aerial ballet, tail lobbing and spy hopping. Time was spent with a cow and calf that produced melancholy results as Mark Carwardine felt that something may have been wrong with mama. She seemed lethargic and the calf was less than pleased, or it so appeared.As the sun dipped below the horizon a huge school of baitfish rose from the depths and with it a hungry school of mobula's, their wing tips breaking the surface as they attacked the frothing baitfish. It would SUCK to be named bait.

Tonight, our final night with BBC aboard, we are anchored off of San Jose del Cabo. After a fun night of name that tune, I'm off to bed with songs from the past swirling in my head and visions of flying humpbacks decorating my thoughts.

Everyday in the Sea of Cortez this past week has been magical. I can't wait to see what tomorrow holds!

Adios,

Captain Greg

Sea of Cortez - Production Adventure 3

Good friend Captain Greg Grivetto of Horizon Charters is on another eco adventure and this time in the company of the BBC as they film their much acclaimed series, “Last Chance to See”. Biologist, naturalist, writer - Mark Carwardine and esteemed actor Stephen Fry host this series and will be aboard as we search for blue, sperm and humpback whales.

For the next two weeks he'll be sending us his "notes from the field":

The M/V Horizon surf board, a true long board by all accounts. We're surfing our way south on a consistently blustery sea. The weather report for today was a bit better than what we are encountering but all in all not too bad as the sun is out, the weather is warming and yesterday afternoon I installed a pumping stereo amplifier for our onboard stereo system. We've got the XM satellite radio fired up on the boat and are rocking out as we finish up our ship board projects.

As I write we are at 25.41 degrees north and 113.17 degrees west or 88 nautical miles north of Bahia Magdalena and 465 miles south of San Diego. This also places us 60 miles offshore, or for those of you that have been to San Clemente Island, the same distance you travel when making the crossing from San Diego to San Clemente.

As the day progressed Mother Nature's attitude improved, the ocean warmed and the sea came to life! We happened upon 3 humpback whales today just north of Bahia Magdalena. The first was an energetic youngster that made itself know by repeatedly breaching, spyhopping and nosing out. The first breach was classic humpback, straight up, 2/3's of it's body out of the water, then twist and extend the pectoral flippers for added flare before flopping and making a big ol' splash!

We spotted the other two at a distance as we were taking a look at Bajo Thetis, an underwater seamount a few miles north of Bahia Magdalena. We're contemplating venturing to this seamount on future Baja dive expeditions and spent some time with the sounder on metering back and forth across the top of the bank getting a feel for it's layout. The water was a bit chilly today, 65 degrees, but there was an amazing amount of life on the bank with baitfish, presumably mackerel, filling the water column and bullet tuna feeding on other small delectables.

As the sun dipped below the horizon we were adjacent to Bahia Santa Maria, just north of Bahia Magdalena. Late tomorrow morning we will be rounding Land's End, Cabo San Lucas as we enter the Sea of Cortez. I'm excited about visiting Gorda Banks north of Cabo. This is the time of year when humpbacks are found there which means we might need to spend a few extra minutes taking in the sites.

Adios,

Captain Greg

Sea of Cortez - Production Adventure 2

Good friend Captain Greg Grivetto of Horizon Charters is on another eco adventure and this time in the company of the BBC as they film their much acclaimed series, “Last Chance to See”. Biologist, naturalist, writer - Mark Carwardine and esteemed actor Stephen Fry host this series and will be aboard as we search for blue, sperm and humpback whales:

For the next two weeks he'll be sending us his "notes from the field":

Position:
Time: 0800
29 25 N
115 56 W
200 miles south of San Diego

The sun rose over a blustery sea this morning. I have to admit to being very happy that the seas are on our stern as we travel south and not on our nose.

Whaling today may be a bit tough as the wind is a brisk 20 knots. Hard to see the blows as they are blown down almost immediately but we should have some good birding as we approach the Ranger Bank just north of Islas San Benito and then as we pass between San Benito and Cedros.

Position:
Time: 1945
27 35 N
115 04 W
323 miles south of San Diego.

Today was a busy day of vessel maintenance as we make our way south. We'll be picking up the xxx team in a couple days and are finishing up multiple projects aboard ship.

The ocean was quiet today, other than the wind and swell. No whales were seen, though we were visited by several pods of Pacific white-sided dolphin as we motored down the islands western shore. Three miles southwest of Cedros was a hot bed of activity as petrels, shearwaters, gulls and albatross were about feeding on no-see-ums. It was tough to determine the food source, but the amount of life in the area was astounding.

Looks as thought the weather will be improving tomorrow as we make our way past Bahia Magdalena. We're excited about cruising this area as we should have encounters with blue and gray whales.

Time for bed, see you in the morning!

Captain Greg

Sea of Cortez - Production Adventure

Good friend Captain Greg Grivetto of Horizon Charters is on another eco adventure and this time in the company of the BBC as they film their much acclaimed series, “Last Chance to See”. Biologist, naturalist, writer - Mark Carwardine and esteemed actor Stephen Fry host this series and will be aboard as we search for blue, sperm and humpback whales:

For the next two weeks he'll be sending us his "notes from the field":

After months of preparation we've departed San Diego for what will prove to be a grand Sea of Cortez adventure!. Over the next two weeks we will traverse the entire length of the Baja peninsula twice and in between will enjoy the company of the XXX as they film a segment for their much acclaimed series, "Last Chance to See". Biologist, naturalist, writer -Mark Carwardine and esteemed actor Stephan Fry host this series and will be aboard as we search for blue, sperm and humpback whales within the Sea of Cortez.

