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Baja, Mexico 2010
EyeShootSharks and Ocean Encounters proudly present
A live-aboard breath-hold diving adventure
In October/November 2010, Fred Buyle and William Winram invite you to embark on an expedition of a lifetime... A 10 day live-aboard expedition and freediving course that will start in San Diego California and finish up in Cabo San Lucas Mexico. Fred and William are teaming up with Marine Biologist and TV 
personality Luke Tipple to bring you this breath-hold diving expedition. The one-way format of this trip gives us the time to intimately explore remote areas of the Baja coast as well as offshore destinations.
Develop advanced breath hold techniques with the experts
Expedition Team
Fred Buyle
World renowned underwater photographer and 4 time world record holder, Fred Buyle has been freediving since his childhood. He is a committed educator and environmentalist, assisting scientists in their research through his exceptional breath-hold diving skills.
William Winram
Considered one of the best overall competitive breath-hold divers in the world, William is also an avid conservationist. He has been using his breath-hold skills in shark-tagging expeditions along with fellow waterman Fred Buyle, to assist marine scientists in their efforts to protect these widely endangered animals.
Luke Tipple
A marine biologist passionate about the ocean and its conservation he has been involved with the Ocean since the age of 5. Luke has worked and dove with over 12 species of sharks and is considered an expert when working with Apex predators. He is also the founder and Director of the Shark Free Marina initiative.
Locations
Guadalupe Island
Guadalupe Island is the worlds best location to dive with Great White Sharks. There will also be opportunities to dive with Guadalupe Fur Seals and Northern Elephant Seals, Yellowfin and Yellow tail as well as topside photo ops of marine mammals. Also included is a caged experience to get up close and personal with the famous Guadalupe Great White Sharks. Vis is normally 15 - 25m.
San Benitos
Best described as California diving 100 years ago, it's the best kelp diving in the Eastern Pacific. We will have the opportunity to photograph, film and freedive with big game like Yellowtail and White Sea Bass, as well as to photograph the protected species like Black Seabass, lots of Lobster, Abalone, Guadalupe Fur seals, Elephant Seals, Harbor Seals, California and Stellar Sea lions. Vis is normally 15-30+
Alijos Rocks
A very remote pelagic location and more or less unexplored by divers. My best guess is that fewer than 100 people have ever dove here and most of that has been in the last 3 years. Visibility here often exceeds 100 ft. There are great opportunities to photograph sharks...lots of sharks. Large schools of Silky Sharks and Galapagos Sharks are common as well as Turtles, Tuna, Wahoo, Mantas, sometimes Whale Sharks and huge Yellowtail.
"The Ridge"
The Ridge includes Uncle Sam Bank and Thetis bank: This string of oceanic high spots are 60 miles offshore and are known for striped Marlin, Dorado, School sized Tuna, Wahoo, Dolphin, Mantas, sometimes whale sharks. This is a great place to photograph pelagics. Vis can vary 15-30m+.
Magdelena Bay
Magdelena Bay and Banks like the Golden Gate, Jaime and Finger Bank are known for Striped Marlin (as seen in Blue Planet), large Broomtail and Gulf Grouper on the reefs, possibility of large Tuna up to 200lbs in open water associated with Dolphins. Shoreside there are also vast mangrove systems full of life.
Itinerary
This expedition departs 6am October 29th from San Diego via Motor Coach. We clear Mexican customs and immigration and arrive to Ensenada Mexico and board the motor vessel Islander. We await final clearance for departure from Mexican authorities and the boat departs between 9am -10 am.
From here on in, this expedition will "go with the flow" of what we find on site. We have 5 world class dive sites, each of which we could spend the entire 10 days diving and exploring. Our Guide, Captain Shane Slaughter was raised as a child fishing and diving throughout San Diego and Baja California and has an intimate knowledge of the area, so we are certain have some great diving. Ultimately the amount of time we spend at each dive site depends on the local conditions for weather, sea state and the presence of animal life.
Finally we will arrive to Cabo San Lucas around 12 noon November 8th, after 10 days of amazing diving.
Breath-hold Training
This expedition course will teach the details of proper movement or silent motion in the water - refinement of your dive from the surface to the interaction with your subject and back again...learning how to hold one’s breath in a relaxed and confident manner is extremely useful for underwater photography,videography and science and observation. You will learn stalking techniques which will allow you to get up close and personal with marine life to capture the best possible images and video.
Throughout all of this, you will be working with three world champion freedivers with extensive experience under the water, working up close and personal with some of the worlds most exciting underwater inhabitants.
On board
Aboard the Islander you will learn about proper breathing techniques for relaxation, preparation and recovery within breath-hold diving. The extensive competitive freediving and martial arts background that this team brings you will expose you to techniques that will allow you to spend more time under the sea with your subjects. You will also learn about the marine ecology and animal behavior from a marine biologist who works in the field and is intimately involved in the water with these animals.
Teaching methodology and experience
This expedition was designed to allow participants the opportunity to experience some of the worlds best dive sites, with some of the world’s leading experts in Breath-hold diving and marine animal interaction. All four of our instructors have a lifetime of experience in, on and under the ocean which they will share with you during this 10-day live aboard adventure.
Since this expedition is designed to be an intimate experience the instructor to student ratio is 4:1. This allows the OE team to work with students to maximize the learning experience.
We will take you in a new direction, re-visiting your basic human abilities and athleticism to explore and preserve our oceans during this critical stage in the earth’s evolution. We will do this without the use of technological aid as others before us have done. We are exploring our history as mammals on this great planet earth and we welcome you to join us!
10 Day Freediving Baja Expedition!
