Sunday, November 22, 2009

Shark Diving Outside the Boundries

Recently I was at dinner in San Francisco with a group of friends and the topic of "the most exciting moment" came up. Being the owner of a shark diving company I have a few of these stories on tap, but none compare to Karly Stanley's submarine.

In 2005 I met Karl in Roatan, Honduras and enjoyed an evening with him at close to 2000' in the company of titanic sized six gill sharks. We had roped pigs heads to the side of the vessel and were being dragged down slope and into the abyss by a particularly large female.

That was in the early days, when the very idea of attracting huge sharks from the crushing deep seemed like an impossible endeavour.

The additional bonus is that Karls submarine was hand built by him, making the complete experience one that I have treasured my whole life.

Karls adventures would, eventually, grab the attention of filmmakers and television folks. This clip is from a unique documentary about Karl and his operation now available on Amazon.

Real animal adventures are harder to come by these days and I go to bed at night knowing that guys like Karl keep the flame alive and well, offering for the rest of us, by sheer force of genius and personality, the chance to enjoy an encounter with deepwater giants: