Pete Thomas Outdoors

Baby humpback whale surfaces with mom off Cabo in adorable video

By Pete Thomas

Humpback whale sightings are on the rise off Mexico’s west coast, and on Tuesday spectacular footage surfaced showing a mother and week-old calf beneath the surface off Cabo San Lucas.

“The first video footage taken this season of a mother and baby humpback whale. Very exciting!” writes Whale Watch Cabo on Facebook. “As you can see the baby is very small, very light in color and only about 1 week old.”

The underwater footage, captured by a guide named Nacho, shows the mother keeping the calf just above her head at the surface, in close proximity to a small boat.

Humpback whales that migrate to Mexico each winter – from a region spanning from California to British Columbia – are part of the North Eastern Pacific Population. Primary breeding and nursing areas are off mainland Mexico – notably, Puerto Vallarta’s Banderas Bay.

But Cabo San Lucas, at Baja California’s tip, is a prime viewing location during the winter.

Whale Watch Cabo logged its mother-and-calf sighting Monday, and released the video Tuesday.

Humpback whale newborns typically measure 13-15 feet, and can weigh up to a ton. While nursing, calves can gain as much as 100 pounds per day. Adult humpback whales typically measure 45-50 feet and can weigh as much as 40 tons.

 

13-foot hammerhead shark opens wide as diver extracts teeth from infected gum (photos)

Joe Romeiro poses with 13-foot great hammerhead shark. Photo: ©Bill Fisher/333 Productions

By Pete Thomas

Sharks don't typically seek the services of a dentist – if they lose a tooth, another one takes its place in as little as one day.

But consider the images shared last week via Instagram by filmmaker Joe Romeiro, co-founder of 333 Productions. They show Romeiro, shark advocate and conservationist, carefully extracting two broken teeth from the infected gum of a 13-foot great hammerhead shark. 

“I wouldn’t advise anyone to try this,” Romeiro advises in his Instagram post. Of the shark he half-joked, “With some trust I guess even a shark can use a dentist from time to time.”

 

Part of this Great Hammerhead's gum seemed to be infected, raw and irritated with these to two broken and damaged teeth that were falling out. With some trust I guess even a shark can use a dentist from time to time. I wouldn't advise anyone to try this. Thanks @billfisher333 for the #water #green #blue #abyss #trust #shark #sharks #hai #ocean #sea #water #requin #requins #joeromeiro #akula #tiburon #tubarao @xcelwetsuits @nauticamhousings @sharksdaily @discoverocean @nakaweproject @reddigitalcinema #鲨鱼摄影 #鲨鱼 @sharks_are_awesome1 #camera #underwaterfilm #underwaterphotography

A post shared by Joe Romeiro (@joeromeiro333) on Nov 6, 2017 at 6:06am PST

The filmmaker, who was with 333 Productions partner Bill Fisher, said the extraordinary encounter occurred in 2015, but that the images were not published until last week.

The shark had been swimming in shallow water at a spot where intimately close and encounters between sharks and divers are fairly common.

Romero and Fisher spent about three hours with the shark, during repeated dives, and had noticed the raw gum area. At one point, Romeiro began to caress the shark’s snout and the predator remained still enough – like a trusting patient – to allow the filmmaker to remove its broken teeth.

“She eventually just let me do it, and she was really active afterwards,” Romeiro said. “I can only describe it as it seemed that she was relieved that it wasn’t impacted anymore.”

Of course, this isn’t something a casual diver visiting the Bahamas would even dare attempt. Romeiro and Fisher have been diving with sharks since they were very young, and their footage has been featured widely on TV and in print.

Reads part of their company bio: “Joe and Bill portray sharks the way they see them, as beautiful and awe-inspiring creatures that are an important and critical element of our oceans’ ecosystems.”

Great hammerhead sharks, which can reach lengths of about 20 feet, inhabit tropical and subtropical seas and prey largely on fish, rays, and smaller sharks. They’re not considered an especially dangerous shark, but have been implicated in sporadic attacks on humans. The species is listed as endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Tropical Storm Lidia a growing concern for Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur

By Pete Thomas

Folks in Cabo San Lucas and throughout the Mexican state of Baja California Sur are keeping a close eye on the trajectory of Tropical Storm Lidia.