If that doesn't prove to be exciting enough we will also go searching for the endemic Santa Catalina Island rattle-less rattlesnake and hope to have the opportunity to venture into the Sea of Cortez's briny blue to experience the magnificent Humboldt squid off Santa Rosalia with Scott Cassel. The crew and I are pumped and ready to say the least!

I will do my damnedest to provide you with colorful commentary that will pull you away from the day to day grind and into the Sea of Cortez. We'd like you all to be with us, but since that is not possible I'll take copious amounts of photos for display upon our return on our new Facebook site. As I find time I will email photos to my better half so that she may post them in advance of our return.

As I write, we are 70 miles south of San Diego, 10 miles south of Ensenada. Today's encounters have found us sharing the ocean with Pacific gray whales, blue whales, common and Pacific white-sided dolphin. As the sun set into the Pacific we passed our final cetacean of the day that fittingly fluked just off our starboard beam.

We're looking at a restful evening on following seas and will be back on tomorrow with reports from Baja California's ocean oasis!

Until manana,
Capitan Greg

Whale Wars-Wagging the Conservation Dog

Our Whale Wars post this week has generated a mass of offline and thoughtful emails here at Underwater Thrills. We also got a few hysterical foaming-at-the-mouth diatribes as well.

Here's one example highlighting how Wagging the Conservation Dog harms an entire movement:

Sea Shepherd are not helping whales, they are exacerbating the problem. Every time they clash with the whaling ships in the Antarctic, the Japanese look like the victims, and they spin this for all it's worth at the IWC - "irresponsible NGOs, terrorist organisations" etc. SSCS are gifting the Japanese whalers a bargaining chip to use within the international diplomatic community. Whilst their hearts might be in the right place, and their passion evident, SSCS are sadly out of touch with reality.

Conservation doesn't happen by putting yourself between a harpoon and a whale - although admittedly that is a great way to get publicity. Real conservation happens in international fora - at the IWC, at CITES, within CMS, ACCOBAMS and ASCOBAMS. It's only though negotiation and diplomacy that NGOs can persuade governments and decision-making bodies to lay down new laws that protect wildlife . A £10,000 donation to an NGO that does this kind of work will secure the future of thousands or perhaps millions of whales and dolphins - SSCS would burn through it in a couple of days chasing the Japanese whalers around icebergs, giving just a handful of whales a temporary reprieve.

SSCS are attracting a lot of attention for their antics, and this is diverting funds from the organisations that can really make the difference. The environmental NGO community has come a long, long way in the past 20 years, and we've got inside governments and international fora to a point where we affect REAL change. By tackling the economics of whaling and trade, creating legal frameworks, working with industry and governance - we are making a huge difference to the conservation and welfare of these animals worldwide.

SSCS are alienating and undermining the conservation movement, not helping it. Funders should think long and hard before giving money to SSCS, and question the true value of what they get in return.

Research "Out of the Box"

The fine folks over at Mexico's CICIMAR have come up with a completely novel way of sampling a Sperm Whales breath, it's called "out of the box research". It should also be noted:

1. CICIMAR's team members are also tagging and tracking white sharks at Isla Guadalupe

2. A whales breath can and will drop a Rhino from 60 feet-so this is a novel approach

Gases and mucus blown out are collected in sterile Petri dishes attached to the 3.5 feet-long helicopter which are then examined to discover the health of the animal whether it is carrying any disease.

Ocean adventures of another kind...

We charter the MV Horizon and crew during the white shark season each year.Without a doubt this vessel (the first to ever commercially dive with great whites at Isla Guadalupe) remains one of the top rated vessels in terms of service and shark diving.

For the rest of the year owner operator Greg Grivetto takes divers on adventures off the California coast and along Mexico's coast.

This weeks stunning encounters highlight the diversity that is the vast Pacific. From the Captains logs:

I had the opportunity to jump in for a bit of freediving...it WAS simply magical! The kelp rising from 80 feet to the surface was clearly visible along its entire length and sandy patches on the bottom held a clear blue hue in the distance. Diving to 40 feet I marveled at the clouds of bait fish in the water column, marauding yellowtail shouldering their way through the biomass and as I gazed toward the surface a view of calm tranquility as I viewed a glassy calm seas surface as seen from below. Simply...magical...

We got underway on schedule and by the time we had traversed 20 miles of ocean had already encountered marlin, dorado, blue whales and sea turtles. But the coup de gras was the most incredible spectacle that I've ever witnessed upon the sea...

Not 1, not 2, not 3...but at least 50 sperm whales frolicking, tail slapping, breaching and logging on the surface seemingly oblivious to our existence! There are not enough exclamation points to attach to my sentences to explain how excited and moved all of us aboard Horizon feel at this moment to have been in the presence of so many of these amazing leviathans.

I've spent 30 years at sea and had seen only two sperm whales...from a distance. Today we had 15 within a stones throw of us, 35 in the distance and five of our guests witnessed one swim right past them as it came in for a look to check out the crazy humans swimming in the sea!

Tonight we travel to Rocas Alijos, I'm not sure that we will be able to provide a grand finale, as it may have already happened!

Adios,

Captain Greg
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