The shark diving industry blog covering sharks, shark cage diving, shark conservation and things we find "amusing" since 2008 www.sharkdiver.com, www.sharkdivers.com, www.divingwithsharks.com
Strange though it may sound to folks who know white sharks, apparently the Seychelles gov has proof that a recent well documented shark attack was that of a great white.
Now we're not conspiracy theorists, but when you look at this a little closer somethings rotten in Denmark.
We point to the fact that almost from day one Seychelles gov officials said repeatedly that the shark involved "was not one of theirs," hoping to shift blame to a "rogue shark theory".
The recent discovery of a white shark tooth and confirmation from South African experts seems to back the gov assertions that a rogue shark is in the waters of the Seychelles, an island nation that relies on tourism revenues for 50% of GDP.
No mention of the typical tropical species like the tiger and bull sharks that frequent the waters of the Seychelles - there goes Occam's Razor.
We would like to see the tooth and find out who the SA shark experts were who signed off on the "rogue white shark" in Seychelles waters, anyone know who these folks are?
The whole thing doesn't sound right, and when it comes to high profile shark attacks in major tourism waters shark attack experts fly in by the truck load and everyone has a theory.
Take it from us, we're experts, we know sharks. We also know shark feeding events commonly known as "shark attacks" and there's nothing on this planet short of prayer that will "Repel a Shark Attack."
Sharks are wonderful predators with a simply fantastic suite of senses designed to confirm when or not a shark should make an attempt at feeding. If these triggers are set, either by mistake, poor visibility, or by predatory design there's nothing some rare earth magnets can do to save you.
This video is one of the best examples of bald faced shark hucksterism we have had the misfortune of seeing in a long while and a complete disservice to the swimming public at large:
If you happened to be watching NBC's Today Show this morning you saw reporter Stephanie Gosk ham fist her way through a shark attack story out of the Seychelles.
Spouting factoids about sharks that were incorrect and providing descriptions of species that, if proved true, will redefine shark science as we know it, Stephanie unwittingly became the spokesperson for why the mainstream media needs to be educated about sharks.
It's time for push back because watching her in action today was enough to cause me to spill my sustainably harvested trade certified coffee all over my shirtfront while becoming "outraged."
Being outraged as a shark conservationist is state of grace we get outraged for a number of reasons when it comes to sharks.
For me major news media bias is one of them.
Yes sharks are predators, and yes sharks attack humans occasionally but the reasons behind shark attacks are what mainstream media folks fail to cover time and again, they focus on the blood, the loss, and the hype.
In case you want to know why the incidence of shark attacks are on the rise you need look no further than this recent article, great stuff.
Back to Stephanie. I won't give away her most glaring indiscretions, I will let you watch this media hit piece and perhaps become outraged as well. Suffice to say the bad taste exhibited by airing the grieving widows last recollections of her husband as he bled out on the beach in front of her reminds me of equally tasteless Shark Week productions wherein shark attack victims were forced to watch a mechanical shark monster slam into sides of beef to reenact their limb loss.
Yes this is the same kind of overblown media hype that does little to understand sharks.
As a shark conservationist I am not asking the media to rewrite what sharks are, or even attempt to soft peddle their basic predatory nature. All I am asking for is balance, nuance, and some hard facts, not the time warped 1970's lens that folks like Ms.Gosk seems to train on these animals whenever man and shark interact.
Shark Diver offers all inclusive shark diving and support services for mega yachts worldwide, specializing at Isla Guadalupe, the South Pacific, and the Bahamas.
Our yacht services are geared towards adventure diving and pristine shark encounters.
Based in California and Florida, we are ideally positioned to comprehensively support luxury mega yachts who desire to engage in safe shark diving and specialized dive charters with additional destinations available.
Shark Diver was the first commercial shark diving company to offer mega yacht services in 2004 with a private cage system build out on the M/Y Triton and shark diving services to Alaska with Salmon Sharks (Lamna ditropis). Our dive crews and support vessels maintain the highest safety and proven track record for animal encounters and we remain the premier shark and adventure diving and cage build service provider.
At Isla Guadalupe your white shark experience is our highest priority. Changes in vessel permitting at this remarkable site have made these experiences more challenging for yachts, we can help you with the process.