Lidia, which on Wednesday afternoon was generating heavy rain over southwestern Mexico, is the first Eastern North Pacific storm of 2017 poised to impact the resort areas at Baja California's tip.

RELATED: Los Cabos deals with Hurricane Odile aftermath; photos

Though Lidia is not expected to attain hurricane strength (sustained gusts of 74 mph or stronger), hurricane watches (hurricane conditions possible) and tropical storm warnings have been issued by Mexico. The Florida-based National Hurricane Center listed them as follows in its 6 p.m. update on Wednesday:

A Hurricane Watch is in effect for...

• Baja California Sur from Puerto Cortes to east of La Paz

A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect for...

• Baja California Sur from Puerto Cortes to San Evaristo
• Mainland Mexico from Bahia Tempehuaya to Huatabampito

A Tropical Storm Watch is in effect for...

• Baja California Sur from north of San Evaristo to Loreto
• North of Puerto Cortes to Puerto San Andresito

Lidia, which late Wednesday boasted winds of 40 mph, is expected to arrive near Baja California’s tip late Thursday or early Friday.

Tracy Ehrenberg, general manager of Pisces Sportfishing in the Cabo San Lucas marina, said Wednesday evening via email that boats were ordered back in port before a 1 p.m. port closure.

“A squall blew through that lasted 10 minutes, then it settled again,” Ehrenberg said. “So far just one rain shower that lasted five minutes at most. It’s cloudy but really no wind and seas are not bad on the Pacific… up to, say, 10-15 mph.”

Mark Rayor, owner of Jen Wren Sportfishing in the East Cape region on the Sea of Cortez, added: "Nothing alarming so far. Just hope the forecast is right and it doesn’t spool up.  Kinda like a rattlesnake: doesn’t look that bad but you never know when it will get pissed off."

 –Graphic via the National Hurricane Center

Whale shark ‘longer than a school bus’ surprises scuba divers off Florida (video)

By Pete Thomas

A Florida family was greeted Sunday by a whale shark “longer than a school bus” and accompanied by hundreds of smaller fish.

“I heard my husband yelling over his regulator and looked up to see a what looked like a rolling cloud,” Brock said. “There were cobia and remoras everywhere - then I realized they were attached to something, and that something was a whale shark!”

The rare encounter with a 30- to 35-foot whale shark occurred off West Palm Beach as Brock was scuba diving with her husband, Keith Brock, her 13-year-old cousin, Addie, and their guide, Craig Buss.

Whale sharks are the planet’s largest fish and can reach lengths of about 40 feet. Fortunately for humans, they’re filter feeders and subside largely on plankton and small fishes.

Brock and her group had been diving with Pura Vida Divers at spot called The Trench, and had begun its ascent ascent from about 60 feet when the whale shark materialized in the distance.

“They are rare in Florida,” Brock said. “People dive their entire lives and never get to witness that.”

Making the experience more surreal were all the remoras and cobras attached to or swirling around the whale shark. (Remoras often attach to sharks and will eat parasites and other organisms from the skin of the host animals.)

“Our teeth were chattering,” Brock said. “The whale shark swam right at us, and then through us. Such a gentle giant. He barely had to flick his tail (which was much taller than me) to gracefully glide through the water.

“When he started to swim away we all just looked at each other in total disbelief. It was the most amazing experience I've ever had diving!”

Tropical Storm Sandra intensifies, poised to reach Cabo San Lucas as a late-season hurricane

Tropical Storm Sandra, a late-season cyclone that developed Tuesday off southern Mexico, is poised to deliver heavy rain, strong winds and flooding in Cabo San Lucas and elsewhere in Baja Sur, and on the mainland coast later this week.

On Tuesday afternoon the storm was located 525 miles south-southwest of Manzanillo and packing sustained winds of 65 mph.

But Sandra was intensifying rapidly and is expected to attain hurricane strength (74-mph winds or stronger) by Tuesday night. According to the National Hurricane Center, Sandra’s projected path shows a potential hit on Baja California’s tip as early as Friday afternoon.

