Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Flying Sharks at Isla Guadalupe?


After a day at sea, we arrived at Guadalupe, ready to see some Great White Sharks. As part of our safety orientation I demonstrated the entering of the cages. As soon as I hit the bottom of the cage,...... White Shaaaaaaark! Bruce, a face I've gotten to know pretty well over the last 10 years, swam by and looked me in straight in the eye. What a way to start the day!
The day continued at an awesome pace. Sharks in every rotation with some very close passes by the cage. "Drogin" a 13ft. Shark, showed us how agile he is  and made an impossible tight turn right in front of the cage. The final tally was at least 13 different Sharks for the day. Then, just as we're getting ready for the roast prime rib dinner, a full breach, just a couple of feet away from the rail. What a way to end the perfect day.
Day 2 of Shark diving started out with a bang. 6:45 am another full breach, right by the boat. "Sharkbait", a little sea lion that has kept us company for the last couple of trips is getting scared and is on his way up the swimstep ladder, headed for the safety of the back deck. I talk him back down into the water, where he starts chasing the sharks, like he did the day before. Between shifts, he jumps back up on the swim platform and takes a break from harassing the Sharks.
Great action all day! Photo Chad Vasconcellos
The action holds steady all day, with fewer sharks than on the first day, but "Johnny" and "Drogin" putting on a show all day long. What an awesome trip! What will our last day at the Island bring?
"Sharkbait" Photo Martin Graf
Day 3 Just as I'm attaching the cages to the swimstep, "Sharkbait" came racing towards me. I was thinking, "What's your hurry?" when a big Shark jumped clear out of the water, just feet away from me. This was getting ridiculous. 3 breaches on one trip!? Who says the sharks only fly in South Africa? Then about 20 minutes later as we were loading the cages, you guessed it, another full breach just feet from the boat. Mind you, we had no chum or bait in the water for any of the breaches. The sharks just jumped for reasons only known to them. Then just in case somebody missed the first 4 breaches, another Shark decided to join his buddies and jumped out of the water about 50 yards behind our vessel.
As we were leaving the Islands, a pod of dolphins rode our bow for a while and just for good measure, one of them jumped higher than our rail and flopped sideways into the water a couple of times. The ride home was smooth as glass, a perfect ending to an awesome trip!

Cheers,
Martin Graf
Dive Operations Manager
Horizoncharters


About Shark Diver. As a global leader in commercial shark diving and conservation initiatives Shark Diver has spent the past decade engaged for sharks around the world. Our blog highlights all aspects of both of these dynamic and shifting worlds. You can reach us directly at sharkcrew@gmail.com.

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