In 2019, I lead a scouting trip off the coast of the Eastern-Central Pacific where I had a special opportunity to witness the effects of a natural phenomenon called upwelling — the process of upward movement to the ocean surface of nutrient-rich, deeper, colder waters.

What does this mean? It means that the added nutrients attract bait fish like sardines, lantern and anchovies, which in turn attract predators like super-pods of dolphins, whales, turtles, mobula ray, stingrays, and more. The upwelling event I was fortunate enough to be apart of was first discovered by local fisherman who noticed the abundance of wildlife that congregated offshore when the moon is full.

Following their advice on timing, we went at the time they recommended and the trip was so amazing and productive that I’m I decided to run an expedition in February 2020. The expedition will be six days long, and the event takes place 40 miles offshore. While we’re at sea, we will live aboard the dive vessel the Aquila, which is well-equipped for comfort, diving and cruising in open ocean.

The activity will be a mix of free diving and at time the use of Pony tanks – we use pony tank in order to be more flexible ready for action versus the standard large scuba tank, and extend our bottom time underwater

In addition to this expedition, if you have time, I recommend spending an extra four days to see the rain forest. I’ve been all over the world, and I can say that this is one of the most extraordinarily beautiful places I’ve seen in all my travels.