The were were no warnings or watches in effect as of Tuesday afternoon.

Sandra is one of the latest-forming tropical storms known to forecasters. This is because of unusually warm waters in the region, thanks in large part to a powerful El Niño that's still developing in the equatorial Pacific.

Writes Jeff Masters and Bob Henson for Weather Underground:

“Conditions are quite favorable for Sandra to intensify over the next couple of days, with record-warm sea surface temperatures of 29-30°C (84-86°F) and wind shear of less than 10 knots beneath an upper-level high arcing around the storm.

“The official NHC forecast issued at 10 am EST Tuesday brings Sandra to Category 2 strength, with peak winds of 100 mph by Thursday. NHC’s Rapid Intensification Index shows roughly a 50-50 chance that Sandra will strengthen by at least 30 knots in the next 24 hours.

“If Sandra does reach Category 2 strength, it will be the strongest Eastern Pacific hurricane known to exist so late in the year. All of the six cyclones above were tropical storms or Category 1 hurricanes except for Kenneth, which hit Category 4 strength on November 24, 2011. Kenneth is the latest-occurring major hurricane in Eastern Pacific.”

An amazing humpback whale encounter, but a very close call

By Pete Thomas/GrindTv

There have been plenty of “Wow!” moments for marine mammal enthusiasts this season in Monterey Bay, thanks to an abundance of voracious and active humpback whales off the Central California coast.

But what occurred in front of passengers aboard a Sanctuary Cruises boat Monday has to rank beyond a mere “Wow!” moment. They watched in awe as a large humpback breached so closely–only yards away–that it caused their boat to pitch.

“It definitely got rocked,” photographer Jodi Frediani, who on Wednesday provided the images that accompany this post, said of the close call.

Frediani, who was aboard the Point Sur Clipper out of Monterey Bay Whale Watch, could not say whether any of the passengers on the other boat got drenched, but recalled seeing nothing but open mouths after the 30-ton whale splashed down.

She assured that this was not a case of either boat being too close to the whale, but a case of the whale approaching both boats and surprising everyone by breaching directly between them.

“It was coming toward us, pointed right at us, and then it shifted direction before it breached right between us,” said Frediani, adding that she was shooting with a zoom lens and that the Point Sur Clipper was considerably farther from the whale than the Sanctuary Cruises boat.

Humpback whales have spent the past several months feeding in Monterey Bay, and breaches are fairly common. But this was a special whale, as far as the passengers and crews were concerned, because it was extremely active.

Frediani said it breached 60 times in the span of an hour, and also tail-lobbed, and slapped the water with its pectoral fins.

"We first saw it at 12:06 and at 1:06 it was still breaching,” the photographer said. “I was getting tired just trying to follow it with my camera.

Frediani said that because the whale had changed direction, as it approached the boats, she missed the very beginning of the breach in her sequence.

But she did not miss much.

Los Cabos back in business; airlines booking flights for Oct. 8

Major airlines have begun accepting reservations for commercial flights to and from Los Cabos International Airport (SJD), beginning October 8.

Unofficially, flights could resume even sooner (some are saying so, perhaps hopefully, in private).

The airport, on the outskirts of San Jose del Cabo, sustained significant damage when Hurricane Odile came ashore in the state of Baja California Sur on September 14-15.

The storm hit Cabo San Lucas, at Baja’s tip, the hardest.

Alaska Airlines on Friday at 7 p.m. updated its website to reflect that it would resume flying one daily roundtrip flight from Los Angeles to Los Cabos beginning October 8.

I  looked into this and was provided the option of booking a 10:10 a.m. flight into SJD for $179 (one-way).

The United Airlines website also is accepting flights beginning October 8. Presumably, other airlines have followed or will follow suit.

Major airlines had implied that they would not resume flights until the end of October. Some insiders, however, have suggested that this was a ploy to negotiate cheaper landing fees at SJD.

Regardless, this is a major step toward recovery. Many hotels are still closed, but reopenings are expected to occur between mid-October and the end of November. October and November are peak months for tourism throughout BCS.

