If you’ve ever booked — or even just dreamed about — a Snorkel Venture tour, chances are you’ve already crossed paths with one of our travel experts: Bernita, Crystal, Graham, or Kelly. They’re the people behind the scenes bringing each journey to life, overseeing everything from the moment a tour is conceived to the final details before our travelers meet their tour leader at the destination. Let’s catch up with the Snorkel Venture travel team and take a look at where their adventures have taken them in 2025. Bernita in the Dominican Republic I was fortunate enough to tick off a bucket list trip in early 2025... a trip to the Dominican Republic to snorkel with the humpback whales that go there to breed and/birth their babies. The trip was liveaboard based. The Silverbank, the Marine Mammal Sanctuary where the humpbacks can be seen, is 80 nautical miles from Puerto Plata. Only 3 boats have permits to enter the sanctuary, each carrying up to 20 guests, so I felt very privileged to be there. The encounters are regulated to protect the humpbacks; much of the day is spent on the small tender boats looking for whales. They can be seen spy hopping, breaching, tail lobbing and sleeping. We also saw groups of males chasing females trying to mate or fighting amongst themselves. The area is a shallow underwater plateau with coral formations coming up to the surface, but the trip is not about the coral and no time is spent snorkeling around the coral heads, unless there is a whale there to see. When we find a whale/whales that are slow moving or sleeping, we quietly enter the water and watch them. The moms are mostly relaxed and the babies are quite curious. The sleeping whales come up to breathe
If you’ve ever booked — or even just dreamed about — a Snorkel Venture tour, chances are you’ve already crossed paths with one of our travel experts: Bernita, Crystal, Graham, or Kelly. They’re the people behind the scenes bringing each journey to life, overseeing everything from the moment a tour is conceived to the final
Mexico Sardine Run Trip Report At the end of November 2025, I had the very good fortune of being able to visit Mexico’s Baja California for a rare moment in time, when some of the ocean’s most enigmatic species come together to hunt. For about six weeks each year, species like the California sea lion, striped marlin, dorado, Bryde's whales, and humpback whales all converge just outside this magnificent little bay called Magdalena Bay, to hunt the shoals of mackerel and sardines that congregate here, starting from around October to December. As most of these species are pelagic ocean wanderers, it’s nearly impossible to predictably encounter them on your average snorkeling trip. However, as the sea lions, marlins, whales, and other ocean predators are all drawn into this relatively small area by the dense bait balls, we snorkelers have a rare opportunity to swim alongside these magestical creatures and bear witness to them in all their glory as they prey on the tiny fish. https://youtu.be/7DCPilsmf4A?si=Q6WaerYdgdcPPA0S As this is a very unique tour for us, one in which we will be running in November 2027, I wanted to get out to Mexico and experience it for myself so we can paint a much better picture of what to expect with our Mexican Sardine Run, through photos, videos, and only the most eloquent wordage. Now, I’ve already done quite a bit of posting about the tour on the Facebook and Instagram as I was partaking in it. For those of you who are lucky enough not to be on either of these apps, I hope this trip report suffices as a vehicle for absorption of all things relating to our Mexico Sardine Run! Magdalena Bay Magdalena Bay–Mag Bay for short–is a really quite large bay that sits on the Pacific coast of
Mexico Sardine Run Trip Report At the end of November 2025, I had the very good fortune of being able to visit Mexico’s Baja California for a rare moment in time, when some of the ocean’s most enigmatic species come together to hunt. For about six weeks each year, species like the California sea lion,
As humans pour their intellect into machines and anxiously await the day artificial intelligence stands on the podium as the smartest being on Earth, we may be overlooking another contender: animal intelligence. In fact, research into animal cognition might shift your concern from AI induced job loss to a more immediate threat - world domination by octopus. Animal intelligence studies once took a very human centric approach. We judged a dolphin’s smarts by how well it could mimic our abilities, like counting to three. But of course a dolphin’s anatomy isn’t built to say “one, two, three,” it is built to produce clicks that let it echolocate objects with incredible precision. I’ve never met a human that can do that! Fortunately, animal intelligence research has come a long way. There is no longer one single test for “intelligence”. Instead, scientists focus on how well an animal solves problems within its own unique environment, a far