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Mexico, as we all know, is a fantastic dive destination whether you are into the flooded Cenotes or surrounding marine rich reefs and seas. This time I was traveling to the east coast of Mexico, Cancun and Playa Del Carmen to be exact. I have visited and filmed on the west coast up and down the gulf of Mexico and Sea of Cortez a number of times and have loved every filming adventure. In fact my last visit was to film humboldt squid for the UKs leading TV channel winning a Bafta award Along the way.

 

Now I was back and exploring a new side to Mexico once again and as always our exploration started with us getting up early and jumping on a boat and heading off shore into blue but turbulent waters. A recent storm had cleared but had left 3m swells that threw us all over the place, a few succumbed to sea sickness and over the next 5 hours we strained our eyes to the horizon around us waiting for a sign. As time passed into afternoon we gave it 1more hour. 10minutes from our turn around time we saw the sign as clear as day, some 300 frigate birds swelling together and so we pushed forward cameras at the ready. What we witnessed over the next hour was truly incredible, 70plus 5foot long sailfish chasing, corralling, cutting and consuming a terrified ball of several hundred sardines at the seas surface. Sailfish are amongst some of the fastest fish in the sea and believe me a terrified ball of sardines doesn't like to hang around either. Over the course of the hour I repeatedly jumped into the throng, snorkeled and paddled as furiously as I could to keep up with this incredible spectacle, climb back on board our boat and start all over again. Some15 jumps and recoveries later the sardine ball was down to around 30 traumatised, shattered and bewildered fish and could do nothing but swim on the spot and take refuge around myself and my camera in a last ditch effort to avoid the inevitable. Over the next 20 minutes I filmed as each sardine was plucked from the shrinking ball by the sailfish and frigate birds above one by one. Not so great for the sardines and I shall admit to melancholic thoughts as I looked down at the glittering shower of sardine fish scales in the blue sunlit waters after the last sardine was taken. All in all one of the most powerful experiences I have had the privilege to witness over my years as an underwater cameraman.

 

Ecstatic we headed back to the shore elated but shattered. The next morning we headed out in search of our next target animal - bull sharks! Now bull sharks probably account for the majority of human shark encounter injuries and fatalities so why would we want to come face to face with them on their terms and turf? Quite simple really - the chances of us being bitten by bull sharks, or any shark that is, a million to 1. You have more chance being killed on holiday by falling coconuts than by sharks. As with many things in life we have been misled by over zealous and dramatic media reports aimed at increasing news sales than by reporting less interesting reliable and more realistic and truthful facts. That's why I continue to jump into the water with sharks or all shapes and sizes and reputations. Yes sharks can and do kill humans but in 99% of fatalities these are acts of confusion not man-eating intent. Over the next 2 days I repeatedly dived with out protection or feeding with dozens of large pregnant female bull sharks just a few hundreds of meters from the thousands of sunbathers that throng to the sun drenched sandy beaches of Playa Del Carmen. Not once was I shown aggression. Being in their presence on their terms was a powerful and positive experience.

 

My last few days were spent exploring the flooded caves, or Cenotes as they are locally known, which are found up and down the Yucatan peninsular as well as the beautiful reefs surrounding the island of Cozumel. On my last dive we came face to face with one of my new favorite sea creatures, the aptly named splendid toadfish. These incredible creatures are nocturnal but can be found looking out quite quizzically from their reef holes during the day with pajama stripes and yellow edged fins, found here and nowhere else. Brilliant!