Shark Diver commercial shark diving yacht services are comprehensive with an eye towards value and safety.
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Shakespere once said "all the world's a stage and all the men and women merely players," now I highly doubt many within the shark community read The Bard, in fact I know they don't.
But for those who do this video will be as amusing to you as it was to us. Yes, as it turns out not everyone loved our Gillette commercial this year. Although it was seen by one of the largest televised audiences outside of the Superbowl and even won a prestigious award at the Cannes Film Festival.
But when it come to "Charks and Chaving" this young lady does bring up several good points which we took into this weeks latest production meeting.
Andy DeHart is the director of biological programs for the National Aquarium, Washington, D.C., as well as Discovery Channel shark adviser. As such we have been rather dubious of Andy's shark motivations after seeing him on Shark Week for a few seasons pitching what amounted to an ongoing and horrific shark attack blood fest in 2009.
But as they say, "you don't know a fellow until you have seen him on NBC's Today Show," at least that's what someone said in our office this morning.
Responding to a recent shark attack and unfortunate death in the Seychelles this week Andy offers up a well balanced, truly fact based assessment of shark and human interactions without the usual strong armed attempts to recast sharks as anything else but what they are, predators.
If you're looking for talking points about sharks, shark attacks, and counter points to the medias persistent bias and 1970's view on sharks, watch this mornings interview, it's about as good as it gets.
A great white shark was caught this week in the Bay of Fundy, the first confirmed great white shark sighting in Atlantic Canada in more than six years.
The three-metre, 272-kilogram shark was caught in a fishing weir by fisherman Wayne Linkletter, near Economy, N.S.
Steve Campana, head of the Canadian Shark Research Laboratory, said the shark was likely looking for fish when it got trapped.
“They’re interested in fish and perhaps small seals and dolphins. It’s very unusual for a great white to attack a person and usually when they do, it’s because they look up and see a surfer on a surfboard and it resembles a seal, which is one of their favourite prey,” said Campana.
Campana added that great white sharks are often more threatened by humans, rather than the other way around.
“Canada is within the range of great white habitat, so they’ve undoubtedly been coming up here since time immemorial,” he said. “It’s just that the population of great whites used to be much larger, at least 10 times larger, just 30 years ago than it is now.”
Campana said the sharks are sometimes seen around Sable Island.
“The great whites will go up there and have a buffet meal of tasty young seal,” he said.
The shark was caught alive but later died.
The head was sent to Halifax’s Museum of Natural History for further study.
Bahamas Tiger sharks are calling and fall is just around the corner. There's no better way to celebrate the end of summer shark diving than being in the Bahamas surrounded by pristine offshore reefs, ancient wreck sites, sharks and wild dolphins.That's what we do here at Shark Diver each and every year with six new, and returning dive friends.
Mark your calendar and join us September-November in 2011 and again in 2012 for unique shark encounters close to home when the biggest sharks appear in the Bahamas.
This spring 2011 was a banner season for us entertaining multiple film crews, a site visit from the great folks over at the Bahamas Film Commission, and divers joining us from as far away as Italy!
Here's a look at Tiger Beach and the diving from RTSea Productions:
An international team of researchers, conservationists, commercial dive operators, and government agencies has joined together to deploy and operate an array of acoustic devices to monitor the movement of sharks in the waters of Palau. This array, the first of its kind in the waters of Micronesia, supports Palau’s world-leading effort to conserve and protect sharks within the whole of their Exclusive Economic Zone.
Initially established by the Micronesian Shark Foundation, the Save Our Seas Foundation, and the Australian Institute of Marine Science, the 14-station array has recently undergone an expansion with funding from the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), through the Pacific Islands Ocean Observing System (PacIOOS). PacIOOS is a program led by the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa’s School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology.
The PacIOOS investment is targeted at increasing the density and geographic range of stations—providing a more precise and complete picture of shark movement in the Palauan archipelago.
“Sharks are a sentinel species in the global ocean and are important for ensuring the health of all ocean species in the future,” said PacIOOS Director Chris E. Ostrander. “Shark populations worldwide are threatened by increasing illegal fin fishing and a shifting climate. The Government of Palau’s dedication to conserving shark populations in their waters is an extraordinary step to helping shark populations recover and we are pleased to be able to assist, with our partners, in providing necessary information on shark movement, migration, and mating.”
