Sunday, August 30, 2015

"Aggressive" shark closes San Diego Beach

We arrived back in San Diego from our last Great White Shark trip just in time for an "aggressive" hammerhead shark to close a popular La Jolla (San Diego) beach.

According to the San Diego Union Tribune, "A hammerhead shark that circled and followed a group of swimmers and kayakers near La Jolla Shores prompted lifeguards to close a stretch of water to thousands of beachgoers Saturday afternoon."

A hammerhead shark circles a kayaker near La Jolla Shores Saturday. The shark's aggressive behavior prompted the beach to close for the remainder of the day and night. — Jimmy Van Evera

Since these hammerhead sharks are not normally "aggressive" towards humans and usually quite shy, I was surprised to hear that one was actually approaching a group of swimmers.

Upon further reading of the article, I found that there was a good reason for the shark to come close to the kayak and the swimmers.  “We each caught a yellowfin, and we always bleed them out to keep them fresher,” said Jimmy Van Evera, who estimated they’d fished for three hours. “We were paddling back in and we saw this hammerhead pop up near our kayaks.” It was about 10 yards away, but ventured closer and closer"

Ok, that explains a lot. Hammerheads, like most sharks love to eat tuna. By bleeding their catch into the water, the fishermen essentially rang the dinner bell for the shark in question. The tuna blood was covering their kayaks and by paddling to shore, the kayak left a scent trail for the shark to follow.  The shark knows what a tuna looks like and once it sees the kayak, is curious to find out what smells like a tuna, but looks like a kayak. These hammerheads are not really a threat to humans, unless they happen to be covered in fish blood.
 
The headline for this story should have read "Irresponsible fishermen lure shark close to swimmers", instead of calling the shark aggressive. Read the entire article here.

If a human smells food and goes to check it out, is he/she showing aggressive behavior? Since there was tuna blood in the water and sharks are curious to investigate what smells like a tune, but looks totally different, it was probably a good idea for the lifeguards to get the people out of the water.

Personally, if I would hear there is a hammerhead in the water, I'd grab a mask and snorkel, go in and check it out. They are beautiful creatures and, as long as you're not smelling like fish blood, not a threat to humans.

Cheers,
Martin Graf
CEO Shark Diver

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 staff@sharkdiver.com.

Monday, August 24, 2015

30 White Sharks and a pod of Orcas

What an incredible expedition! We not only saw a record 30 different individual white sharks on this expedition, on our way back we ran into a pod of Orcas that came right up to our vessel. The pod included a whale with an incredibly tall dorsal fin, as well as some mothers with their babies. What a treat!




In addition to the sharks we encountered earlier this season, we had 3 new females, 3 new males, along with Keli, Andy, Johnny and Herman, all sharks we know from previous seasons.

Photo by Mark Denstedt, not Martin Graf

If you aren't among the lucky ones that already booked an expedition this season, we only have a couple of spaces left on our August 30 and September 9 expeditions. Call Cindy at our office 619.887.4275 or email staff@sharkdiver.com to reserve your space.


Let's go shark diving!

Cheers,
Martin Graf
CEO Shark Diver

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 staff@sharkdiver.com.

Wednesday, August 19, 2015

Great White Sharks, Mauricio Hoyos and Ocean Ramsey at Guadalupe Island

Another successful trip to Guadalupe Island is wrapping up. Even though we encountered a bit of a south swell which affected the visibility, the sharks came out to play. On our first day, we had 14 different sharks swim by the cages. Along with the sharks, a green sea turtle and a small pod of dolphins, including a couple of tiny babies, also stopped by for a visit.


After our first dinner at Guadalupe Island, our divers were treated to a presentation by Dr. Mauricio Hoyos, the resident shark researcher. Mauricio's sense of humor and great material made his presentation a hit with our divers.


Mauricio also brought Ocean Ramsey along for his visit. Regular readers of this blog will know, that I'm often critical of what Ocean does and her visit gave us a chance to have a long talk and understand each others points of view. I was quite impressed with her passion for the sharks and the projects she supports and she even picked up a deck brush and helped scrub the boat.


On the way back to San Diego, the ocean was flat calm, a fact that was greatly appreciated by our divers. Overall it was a great trip, despite the less than stellar visibility.

In a few hours we are boarding our next expedition. I can't wait to see what will wait for us at Guadalupe. After 14 years of diving there, I still feel like a kid in a candy store, each time we depart to see "my" white sharks.

Come join us! Call Cindy at 619.887.4275 or email staff@sharkdiver.com and she'll give you all the details you need to book your trip of a lifetime.

Let's go shark diving!

