Traveling to Baja Mexico for Whale Shark Research

Hello there! I am seeking assistance with paying for a trip to Baja Mexico to study whale sharks! Right now I am working on paying off the rest of my flight and travel insurance. The trip will be the Stars to Sea program through the Vermillion Sea Institute. I visited there last summer and hope to return in late August. Below are some further details.

For some background, my name is Kylie and I work at the Seattle Aquarium. I started as an outreach specialist last February after volunteering nearly a decade. Before that, I was working with the Washington Conservation Corps for two years, the second year with the Department of Natural Resources. Within the Aquatic Reserves Program, I was doing a variety of field work surveying and monitoring, and outreach. I have a degree in graphic design and illustration. I am in the process of getting dive certified over the course of the next few months with a bit of assistance.

From Baja last summer, just before a minke whale sighting.

Thanks to my current job, this last year I learned of and had the honor of visiting the Vermillion Sea Institute field station down in Bahía de los Ángeles in Baja Mexico. It was a truly magical experience. I attended the Camp Oceano trip which was made to be family friendly and geared more towards a wildlife vacation.

Seastars right off shore from the field station!

It was a week long including two nights in San Diego to sandwich the trip. We drove from San Diego to Bahía de los Ángeles and back in vans, starting early and ending late. It was around an eleven hour drive including snack, bathroom and lunch stops. The town is very small and I think I lost cell service about four hours before we arrived. If you wanted internet, you had to go into town to one of two places. Once we arrived at the field station we got a tour and set up a space for our things. There are many rooms at the field station with wonderful murals, but no air conditioning and a limited power supply. There is a dump flush toilet and people sleep on the beach on cots that are set up and taken down each morning and night. It is far from a glamorous hotel vacation and I don't need that. I am there for the wildlife, the water, the people and the opportunity to learn and live in a different place for a while.

A Sunstar found snorkeling! Love these friends,

although they look very spooky at night, they're fast!



Some highlights of the trip were seeing a pods of dolphins, Minke whales breeching, a sea turtle, mobula rays, stingrays, pufferfish, various seastars, corals, snorkels, swimming with sea lions, befriending an octopus during a night snorkel, bioluminescence at night, a baby whale shark (!) and sleeping under the stars in the desert. I worked with and got to know some of the local people who worked at the field station, and kids who were conducting microplastic research and learning to snorkel. I practiced my Spanish and learned much about a new ecosystem.

Spotting and swimming with sea lions! Watch out

for the bull, he yells!

I paid for the flight over several months, recently having finished paying it off. For the night before and after the trip in San Diego, I was lucky enough to be able to share a hotel room with someone I knew who was already going. I also obtained a scholarship through some design work for the Vermillion Sea Institute. I was just able to afford to go and would be overjoyed to return as soon as possible!

Finding myself while snorkeling; I could be in the water

all day. I thought I would be nervous snorkeling in the

ocean and so far from home, but I felt so free and curious.

I will be seeking out any money saving opportunities again so I can return to the field station this upcoming summer but it is not guaranteed. I am currently tight on money, with little to set aside for this trip, but thanks to the GoFundMe, I have registered! Thank you all so much!!

I have received assistance with a hotel and have started a payment plan for my flight! Thank you so much!

A protected island we snorkeled at, there were huge

chunks of quartz jutting out of this island! It was also

coated with beautiful shells because it was protected, no

one is allowed to take anything. Not even a pebble.

I am traveling back to the Vermillion Sea Institute this summer (late August 2024) for the Stars to Sea program. The trip is specifically for people who are looking to expand their field research experience. The main structure of this trip is around collecting and recording data on Whale sharks. During this weeklong trip, each morning participants go out on boats for hours, seeking whale sharks, getting in the water with them, measuring and snapping photos of their identification markings.

Baby whale shark we saw! Still around 18'!

They report findings back at the field station and take note of new and returning individuals. This data is then recorded in SharkBook which is a global database tracking sharks. Whale sharks are endangered and little is known about their habits and where they spend most their time. Through this research, Vermillion Sea Institute is contributing to global conservation efforts.

This is the infographic I made on the Stars to Sea programs whale shark

data for my scholarship last year. Hopefully I'll be able to apply this skillset again!

This is a unique opportunity to increase my field research experience and add a new layer of skills to my career in marine sciences, conservation and education. Being newly dive certified, I will also dive in these abundant tropical waters!!

For folks who support this endeavor, I will create some type of travel journal which will include my wildlife encounters and potentially art or poetry that comes out of the trip! Some of these photos are good examples of what you might see more of! I am open to suggestions and art commissions as well if you aren't feeling like donating outright. Here is my website for examples!

Sleeping on cots on the beach under the stars,

this is what we woke up to every morning

The trip and travel expenses are thus at this point in time (5/3/24):

Essentials:

Payment plan -

I am almost there! I just need to finish paying for the flight and travel insurance. I am registered for the Stars to Sea trip August 21st - 26th. I will leave the 20th, stay the night in San Diego and then head down to the field station. I will drive (be driven) back up on the 26th and stay the night in San Diego, coming home the 27th.

Sponge found while snorkeling, there were tons of these.

The initial support I received allowed me to start paying for this trip and gave me the financial boost needed to set things in motion! I deeply appreciate support I have received and hope you have a wonderful day. Thank you so much for your time and consideration!

Kylie Rench

An octopus I befriended on a night snorkel. Someone

said there were octopuses out there and I had to go.

This buddy let me ever so gently touch their mantel!

There was also tons of bioluminescence in the water!