bababooey
07-16-2010, 11:23 AM
Swim with the world's largest fish in Mexico
http://l.yimg.com/a/i/us/nws/p/ap_logo_106.png
http://d.yimg.com/a/p/ap/20100715/capt.191c8f366d1c4dc88fb68921dab3d625-d2e8632de5654f28832f557e552e59f7-0.jpg?x=213&y=160&xc=1&yc=1&wc=409&hc=307&q=85&sig=Bn09WXVcqiVz2Qo0NT7i.Q-- (http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/Oct-5--2009-photo-provided-Baja-Airventures-Inc-shows/photo//100715/480/urn_publicid_ap_org_d2e8632de5654f28832f557e552e59 f7//s:/ap_travel/20100715/ap_tr_ge/la_travel_trip_swimming_with_sharks)
AP – This Oct. 5, 2009 photo provided by Baja Airventures Inc. shows a Baja Airventures guest enjoying a …
By MEAD GRUVER, Associated Press Writer Mead Gruver, Associated Press Writer – Thu Jul 15, 12:21 pm ET
BAHIA DE LOS ANGELES, Mexico – Everyone got excited when the 20-foot-shark, inches below the surface of the water, started circling slowly under our little fiberglass boat and wouldn't leave.
What to do? Get in the water, of course.
"This is special," said our guide, Christina Colpitts, as three passengers from our boat eased into the tepid Sea of Cortez and swam carefully toward the creature to get a snorkel-eye view.
Anyone who saw a "Sharks of the World" poster as a youngster surely felt the mystique of the whale shark (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap_travel/20100715/ap_tr_ge/la_travel_trip_swimming_with_sharks#), largest shark in the world and biggest fish in the sea. Lurking behind the other shark species — bigger, even, than the mighty great white — the enormous size and peculiar spots of the whale shark stood out.
Very definitely the whale shark was coolest of all sharks.
The Sea of Cortez, a three-hour flight south of San Diego, is one of the few places in the world where whale sharks (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap_travel/20100715/ap_tr_ge/la_travel_trip_swimming_with_sharks#) congregate predictably. They start showing up in summer, with peak season for whale shark-watching from the start of September through the end of October. My trip was run by a small San Diego-based company called Baja Airventures.
"We've had a lot of people who've gone on our trips and they've been down to Australia, they've been off of Belize and they've been all over the place and had yet to be able to snorkel with whale sharks," said Baja Airventures owner Kevin Warren. "Our last five years in a row, every one of our trips we saw them throughout the trip."
Baja Airventures flies its guests in single-engine planes to the remote Mexican fishing village of Bahia de los Angeles, population 500. From there, basic but powerful and seaworthy 26-foot boats shuttle guests another hour south to the rustic Las Animas Wilderness Lodge on a turquoise cove.
The Baja Airventures pilots also serve as knowledgeable guides, leading guests in small groups to kayak, fish, hike and snorkel with whale sharks and the other abundant sea life in the area.
Just be ready to rough it. You must enjoy sleeping in little more than a tent and doing without electricity and running water — not to mention no television, Internet or cell phone service.
"I want to be completely self-sustaining out there," said Warren, adding that he would like to install a desalination unit to supply water and intends to replace the resort's only generator with solar panels.
Whale sharks grow up to 40 feet but have very small teeth and aren't predatory. That means they won't try to eat you. Gentle giants, they gather each fall at Bahia de Los Angeles — almost halfway down the Baja Peninsula on the Sea of Cortez — to filter-feed on microscopic organisms called plankton.
The sharks swim slowly near the surface, keeping their large mouths open to gorge on the clouds of plankton that color the water jade that time of year.
"Absolutely mysterious and absolutely still very rare," said Jason Holmberg with the Ecocean Whale Shark Photo ID Laboratory. "The more we discover about them, the more our preconceptions about them, even from a few years ago, are shattered."
The Mexican government also seems concerned about whale sharks, marking off with buoys the part of Bahia de los Angeles where whale sharks congregate and enforcing rules for interacting with the animals. Chasing or herding sharks isn't allowed. No more than three people per boat may be in the water at any time. Touching sharks is prohibited.
Whale sharks have recently been in the news because of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, with some seen swimming near and through the oil in the Gulf of Mexico. But the Sea of Cortez population is off the west coast of Mexico, while the Gulf waters are on the other side, well east of Mexico.
