Cortez Explorers - A PADI 5 Star IDC Center » snorkeling

Whale Shark Sightings.

Mick Chapman — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 19:43:29 +0000

Whale Shark from Surface

In 34 years of diving, I have only ever seen four Whale Sharks: two in the Red Sea, one in the Indian Ocean, and one here in Bahia Concepcion in May this year. That is until this past November.

There were tales of Whale Sharks just outside San Bruno, a small fishing village just 42 kilometers/26 miles north of Mulege. This is where we keep Daedalus, our boat. Some reports had stated that there were as many as ten or twelve of these magnificent fish simply hanging around in the waters between San Bruno and Isla San Marcos. More or less the same area as we had the Fin Back Whales earlier in the year.

The head end!!

So our Divemaster candidate, Danya, a great ex-pat friend, Ed and myself went out, camera in hand to dive a virgin sea-mount that we have found. On the way to the sea-mount, we got in the water with four Whale Sharks, and played with them for about an hour. Then it was off to the sea-mount and the main dive. It was a lovely dive, sheer walls and drop offs, and a mega amount of fish life.

We then went out to the local Sea Lion colony where we had been a few days previous, but the water was running so hard, we bailed on that score. We decided to take pictures another time when conditions were far better.

Giving it a tickle...

So, instead, we returned to see if we could pick up the Whale Sharks again. We did, oh we certainly did!!

We spent the next three and a half hours taking the boat ahead of a shark, dropping in the water, swimming alongside, and returning to the boat. My strobe unit decided it did not want to play after a few shots, but I did get a few. The majority are surface shots from the boat, but it will give you some indication of what we had. We counted as many as eight or nine individual fish half way out, and there were four more, at least, just outside the harbor entrance to San Bruno in only 5m/15ft of water.

Off the port side.

Danya and I were exhausted at the end of the day, having spent a good five hours or so playing and diving. There are also stories of Whale Sharks starting to make a return to this part of the Sea of Cortez now on a more regular basis. As always, one can only hope. I look forward to next spring when these animals, the worlds largest fish, start their migration back up into the waters that are right on our doorstep.

I can only hope that 2010 will offer more encounters with as many as a dozen Whale Sharks once more!!

A Bubblemaker @ Playa Burro, Baja

Mick Chapman — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 23:38:48 +0000

We had left the dive center early that morning, there was a slight chance of a southerly wind in the afternoon and we wanted to get the intro dive out of the way prior to that. In the explorer with me was a family from Minnesotta who, along with their 9 year old boy, had traveled down by car. It had taken them 3 days to get to the boarder at Tecate and another 2 days to get to us.

Their aim was to strike while the proverbial iron was hot – their son had learned to swim and had expressed an interest in diving. As they were taking the road trip down to La Paz anyway, they had decided to see if he would like to stop in Mulege and try the PADI bubblemaker™ course. They had contacted us a few months back and they were very keen to have him try in the clam confines of Bahia Concepcion.

Playa Burro is an excellent location to try SCUBA for the first time, the bottom is mostly sand and the depth goes from 1′ to 30′ over about 300 yards, so it is nice and flat. The edges of the bay on either side have a multitude of sea life, small nudibranchs, reef fish and crustaceans. However, what really makes Playa Burro so good is how warm the water is. Starting from early May the water tem never drops below 80 degrees, while mid August it is over 90 degrees. Perfect water to learn to dive in.

Tom was very clam and confortable in the water, we observed him swimming and free snorkeling for about an hour, while we ran through the course with his parents (who were both PADI divers). Finally it was time to get Tom acquainted with the equipment and let him take a few, above water, breaths from the regulator. It is always amazing to us how much more comfortable and trusting children are (they also have a better grasp of listening when things are important)! So after running through the basic rules; don’t hold your breath, don’t take the regulator out of your mouth, hold my hand and don’t touch things unless we say it is okay, we were ready for the dive.

Usually these dives last about 20 minutes with 3 of 4 surfaces to clear their mask etc. However Tom was excellent in the water, we stayed under for over 40 minutes and we can truly say we went on a full dive. The maximum depth was 5′, but he could have been at 20 for how good he was. Now a bubblemaker is just an introduction, and he will have to wait till he is 10 before he can take the PADI Junior Open Water™ course, but they had a blast and we have already planned their return dates when they will begin diving together as a family.

All in all it was a great day at Burro, and one that Tom and his family will not forget for sometime.

Fin Whales up close and personal.

Mick Chapman — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 06:02:49 +0000

This is a Fin that breached just off of the bow of Daedalus.

I have finally managed to get some of the pictures off of the Flash Card, and wanted to post a couple of them here – these were taken in July mid-way between San Bruno and Isla San Marcos.

The picture, as usual, do not do the experience justice, but needless to say we had about 8 to 10 adult and juvenile Fin Whales all around us.

Several times we have snorkelers, one as young as 3 1/2, in the water looking for them. Unfortunately, even though they came pretty close to Daedalus (our Panga), they were smart enough to avoid the snorkelers.

Breaching just off Isla San Marcos. This kind of view was all around us.

At the same time, we had an amazing aerobatic display of Mobula in schools of well over 100. These the snorkelers did end up getting right in the middle of. They were able to see the Mobula come right up, within inches, and leap and flip out of the water.

After this experience, we headed to the Northern point of San Marcos and snorkeled with the enormous Sea Lions that live in a permanent rookery on a small group of pinnacles that break the surface.

After a long afternoon, we began to head back to San Bruno when we, again, encountered the Fin Whales. The Fin Whale is the second largest animal (after the Blue Whale) and can easily be identified by the large white patch, right side, lower jaw; this kind of asymmetry is rare in the natural world, but considered normal in the Fins.

The white jaw is clearly visable allowing us to identify the species as: Fin Whale (Balaenoptera physalus)

These sightings are becoming more common to us, the more we dive these new locations. San Bruno is about 20 minutes North of Mulegé and is due West of Isla San Marcos. We are finding that leaving Daedalus there and using San Bruno as a launch pad to the islands, as well as Isla Tortuga, is providing a real benefit to us (and our clients). The diving is varied, we have a lot of pelagic life found in the channel, the small marina is perfect for launching, while the town itself is small and peaceful.

Another one that came within feet of Daedalus

I hope you enjoy the photographs – some of which were taken by Ash & John Coady who were on the boat with us, along with their two children.