PacIOOS is the Pacific Islands regional component of the United States Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) and is charged with providing timely, reliable, and accurate information on the coastal and open ocean waters of the Pacific Islands to residents and visitors alike.
For more information about this topic, please contact Chris Ostrander at (808) 956-5902 or chriso@hawaii.edu.
Our 2011 pricing includes 12+ divers per trip max (compare other boats with 16-24 divers), U.S. shark and vessel crews, all shark diving permits, unlimited beer and wine, soft drinks, wet suits, weight systems, on board accommodations, meals, snacks, transfers from San Diego airport.
Shark Diver offers expedition forward pricing so you do not get hit with surprises down the line.
Solo shark divers are encouraged and never hit with a single supplement fee. Ever.
Michael Reiser is a new and upcoming underwater videographer who has been spending some time free diving with Blue sharks off Rhode Island this year with Joe Romeiro.
The results speak for themselves and this is as good as it gets:
Dunlap program director Dr. Neil Hammerschlag decided to film a Lemon shark necropsy to use as an online teaching tool. The end result, edited together by Dunlap program multimedia specialist Christine Shepard, is below.
On a side note pay close attention to multimedia specialist Christine Shepard for this latest video. This is about as good as it gets in the modern media world for sharks.
Admittedly one of the coolest Shark NGO logo and branding efforts goes to Shark Defenders.
They also have the pulse on all things related to Grey Nurse Sharks in Australia and they need your help.
As Da Shark in Fiji points out:
"Australia's Grey Nurse Sharks are critically endangered and it is imperative that we counteract the pressure by the NSW fishing lobby who wants to encroach on their aggregation sites. As SD correctly points out, individual testimonies are generally more effective than copy/pasting templates or joining petitions."
Over at the RTSea Blog filmmaker and friend Richard Theiss has an in depth recap of the recent Diana Nyad swim.
Richard was hired by the Diana Nyad team to document her attempt at swimming across the Florida Straits this week.
He was also part of the dive safety shark team hired to provide non lethal swimmer protection for sharks and lead by shark conservationist and Director of the Shark-Free Marinas Initiative, Luke Tipple.
Here's the shark recap:
The Safety Diver Team (aka Shark Divers)
The safety diver team was headed up by my friend Luke Tipple - marine biologist, dive safety officer on many television productions, and Director of the Shark-Free Marina Initiative. Several other leading pro-shark professionals were enlisted to round out a team of four but due to scheduling conflicts as the weeks wore on, some would have to regrettably drop out and others were called upon to fill in. From the first meeting held to discuss safety diver protocol right up to the moment of the event, one mutual understanding between the divers and Diana existed: in the course of ensuring her safety in the presence of any sharks, only non-lethal techniques would be employed. No harm would come to any shark in the course of our duties.
So resolute were the divers in this regard, that when the New York Times reported on Diana's upcoming swim and erroneously described her safety team as "divers with spears," there was a momentary blow-up and some of the team members chose not to be involved with an endeavor that would have them characterized in such an anti-conservation manner. In the end, while many - including the divers - wanted to downplay the "shark-infested waters" angle and focus more on Diana and the swim itself, eventually Diana laid out her position regarding sharks so that members of the ocean and shark conservation community could be put at ease - despite the media's ongoing fascination with a sensationalistic shark angle.
Her is a portion of what she wrote for CNN's Health blog, The Chart, "Our team has worked hard toward this world record. But it is of paramount importance to us that we achieve the dream in perfect harmony with all the creatures of the sea we encounter . In some regard, I am humbly asking the sharks of this particular ocean to allow me to skim across the surface of their home for about three days. I am duly respectful of them, their habits and their habitat, as is every individual on the Xtreme Dream Team.
We are humbly entering their world, their territory. Yes, let’s not be naïve. There is reason to take intelligent precautions for my safety. But it is imperative to me and every member of my team that those precautions be in the hands of a highly expert, experienced team of four divers who are versed for many years now in using cutting edge, nonlethal technology to deter sharks.
These divers dedicate their lives to raising awareness for sharks and persuading nations around the world to ban shark finning."
