Ken Bondy
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3326
Registered: 12-13-2002
Member Is Offline
Mood: Mellow
|
|
Trip Report - Part 5
Joel Prieto picked us up at 7am the next morning (Friday) at the Villa Vitta. This was really door-to-door service, he was towing his beautiful new
panga (center console with sunshade, 90 hp Evinrude), and he literally backed it up to the door of our rooms. We loaded our equipment and ourselves
into the boat and headed for the ramp at Casa Diaz where he put us in. It was a beautiful morning, wind calm, water surface glassy. We headed
towards the south bay where the whale sharks are generally found. This took us past Camp Gecko and brought back fond memories of our stay there two
years ago. Doc?s cruiser Gecko III was at anchor just offshore. We saw the two-story orange ?fancy cabin? that was our home for a few days in 2002.
Joel headed for El Rincon in the south bay, and when we were about a quarter mile off the beach he cut the engines and began a slow search for the
world?s largest fish. Joel told us that there were at least eight individual whale sharks in the bay at that time. It didn?t take long before we saw
one. The wake on the smooth surface, and the exposed dorsal fin were dead giveaways. The animal was cruising easily on the surface. Jim and I
slipped into our Polartec exposure suits (lots of ?agua mala? jellyfish reported) donned our masks, fins, and snorkels, and waited until Joel
positioned the boat in front of the shark. He gave us the sign, and we slipped over the side. I was carrying a new Subal Housing for my Fuji S2 Pro
digital camera, with an extremely wide Nikon 12-24mm lens. I immediately saw the shark, and was able to swim to a broadside position within about ten
feet of him (her?) where I fired off about 6 shots of the entire body. I had several other underwater opportunities later, but these turned out to be
keeper shots and the best I would capture this day. We watched in awe as the shark, a little one which I estimated at 20 feet long, slowly swam away
in the green water with his huge tail gracefully providing the power with smooth side-to-side strokes.
For the next two hours we were constantly in the presence of whale sharks. They were easy to spot in the glassy water, and we spent some more time
with them in the water, but mostly we just watched and photographed them from the panga at very close range. I don?t know how many total individuals
we saw, but I do know it was at least two because one was considerably larger than the other, and at one point I saw two at the same time. These
sharks are here from June through December. Based on my own personal experience and what I have read and heard from others, October seems to be the
best month. They are largely indifferent to the presence of divers, as long as no aggressive or sudden movements are made which threaten them. I
have seen them bolt when a diver made a sudden movement toward them.
They are such magnificent animals, and it is a rare privilege to see them at close range like this. Little is known about them. They appear
regularly and reliably in a number of warm-water locations throughout the world (like BOLA) to feed for a few months, but little is known about the
rest of their lives. They are a true shark, the largest fish in the world, reaching lengths of over 50 feet. They are filter feeders and eat only
plankton. How odd, the largest fish in the ocean eats only the smallest animals in the marine food chain. They bear their young alive. A large
pregnant female caught in a net had several hundred fully developed two-foot long embryos. It is thought that they live to 100-150 years, and are
sexually mature at about 30 years. Their scientific name is Rhincodon typus.
We spent about three hours playing with the sharks, then decided to ask Joel to take us on a tour of the islands. Actually I could have spent the
whole day with them, but truthfully getting back into the panga was wearing heavily on my old body. Joel?s superpanga had extremely high sides, and I
couldn?t use my fins to kick myself up over the gunnels like I could in older pangas with lower sides. We had to get back in the boat using a very
small swimstep on the transom next to the engine. It was difficult, and rough on my back. So, after a magical time with the sharks, off to the
islands we headed. Joel gave us a great tour. Although we had flown over them literally hundreds of times, I had never seen the BOLA islands up
close like this. They are wild and beautiful. We saw an island that looked like a skull, beautiful rocky arches, large sea lion colonies, lots of
boobies and brown pelicans, and several big osprey nests. Water visibility was excellent, and I saw many sites I would like to dive in the future.
Like David K. says, so much Baja, so little time. On the way back in we asked Joel to take us past La Gringa, and I imagined what it must have been
like when Mike H. spent a summer there with his family.
I can?t say enough about our guide, Joel Prieto. Friendly, good-natured, reliable, and on top of all that, his English is excellent. He lives in
BOLA with his wife and young daughter, and has a 16-year old son away at school. He can arrange fishing and diving trips, and is very knowledgeable
and sensitive about the diverse marine environment in the bay. Joel?s email address is joel_prieto@hotmail.com.
Joel dropped us off at the door to our rooms at Villa Vitta at about 12:30 pm (he charged $120 for the day). We decided to head to Larry & Raquel?s
for lunch. That was delightful, the food was great and it was fun talking with both of them. On the way back in with Joel we passed the new hotel
near Larry & Raquel?s called Los Vientos. Joel told us it was open so we checked it out. It is truly open, substantially completed, and it is rather
spectacular. The rooms are luxurious, the pool and tiled site work beautiful. There were no guests; a condition I suspect will persist for some
time. We were met and taken on a guided tour of the place by Salvador Juarez, a personable young fellow who is on site as the manager. Someone has
sunk a ton of money into this place, I wonder if they will ever see any of it come back.
We headed back to the Villa Vitta, exhausted but supremely content after a spectacular day. Swimming with whale sharks, what an incredible
experience! We contemplated how few in the world had seen what we saw that day, and were thankful that Baja offered us the opportunity. Once again,
as in so many other beautiful Baja places on so many other evenings, we sat on the porch, watched the light fade, drank some brandy, smoked some
cigars, and were asleep by about 9 pm. Tomorrow we would start the slow trip north.
continued
|
|
|
Don Jorge
Senior Nomad
Posts: 638
Registered: 8-29-2003
Member Is Offline
|
|
Ken, thanks for the wonderful report and photos.
For those of us unable to travel into Baja California as often as we would like, actual trip reports and photos are why we visit this board. Gracias!
Jorge
�And it never failed that during the dry years the people forgot about the rich years, and during the wet years they lost all memory of the dry
years. It was always that way.�― John Steinbeck
"All models are wrong, but some are useful." George E.P. Box
"Nature bats last." Doug "Hayduke" Peac-ck
|
|
|
bajapablo
Nomad
Posts: 226
Registered: 1-27-2004
Member Is Offline
|
|
WOW!
\"changes it lattitudes, changes in attitudes\"
J.Buffet
|
|
|
synch
Nomad
Posts: 316
Registered: 9-14-2004
Member Is Offline
Mood: wandering...
|
|
I'm way envious!
SCUBA divers fly around the world just to have this same pleasure - How lucky you are to find Whale Sharks so close to home!
|
|
|
|
![[*]](images/xmbforum/default_icon.gif){kind=icon}
