mexico

Amazing Photos of a 50ft Bryde’s Whale Feeding!

Photography, Science, Thoughts

Whales are  beautiful and majestic creatures. They never cease to amaze me 😀

Down in Baja Mexico, some lucky divers got the footage of a lifetime! Along with swift marlin and curious sea lions, the Bryde’s whale was competing to consume a huge bait-ball of sardines.

Bryde’s whales are related to humpback and blue whales. They are baleen whales, consuming pounds upon pounds of krill and small fish. They often get mistaken for different whales in the wild.  They span across the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans.

All photos credit to: Doug Perrine/Barcroft Media

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

A Gray Whale Mom and Baby Get Up Close and Personal!

Photography, Science, Thoughts

My grandma sent me this link today on Facebook and it truly made me all warm and fuzzy inside! I’ve never had an experience like this before with whales, but I hope to one day!

I’ve been close to a whale shark down in Baja Mexico- and I was definitely in awe and freaking out a little too from the boat. I took a couple videos- so I’ll share one with you. Don’t mind the commentary though- you really don’t think about what you’re saying when you’re completely and utterly enthralled with what’s in front of you 🙂 I actually got to swim with one that got close to shore from where we stayed-and I WISH that I had footage from that because it was incredible. Animals that are that big and swimming around you are quite intimidating as well…

But here’s the whale video that touched my heart. It inspired me put a new item on My Bucket List 😉

Here’s my whale shark video!

My First Cruise Experience.

Photography, Thoughts

Wow. All I have to say is that cruise ships are fascinating!

There were 2,700 passengers from 11 different countries- and 900 employees from 45 different countries! The food wasn’t that bad- and with ice cream cones available 24/7- needless to say we stopped by there multiple times in the wee hours of the morning haha.

Although the rooms are quite compact and the drinks are expensive-I don’t really have much to complain about my recent 3-night cruise to Ensenada, Mexico. It was awesome people watching, and a definite escape from reality for a couple days. Not having access to the internet felt nice. I think our lives are too overstimulated with social media…I miss the days of when we wrote letters and arranged time and places to meet instead of texting or calling every moment of the day. The weather was a little on the cooler side…but we still enjoyed lounging on the pool deck.

BTW- had the WORST tacos of my life in Ensenada. That was unfortunate..didn’t have any flavor at all. You’d think anywhere in Mexico had delicious Mexican food-right?! But thank goodness the beer was cheap! (I don’t think that I will go there again…)

I went with my best friend, her sister, and her sister’s co-worker. 4 ladies taking over the ship! We all kind of split into our own directions most the time…whether it was gambling until the tables closed at 4:30am, dancing at the night club with people dressed up in panda and care bear costumes, laying in bed watching The Proposal because of someone felt seasick, hot tubbing, or playing giant chess on the pool deck. We all had a blast!

There were a couple bachelor and bachelorette parties on the ship- that was entertaining. We met a group of guys from the OC that were our buddies from night one in the hot tub. It’s always a fun time making new friends!

I mainly took photos on my iPhone 4 and my old FujiFilm digital camera- basically I didn’t trust a cruise and going to Mexico with my nice Canon camera. So the quality of the videos and pictures aren’t top notch- so please don’t judge me! Haha.

I wanted to make a little vacation summary video on my Mac Book Pro iMovie application- so I did! It was really addicting once I started making this video- I’m kind of a perfectionist- so I wanted it to look and sound amazing. I want to make more videos like this one for future vacations and adventures. So I’m hoping to improve on the creativeness and quality of the videos over time.

Here’s the video and some of my favorite snapshots from the trip!

Dance Floor Fun
The Losers.
I Won The Game!
Life Saver.
Our OC Friends
Fancy Dinner Night.
BEER
Breakfast outside!
Ensenada From the Top of the Boat
Dancing
Lights
Sunset Beauties
First Drink of the Trip!
The Deck
Ocean Preview

Cyclops Shark- Eye Love You!

Science, Thoughts

So I’m sure many of you have seen the latest news articles about the 1-eyed shark anomaly. It’s quite an intriguing little creature to look at..still looks extremely fake to me. But I’d totally love to have one!

Credit: Pisces Sportfishing

Found in the stomach of her mother in the Sea of Cortez, this 22-inch-long dusty shark looks like something out of a cartoon than a real life shark. But National Geographic confirms that 2 scientists from the Interdisciplinary Center of Marine Sciences (in La Paz) have studied the shark and determined that the fetal shark does actually have 1 functional eye at the front of its head.

If only the fishermen who “legally” caught the pregnant dusty shark wasn’t catching and killing sharks, or else we might have been able to see this little cyclops in the wild! But to be quite honest the shark’s fate was pretty well determined even if it was born. Kittens and puppies born with the disorder cyclopia die within a day or so after being born. Poor little fellas.. No other cyclops sharks have been caught before- further insinuating that they die soon after birth.

The scientists who studied the shark took X-rays which will be released in their research report  coming out soon (hopefully). Comparing these X-rays to previous cases of cyclopia (which has actually been found in humans) can possibly present some interesting comparisons.

Do you think it’s really REAL or REALLY FAKE? Comment and let me know!

Albino Sea Turtle?! Meet Nimbus.

Thoughts

This is too cute not t0 share!  Makes me miss when I helped release little tiny baby Olive Ridley Sea Turtles earlier this year when I was in Mexico.

Me and baby Olive Ridley Sea Turtles- About to be Released!

There was a loggerhead sea turtle born in North Carolina with a rare genetic alteration in – like albinism- in which he is totally white, shell and all!

Enjoy this little ball of joy.