Of course, in times past, this proactive non-lethal approach would not necessarily have been the case. And I can understand any trepidation that Diana might have had regarding sharks. Consider her environment - constantly swimming, rotating her head to take a breath and check her position in relationship to nearby kayakers and support vessels. She just wouldn't have the luxury that scuba divers or snorklers have of looking around at what might be swimming underneath and that can certainly prey on the imagination.
Add to that, the media frenzy that surrounded swimmer Penny Palfrey, following her Cayman Island swim where she encountered several sharks that were mistakenly reported by the press as having been killed, and it became very clear to Diana that a pro-shark protocol sufficient to protect her and the sharks was needed. We had a range of steps and options with regard to any shark encounter, but rather than detail them here, you can read about them at Luke Tipple's website.
Ultimately, Diana's safety diver team consisted of Luke, myself, Capt. Rob MacDonald, and Capt. Jon Rose. We were ready to go; the August tropical storm/hurricane season was bearing down and the windows of opportunity were narrowing. When tropical storm Emily, which was initially bound for Cuba and then the eastern Florida coast, dissipated unexpectedly, a potential weather window had opened. The word went out: the time is now.
A pack of tiger sharks take turns to attack the carcass of a dead humpback whale in Onion Bay on Palm Island, near Townsville. The sharks, some up to a 5m in length, stick their snouts out of the water to rip the blubber off the carcass.
Yes we love this video, watching sharks do what they do "au naturel" is a sight to behold.
The crew of Shark Diver is rarely in the office these days, we're spending too much time at sea with our sharky friends, but when we are home the tunes are cranked to "11" and the day begins with Imelda May and "Mayhem."
Call us old fashioned but this tune has a righteous hook.
As Americans enjoy the last big blast of summer and millions of children their quality water time I am here to reflect on the Hydrological Abomination that is - The Swim Diaper.
Call me old fashioned but back in my day there were "kiddies pools" and "adult pools," with an unmentioned social wall in between.
Kiddies did not play in adult pools for fear of incontinent faux pas. And for good reason, kiddies just want to let go anywhere, we know this, we were all once kiddies.
In my day we enjoyed screaming hours of water fun in the kiddie pool often overlooked by an adult of some sort who then went back to the 1970's social scene of the day.
Today at the ripe old age of 42 I am a member of a local gym that sports a very nice Olympic outdoor heated pool. Don't hate me for having a great gym. The pool has no signage but it is assumed that it is an adult pool as no kiddies are ever present.
That is until a few months ago.
Oh, it stared off innocently enough, a few Moms with their terribly cute offspring dipping legs in the shallow end to squeals of delight. Then there were more Moms and kiddies and soon, kiddies and Moms playing with water wings fully immersed in my lovely pristine waters and all sporting The Swim Diaper.
Now I am not a curmudgeon, at least not yet, but how do we know when one of these marvels of swim technology fails? It's too horrible to contemplate, and frankly it's beginning to gnaw on my mind during swim laps each day as I am forced to acknowledge Swim Diapered kiddies in my pool.
To the evil men and women who perpetrated the Swim Diaper on American Moms, a pox on you and your whole extended families. You do not have to swim in pools that have been tea bagged by Swim Diapered hoards across America. No you probably have your own pool at home with a big sign on it that says "No Children," because you know your product is neither fail safe nor sanitary.
What happened to the days of the Wet Banana? (see video).
I had fun with the Wet Banana, I didn't wear a Swim Diaper and if I or any of my little kiddie friends had a organic accident, we were shuttled off, cleaned up and sent back in for hours of screaming fun.
To the Moms who purchase Swim Diapers, you're not bad Moms, you have just bought into the marketing and hype surrounding this product that promises a Dihydrogen Monoxide Moon Shot when in fact delivers all the safety and diaper security of a Pinto with a side of biological horrors leached into my Adult Water Sanctuary.
Let's bring back the Wet Banana and lose the Swim Diaper, it's time for America to come back to safer waters.
Watching Shark Week this year I noticed a show on Tigers in the Bahamas. The shark featured was a well known resident female who was in pristine condition at the start of the production.
The night segment was standard stuff for Shark Week, but it was this day after segment with the same shark that really caught my eye.
