A Busy Bee in Baja, Bermuda and The Bahamas

​“Swimming with whale sharks” was always high up my bucket list, and in the space of two months, I did it twice: first in West Papua, Indonesia with my son, and then off the coast of La Paz with my daughter.  Very different experiences, with very different kids, and I’d bet very different whale sharks too.  The largest fish in the sea was utterly unbothered by our presence, and in both cases, conservation was front and center.   As with all ticks on a bucket list, as soon as it’s done, there’s a feeling of elation, followed by a strange emptiness, an exhaustion, a hole in the dream web. The experience itself is never quite how you imagine.   The first swim was sudden, taking advantage of proximity and timing.  The second was accompanied by cold, dark water and limits on time because we had to get two scuba dives in with sea lions (as one does).  It’s never how you imagine, but it’s exactly how it should be.  
 
It takes about a day or two for the spiders of the imagination to get spinning on the dream web, and we quickly move onto the next dream.  Take it from me, it’s a rare soul who ticks it all off and says “I’m done.”   Nope, dreams are a game of whack-a-mole: the more you experience, the more you want to experience.  Tick three things off at the top, and four more will pop up at the bottom.   ​

La Paz, Baja California

The highlight of my first visit to Baja California was an off-grid visit to Camp Cecil on the sand dunes in Magdalena Bay.   It’s a lovely camp that will be re-built each year, with access to a coastal wilderness and a bay that’s famous for friendly, spy-hopping grey whales.  The meals, star gazing and sundowner cocktails on the beach were magical, and owners Bryan and Sergio pay attention to the small details that make a huge difference.   
 
Rancho Cacachilas is an agro-tourism, glamping, farming R&D and adventure tourism initiative with some heavy financial backing.   Sharing an opportunity to ride mules into the desert scrub, make goat cheese and visit bee hives with my daughter was educational, memorable, and the kind of hands-on escape kids love most.     My top-of-mind memories:  watching the galaxies with my daughter at Camp Cecil, cycling the Malecon at sunset, getting covered in bees at the hives, and riding into the hills at sunset.  
 
You can read my full report from La Paz at Canadian Geographic, and the fun video we made below. 

Exuma, Baja California Sur

​One B down, cue up The Bahamas.   It’s my first visit to the islands, and taking advantage of spring break, my daughter joined me on a week-long visit to the Exumas.   It’s a chain of islands with the kind of water that defies description, not that I didn’t try in my story.  I first heard about the swimming pigs from my niece, and I would have loved to have brought her because the little piggies did not disappoint. Neither did the rock iguanas, although I didn’t expect the baby nurse sharks to steal my daughter’s heart more than the baby pigs.  This is my daughter, after all.  
Hydro-biking to the Lazy River with Darren Clarke was another big surprise.  Impossibly blue water, lemon sharks, and a strong current to lie back and float to a natural sand bar.   We jet-skied and ate conch, raced hermit crabs and hiked out in low tide.  Exuma, I’m told, is a world away from Nassau, and it’s all the better for it.   My top-of-mind memories:   floating the Lazy River, looking for starfish at low tide on Exuma Point, ripping around the yachts in Elizabeth Harbour with my daughter and the young son of our PR representative, hearing the giggles and feeling their joy. 
 
Check out my full Exuma report on Canadian Geographic, and another fun video that will only get better as the years pass.

Bermuda

​The final B of the season was Bermuda, my first visit to another island paradise, this time in the North Atlantic.   Just 2.5 hours from Toronto or New York, the British Overseas Territory was polished and affluent, reflecting the fact that 90% of its GDP comes from offshore banking (it also sits in the world’s top 10 GDP per capita).   It was a short visit to investigate the Bermuda Triangle for a Halloween story later this year, and it got a little spooky when my BermudAir flight disappeared in mysterious tornado and teleported into an alien world.  For some inexplicable reason, my freckles made me a king, and I spent a lifetime ruling over peaceful, loving subjects, before being catapulted back to the present day through a wormhole under the Bermuda sea mount.  It’s quite possible I made that all up, which is all you really need to know about the Bermuda Triangle.   Scuba diving the Cathedral and the wreck of the ill-fated Greek freighter Pelinaion are two of my best dives ever.   Not a lot of marine life, but fabulous topography and diving wrecks are always a blast.  Great company, incredible food, and doubtful my last visit to Bermuda.   My top-of-mind memories:  diving into the crystal, cool waters of the cave pool at Grotto Bay Beach Resort and Spa; melting into the wagyu steak flight at the Island Brasserie; wahoo ceviche; navigating underwater canyons in the Cathedral.    A full report will run in Canadian Geographic later this year.