I'd like to see them have those eco-tours in a place where gret whites congregate.:scared: Lots of bloody limbs and torsos all over the place, like a Monty Python movie gone mad.
http://l.yimg.com/a/i/us/nws/p/ap_logo_106.png
http://d.yimg.com/a/p/ap/20100715/capt.191c8f366d1c4dc88fb68921dab3d625-d2e8632de5654f28832f557e552e59f7-0.jpg?x=213&y=160&xc=1&yc=1&wc=409&hc=307&q=85&sig=Bn09WXVcqiVz2Qo0NT7i.Q-- (http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/Oct-5--2009-photo-provided-Baja-Airventures-Inc-shows/photo//100715/480/urn_publicid_ap_org_d2e8632de5654f28832f557e552e59 f7//s:/ap_travel/20100715/ap_tr_ge/la_travel_trip_swimming_with_sharks)
AP – This Oct. 5, 2009 photo provided by Baja Airventures Inc. shows a Baja Airventures guest enjoying a …
By MEAD GRUVER, Associated Press Writer Mead Gruver, Associated Press Writer – Thu Jul 15, 12:21 pm ET
BAHIA DE LOS ANGELES, Mexico – Everyone got excited when the 20-foot-shark, inches below the surface of the water, started circling slowly under our little fiberglass boat and wouldn't leave.
What to do? Get in the water, of course.
"This is special," said our guide, Christina Colpitts, as three passengers from our boat eased into the tepid Sea of Cortez and swam carefully toward the creature to get a snorkel-eye view.
Anyone who saw a "Sharks of the World" poster as a youngster surely felt the mystique of the whale shark (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap_travel/20100715/ap_tr_ge/la_travel_trip_swimming_with_sharks#), largest shark in the world and biggest fish in the sea. Lurking behind the other shark species — bigger, even, than the mighty great white — the enormous size and peculiar spots of the whale shark stood out.
Very definitely the whale shark was coolest of all sharks.
The Sea of Cortez, a three-hour flight south of San Diego, is one of the few places in the world where whale sharks (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap_travel/20100715/ap_tr_ge/la_travel_trip_swimming_with_sharks#) congregate predictably. They start showing up in summer, with peak season for whale shark-watching from the start of September through the end of October. My trip was run by a small San Diego-based company called Baja Airventures.
"We've had a lot of people who've gone on our trips and they've been down to Australia, they've been off of Belize and they've been all over the place and had yet to be able to snorkel with whale sharks," said Baja Airventures owner Kevin Warren. "Our last five years in a row, every one of our trips we saw them throughout the trip."
Baja Airventures flies its guests in single-engine planes to the remote Mexican fishing village of Bahia de los Angeles, population 500. From there, basic but powerful and seaworthy 26-foot boats shuttle guests another hour south to the rustic Las Animas Wilderness Lodge on a turquoise cove.
The Baja Airventures pilots also serve as knowledgeable guides, leading guests in small groups to kayak, fish, hike and snorkel with whale sharks and the other abundant sea life in the area.
Just be ready to rough it. You must enjoy sleeping in little more than a tent and doing without electricity and running water — not to mention no television, Internet or cell phone service.
"I want to be completely self-sustaining out there," said Warren, adding that he would like to install a desalination unit to supply water and intends to replace the resort's only generator with solar panels.
Whale sharks grow up to 40 feet but have very small teeth and aren't predatory. That means they won't try to eat you. Gentle giants, they gather each fall at Bahia de Los Angeles — almost halfway down the Baja Peninsula on the Sea of Cortez — to filter-feed on microscopic organisms called plankton.
The sharks swim slowly near the surface, keeping their large mouths open to gorge on the clouds of plankton that color the water jade that time of year.
"Absolutely mysterious and absolutely still very rare," said Jason Holmberg with the Ecocean Whale Shark Photo ID Laboratory. "The more we discover about them, the more our preconceptions about them, even from a few years ago, are shattered."
The Mexican government also seems concerned about whale sharks, marking off with buoys the part of Bahia de los Angeles where whale sharks congregate and enforcing rules for interacting with the animals. Chasing or herding sharks isn't allowed. No more than three people per boat may be in the water at any time. Touching sharks is prohibited.
Whale sharks have recently been in the news because of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, with some seen swimming near and through the oil in the Gulf of Mexico. But the Sea of Cortez population is off the west coast of Mexico, while the Gulf waters are on the other side, well east of Mexico.
I'd like to see them have those eco-tours in a place where gret whites congregate.:scared: Lots of bloody limbs and torsos all over the place, like a Monty Python movie gone mad.