With the start of our 2011 white shark season just days away we thought you might like a sneak peek at the island the world has come to know as, "The Island of the Great White Sharks."
This video was shot by Oceans Aloft with the help of Shark Diver at Isla Guadalupe in 2009.
Are you ready for Guadalupe? The 2011 clock is ticking down...
A regional shark fishing boat comes back to Playa San Agustinillo, Mexico with the days catch.
San Agustinillo is known as an upscale tourism hub in Mexico on the Pacific coast. Most of these sharks will be finned and the meat sold as "swordfish" in local markets.
A regional shark fishing boat comes back to Playa San Agustinillo, Mexico with the days catch.
San Agustinillo is known as an upscale tourism hub in Mexico on the Pacific coast. Most of these sharks will be finned and the meat sold as "swordfish" in local markets.
As a shark blogger who often delves into conservation issues to offer up opinions, ideas, and yes even conservation strategies, I was blown away this week by Ricks post over at Deep Sea News who tackled the recent expose on illegal shark fishing in Galapagos.
His post echos many I have read over the years and some that I have penned talking about the triumvirate of conservation.
1. Money
2. Strategy
3. Enforcement
His post is a perfect summation of the challenges that face shark conservation and a road map for next generation of shark conservation groups and individuals seeking to help sharks globally.
Yes, the loss of this many sharks in the Galapagos is a blow, it is also a wake up call to the global shark fin trade and the need, moving forward, to start thinking and acting differently.
If your not one for reading long well thought shark conservation summaries here's the crux of Ricks post:
So while we appear to be getting better at establishing legislative protection for sharks, where the rubber hist the road is in the enforcement of that protection. And enforcement takes funding, training, monitoring, consequences, public awareness, and a judicial process prepared to prosecute. Expecting open water to somehow police itself is as realistic as expecting a bank to safeguard its holdings without surveillance, guards, and a prosecutorial system.
Known by a few names, Shredder has lived up to the name the crew of SharkDiver.com gave him at the start of the 2003 shark diving season back in the day when we chummed with real beef blood and divers fished for, but rarely landed, whole tuna.
Our very first white shark encounter in 2003 was with a 12 foot male white shark complete with “shredded” dorsal fin and several deep bite marks on his head.
He came in fast from the left, our first sight was of his mangled dorsal fin slicing through the surface toward our hang baits (tuna), he hit the first one with an unexpected fury, then turned and zeroed in on the second hang bait missing it and disappearing into the blue distance. This was clearly a unique animal and at the end of the day we named him "Shredder," little did we know he would more than own that new name.
Shredder Takes a Bite
I was up in the wheelhouse with our boats captain (Greg) during the last dive of our last day at Isla Guadalupe. It had been an amazing expedition thus far and our shark cages were loaded for the last time with die hard shark divers. At the time three new sharks in the 10-13 foot class were entertaining them. Two divers not in cage rotation, Kevin and Matt, were fishing for “last chance” tuna on the bow of our 88-foot dive boat the Ocean Odyssey when our crew in the wheelhouse heard a large splash. Seconds later a startled voice called up to us, “Umm, hey, a shark just blasted up and severed the anchor cable from our boat,” that was Matt, one look into his face I knew he was speaking the truth.
Our ships captain was not so sure, saying “that’s a rated 20,000 pound poly-pro anchor cable, there’s no way a shark just bit through it.”. One of the ships crew was summoned forward to have a look and sure enough came up with the last 5 feet of cable ending in one very messy shredded fray. A 12 foot great white shark had just leapt up almost 10 feet clear out of the water and bit through our anchor cable, about the size of a mans wrist and designed to hold an 88 foot dive boat in place in even the roughest weather conditions!
We were now adrift with shark cages fully deployed, sharks in the water and one shark the (newly named Shredder) with a new taste for anchor cables. In the history of shark diving I doubt this has ever happened to another dive boat. Crew raced forward and aft, we had our shark divers calmly exit the cages (30 minutes early) pulling them from the water in record time. In exactly 20 minutes we had the ship squared away and ready to get under power. Once we had settled down our divers were thrilled. After all you cannot call it a "shark expedition” until a shark chews through your anchor cable!