Cheers,
Martin Graf
CEO Shark Diver


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 staff@sharkdiver.com.

Friday, August 14, 2015

Bigger than Deep Blue. The biggest shark at Guadalupe Island!

We just returned from our first expedition to Guadalupe Island this year. I'm happy to report that the big boys are back. Bruce, Jacques, Bite Face and Thor all made it back safely to the island. As big as those sharks are, they were dwarfed by the biggest shark to ever swim by a cage at Guadalupe. On our second day of diving, we encountered the largest fish on earth, a whale shark, swimming alongside a great white shark.


I have seen whale sharks before, but this is the first time I saw one swimming with a great white shark. You never know, what you are going to see on the ocean. Aside from great whites and the whale shark, we also got a visit from 6 bottle nose dolphins and a couple of green sea turtles.


It's not only the big boys that are back. We also saw the slightly smaller Hooper, Mau, Horizon, Ace, Micks, Mike, Drogin, Legend, Paul Walker, Seamus, Don Julian, Big and Ian along with the females Sydney and Amiria.

Like last year, we also encountered some new sharks. We definitely have another small female and male shark.


We only have a few spaces available for this season. Call us at 619.887.4275 or email staff@sharkdiver.com to reserve your space.

Let's go shark diving!

Cheers,
Martin Graf
CEO Shark Diver

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 staff@sharkdiver.com.

Thursday, August 6, 2015

Courageous sea lion


From last season at Guadalupe Island, where we encountered a courageous little sea lion.

 

Cheers,
Martin Graf
CEO Shark Diver

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 staff@sharkdiver.com.

Wednesday, August 5, 2015

Who is at Guadalupe Island?

Our great white shark season is officially getting underway this coming Sunday. I can't wait to see who is back at Guadalupe Island. Is "Shredder" going to be there after being absent for a couple of years?


"Shredder"

I'm really worried that something happened to him, but since "Quetzalcoatl" (no I did not name him)
once stayed away from Guadalupe Island for 8 years, I still have hope!

"Quetzalcoatl"

What about our regulars like "Bruce", "Jacques", "Bite-Face", "Johnny" etc.? Who is making an appearance this season?


"Jacques" one of our regulars.

Who is going to get hurt this season?  It never ceases to amaze me, how rough they play with each other.

"Bruce" a couple of years ago

But don't worry, they have an amazing ability to heal. Just look at the picture of "Bruce" below!

"Bruce" with barely a scar from his bite.

We never know who is going to be back. Every year we encounter new sharks and see old "friends". Right now, we have more than 170 individual great white sharks in our database, with a handful having been there every season, since 2001.

If you are interested in learning more about the photo id database of our great white sharks, check out MCSI's website here. We also have only 2 spaces open on our Sept. 14-19 science expedition with Nicole Nasby-Lucas, the scientist responsible for the database.

To join us on the science expedition, call us at 619.887.4275 or email staff@sharkdiver.com.

We also have limited openings on our Aug 30, Sept. 4 and Sept. 9 expedition.

Let's go shark diving!

Cheers,
Martin Graf
CEO Shark Diver


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 staff@sharkdiver.com.

Tuesday, August 4, 2015

If you love sharks, you're going to love this movie!

I had the chance to watch David Diley's movie "Of Shark & Man" and absolutely loved it.

Here is how the filmmaker describes the movie.

David Diley is a thirty-two year old man, trapped in a dead end job in England's industrial north and his life is going nowhere. He does however, have a lifelong dream... 

Should David follow the advice of everyone around him and forget about it, or should he risk everything and against all the odds, take his one chance to fulfill his greatest ambition, an ambition which finds him in the middle of a feeding frenzy with sixty of the world's most dangerous sharks?


“Of Shark and Man” is a ground breaking film about one man's journey to get closer than anyone thought possible, to the world's biggest Bull Sharks and tell the incredible untold story of Shark Reef in Fiji, one of the greatest marine conservation successes of all time.

“Of Shark and Man” is an epic, incredibly ambitious and cinematic love letter to the world's most feared predator, in which, for once, the shark is the hero.

To me it is much more than just a movie about sharks and man, it is about following your dreams, overcoming obstacles and never giving up.

Here is the trailer. Check it out!


Of Shark and Man - Official Trailer (2015) from Scarlet View Media on Vimeo.

For more info on the movie, check out these links.

If you get inspired by the movie and want to go diving with these magnificent animals yourself, call us at 855.987.4275 or email staff@sharkdiver.com and we'll get you set up.

Cheers,
Martin Graf
CEO Shark Diver

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 staff@sharkdiver.com.