Cabo Living Magazine reported Friday on its Facebook page that of the 59 Baja California Sur hotels overseen by the tourism agency Fonatur, 55 sustained hurricane damage, with 5,474 rooms affected.

Tourism Secretary Claudia Ruiz Massieu said power has been restored to nearly 100% of the northern part of the state, 80% in Los Cabos, 98% in La Paz, 70% in Mulegé, 75% in Comondú and 95% in Loreto.

More than 70% of gas stations in BCS are back in operation.

–Image is courtesy of Solmar Resorts

Hurricane Marie sending massive surf to Southern California

Massive swells generated by Hurricane Marie off Mexico are predicted to reach Southern California beginning Tuesday.

Wave heights in some areas, notably north Orange County, are expected to exceed 20 feet on Wednesday, when the swell is expected to peak. Wave heights at the world-famous Wedge in Newport Beach could exceed 25 feet, according to a media alert issued Monday by Surfline.com.

Hurricane Marie, located about 490 miles southwest of Cabo San Lucas and churning in a northwesterly direction, reached Category 5 strength on Sunday. On Monday, Marie was at Category 4 strength, still a major storm, with maximum sustained winds of 145 mph.

Storm swell hits Baja California Sur north of Cabo San Lucas; photo via Pisces Sportfishing

Enormous swells began slamming the Pacific coast of Baja California Sur late Sunday, prompting officials to close the port at Cabo San Lucas, at Baja California's tip.

Southern California regions that will receive the largest waves, according to Surfline, include North Orange County, Southern Ventura County, and portions of North Los Angeles County.

But the swell should produce large surf at all south-facing areas.

Strong rip currents will be generated by the large surf, and coastal flooding is possible in low-lying areas during high tides on Wednesday and Thursday.

Hurricane Marie is expected to remain at hurricane strength until late Wednesday. It’s predicted to become a tropical storm by 5 a.m. Thursday, as it continues to weaken.

 –Pete Thomas

Cabo San Lucas boaters enjoy rare killer whale encounter

Passengers aboard the Cabo Mar fiesta dinner cruise boat are always treated to stunning views of Cabo San Lucas and the rock formations at Land's End, but last week their tranquility was interrupted by a pod of energetic killer whales.

In footage uploaded Thursday, the orcas can be seen breaching close to the 65-foot catamaran and seemingly playing to the crowd.

 

Killer whales are not commonly seen off Cabo San Lucas, a popular resort destination at the tip of Baja California. But small pods are spotted sporadically in the area, and particularly in the Sea of Cortez.

When the Mexican orcas are encountered they tend to be boat friendly, and sometimes surf in wakes generated by vessels.

Cabo San Lucas boaters, however, are much more likely to see humpback whales or juvenile gray whales at this time of year.

Diving whale stars in amazing Monterey Bay sunset photo

Just about anyone can capture a quality sunset image, but it's a special moment when a photographer can capture a blaze-orange sunset with whales in the frame.

This is especially true when one of the whales is diving, and the sea water pouring from its fluke is the color of lava.

The accompanying image was captured by Katie Dunbar, a naturalist for Monterey Bay Whale Watch. Understandably, it was widely shared on Facebook.

"The singular moment was amazing," she said. "For me it sums up the phenomenon of the concentration of humpbacks. In one moment there were three whales with the setting sun, and normally we are lucky to see just one!

"As a biologist of course I am thrilled to see so many whales here to feed, the abundance of a recovering species. But as an artist I relish the opportunity to see such beautiful creatures, especially in such aesthetic conditions."

Hundreds of humpback whales have been feeding in Monterey Bay for more than a month, lured by a phenomenal showing of anchovies.

Dunbar said the image was not photoshopped.

"I literally didn't do any editing, it's just cropped for composition and rotated to have a straight horizon line," she said, adding that she used a Canon 7D with a 70-200mm f/4L USM lens."

Monterey Bay Whale Watch, commenting on its Facebook page, wrote: "It was the perfect end to a perfect day."

–Pete Thomas