That's how Shredder got his name. He's now much bigger in the 14-15 foot class and still an icon of Isla Guadalupe, Mexico. His sat tags have revealed he is a regular visitor to Hawaii's North Shore when he is not thrilling divers at Isla Guadalupe, Mexico.
From Office to Ocean is David Diley's one man band shark film effort that has a lot of industry support. He's started vblogging from Fiji where Da Shark is hosting him and we'll be covering his video blog as time moves forward:
Just a quick blog to say the first video diary is up. As promised, I wanted to let you know the kind of gear we are shooting with out here and it also includes some nice sharky footage at the end which shot a few days ago. It's straight outta the camera so no processing on it but hey, check out all those Bull Sharks!!! I'm gonna do a blog soon about how this is all affecting me and me feelings at actually being here but today, I'm sick unfortunately so will wait until I'm better to hopefully do it justice. Incidentally, having missed the dives today due to aforementioned sickness, Mike and Chris, a really nice guy out here on a project called Broadreach, informed me they had one of the Tigers turn up not once, but twice! Damn! However, I am hopeful she'll be back to say hello to me soon. Enjoy.
We loves our outta da box shark conservation initiatives.
Especially ones that generate funds for sharks.
Welcome to White Tip Lager Caybrews latest tasty lager in a partnership between the brewery and the Cayman Island Department of Environment.
The Cayman Brewery is also using the White Tip Lager to save marine wildlife.
“The Department of Environment’s Mat Cottam came to us and asked if there was there any chance of us actually partnering with them to use beer as a vehicle to push conservation and awareness in the Cayman Islands,” Mr. Mansfield said.
“Beer’s more interesting than a brochure usually,” said Mr. Cottam, manager of the Terrestrial Ecology Unit at the department, “and they were completely for it, they thought it was a great idea.”
The White Tip label was designed to promote awareness about dwindling shark populations worldwide and the environmental significance of this misunderstood predator.
The beer can is covered in snippets of information, as well as a 2D barcode that smart phone users can scan to be directed to the Department of Environment’s web page of shark information.
In addition to being a drinkable source of information, beer sales will also contribute to the department’s shark conservation efforts monetarily: Five cents from each can sold will go towards shark research, awareness and conservation programmes.
We have been fans of Chris Fallows for quite a while now. As an industry innovator, film and television personality, and a member of the shark diving community he's been hitting on all cylinders for quite a few years now.
This month Chris will once again (this makes 7 times) be featured on the long running series Shark Week seen last year by 35 million viewers.
His latest adventures with sharks takes him from South Africa to Isla Guadalupe. The paddle board video released this week is pretty neat stuff:
Mossel Bay, 18 July, 2011: Mossel Bay — The Oceans Research team, a marine research organisation working in Mossel Bay, got the surprise of a lifetime today when a 3 meter great white shark breached into their research vessel, shocking a field specialist and her crew
Activity around the boat had ceased for about five minutes and all was pretty quiet at the stern. Schroder describes the incident; “Next thing I know I hear a splash, and see a white shark breach out of the water from side of the boat hovering, literally, over the crewmember who was chumming on the boats portside.” Schroder automatically sprang into action and pulled the crewmember quickly away towards the stern of the boat’s platform into safety.
The crewmembers all jumped towards the stern of the boat as the 3m, 500kg, shark landed on the top of the fuel and bait storage containers. The shark had landed with only half of its body onto the boat and Schroder and her team hoped that as it thrashed it would make its way back into the water. But instead the panicked shark worked itself into the boat getting stuck in between the 1.5x2m area behind the container and boats stern. The shark began thrashing around, destroying equipment and cutting the fuel lines as it twisted and turned on the boats deck.
With just a few weeks until our 2011 white shark season at Isla Guadalupe celebrating a decade of successful operations on site we're pulling some old and not so old trip reports written by our divers so you can start getting excited.
T-minus 15 days and counting:
For our divers 2010 has been the Trip of a Lifetime so far. Celebrated with email blasts to friends and Facebook posts to the world.
These lucky divers have met the most charismatic, studied, and filmed white sharks on the planet.