more meaningful measure of what it means to be smart in the wild. The Cunning Octopus Octopuses could not live a more drastically different life to us humans. Yet, the way they approach problem solving and their incredible adaptability to their environment is undeniably intelligent. They are famously cheeky, using their nine brains to tackle life like no other. They are masters of disguise, going beyond simple camouflage, they can contort their bodies to convincingly mimic the shape and demeanor of other, more dangerous animals. Take the mimic octopus for example: it changes shape and colour to resemble unappetizing creatures like lionfish, sea snakes, flat fish or jellyfish. Like all great actors octopuses also use props from their surroundings to aid in their disguise. The veined octopus for example picks up two halves of a coconut shell and creeps along the seafloor, encased in the
As humans pour their intellect into machines and anxiously await the day artificial intelligence stands on the podium as the smartest being on Earth, we may be overlooking another contender: animal intelligence. In fact, research into animal cognition might shift your concern from AI induced job loss to a more immediate threat – world domination
I'm just back from a very recent Alor & Komodo trip - and what a trip it was. Our guests certainly had one of the best snorkeling trips you could wish for. With our Alor trips we always hope to find Mola Mola, but as all things with wildlife tours nothing is guaranteed. However, on this last trip our group was very lucky. By far one of the strangest fish out there, but we love to see them. While out on the hunt for Mola we had our first large encounter. A huge blue whale pops up and passes by. On day two we were escorted out to the snorkel sites by a large pod of melon headed whales. Once I put the drone in the air, it became apparent we were observing a mating behaviour. Then the jackpot!! We found our first of 5 Mola that day. For the next 4 days we would find the Mola Mola. When on tour in Alor we always try to see if we can find them. While out on the speed boats we spend time in between the islands, in the channels looking out for them. The best time to find the Mola is when the currents are strong and the water is cold. What we are looking for is that very large fin sticking out of the water. Sometimes it can take some patience and others we find them as soon as we arrive or on the way to our snorkel sites. What makes this extra special, is watching how excited the team from Alami gets when we find them. Lots of excitement and adrenaline pumping. So some facts about this weird and wonderful fish. Mola Mola, also named ocean sunfish or head fish. All six species of oceanic sunfish .
I’m just back from a very recent Alor & Komodo trip – and what a trip it was. Our guests certainly had one of the best snorkeling trips you could wish for. With our Alor trips we always hope to find Mola Mola, but as all things with wildlife tours nothing is guaranteed. However, on
There is no place really like it. With the hustle and bustle of Cabo San Lucas, then around the corner complete wilderness of Baja. Our Pelagic Mexico snorkel tour was one I had been looking forward to getting on for a long time. It certainly lived up to my expectations. With such a mix of emotions. Anticipation, excitement, thrill and a bit overwhelming at times. Not to mention the need for patience. After meeting my group and being briefed by the amazing team at Latitude Encounters, we were ready for a day of swimming with sharks. Our first day heading out the harbour of Cabo was an experience in itself. The boat was being followed by curious large male sea lions, then arriving at the famed arch. After a quick photo shoot we were underway. Heading out on the Pacific side of the Baja peninsula. As the name would suggest we were heading off shore looking for pelagic sharks. Our main targets were mako and blue sharks. Within about three minutes into our passage, the crew had spotted our first of many humpback whales. The humpbacks come to this area every year for shelter and to bring up the calves. Such an awesome sight to watch something so big just glide past effortlessly, and so close to the boat. After spending some time with the whales we were back on our mission for sharks. After an exhilarating ride we were in the middle of the deep sea. The boat was positioned over a pinnacle starting at about 80 metres deep. Now we would begin the process of chumming. Chumming is a mixture of crushed dead fish in a big barrel of water. The team would then pour this bit by bit into the ocean, creating fishy oil slick on the
There is no place really like it. With the hustle and bustle of Cabo San Lucas, then around the corner complete wilderness of Baja. Our Pelagic Mexico snorkel tour was one I had been looking forward to getting on for a long time. It certainly lived up to my expectations. With such a mix of
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