For newly minted Shark Diver Craig Reynolds, nothing but his own Great White Blog to recount his adventures this year would do:
Day 4 – TWO BLACK EYES- Knowing that sharks are active feeders at dawn – due to the favourable light conditions it provides for hunting – my cage team volunteers for early morning “shark lookout.” Really, it just sounds like an extra hour for keeners so we’ll take it, thanks. And one hour quickly turns into two.
The sharks are slow to venture up from the bottom for the first while. Their grey topside blends in almost perfectly with the abyss below our feet. The white tips of their flanks appear to be nothing more than small fish from far away. And as your mind starts to play tricks on you, the small fish start to look like White Sharks.
But by the second day, we’ve grown more accustomed to our steel confines.
Gradually, you start to find ways of hooking your feet around the ladder and pivoting your body like a climber, hanging on to a bar with a couple of fingers while the others hold the camera, and leaning with the current instead of against it. Your movements become more efficient as does your breathing that bordered on hyperventilation the previous day. I can only imagine how fast your heart would race if you were outside of the cage...
Folks, it just does not get any better than this, and we don't think there will ever be another broad basedInternet platform for shark divers worldwide to rise again if this one goes dark.
iDive represents an evolution away from an industry of tribal affiliations and small time regional recognition to something bigger, grander, and more inclusive.
So what's the hold up? A dollar a month? To keep Internet servers alive?
Let's not see this unique and inspired industry development go to waste, out of 1200 members, we can do better than the 35 who have answered the call and who see the vision.
Join and support iDive today because our industry needs to grow up, and sometimes having your own clubhouse to share visions, images, experiences, and industry developments is where it starts to happen.
With just a few weeks until our 2011 white shark season at Isla Guadalupe celebrating a decade of successful operations on site we're pulling some old and not so old trip reports written by our divers so you can start getting excited.
T-minus 18 days and counting:
Guadalupe Island - Diving With Great White Sharks 2010
When Drew Grgichcalled us many months ago to book a shark diving adventure we knew we had a budding Shark Diver on the line.
His enthusiasm for sharks you could "feel" all the way from Arizona.
He was also a non certified diver, one of the many we "train" to become Shark Divers each and every season.
Today Drew can call himself an Official Shark Diver having encountered the top shark species at the best site for them on the entire planet. Day One (and a half)
We came from all over - - Michigan, New Jersey, Nebraska, the Bay Area, Vancouver, Maryland, and Arizona - - and all of us had one goal in mind … swimming with Great Whites. Mind you, none of us had death wishes so our goal was to do this swimming carefully ensconced in a steel cage. Nonetheless, we would be in the water with them and thus, they would be in the water with us! Our journey began in San Diego out of H&M Landing. Our vessel was the MW Horizon, an 88-ft. dive boat.
We boarded at about 10:30pm and were underway just after midnight. The first night was spent in fitful sleep while trying to detect whether or not the queasy feeling in our stomachs was the beginning of seasickness or just nerves. We arrived in Ensenada the next morning at around 9am. A quick check with Mexican customs officials sent us on our way to Isla Guadalupe, the fall home of some 100+ Great White sharks. The trip was uneventful if long - - 18 hours long to be exact. We were told that the ride was among the smoothest our captain had experienced. A few of us succumbed to seasickness but for the most part, all was well. We saw some remarkable sights - a blue whale, a thin whale, pods of fast moving and high jumping dolphins.
What I remember most about that day is how excited I was.
Few people in life are blessed with the sure knowledge of knowing exactly what they want most in life and even fewer get to experience that desire. For me, my most fervent wish was going to happen in a matter of hours. That's pretty heady stuff!
Day Two
At around 3am, the engine shut off when we arrived at our destination. I went up top a couple of hours later and was not surprised to see other early risers. We attempted to wrestle our cameras into taking decent photos - - not an easy feat at 5am before the sun had even made a token appearance - - and imagined that the murky waters surrounding us were teeming with sharks, each hungry for the first shift of divers.
The shift happened to include me!
Our divemaster, Martin Graf, took me into the cage and had me try a regulator for the first time. I did okay with the regulator but before Martin would declare me dive-worthy, I had to flood my mask and clear it through my nose. I gave it a good effort but sadly, I panicked when my first attempt resulted in a nose full of salt water. I shot to the surface and for a brief moment, wondered if I was going to be able to succeed. Martin was extremely patient and knew exactly how much space to give me in to get over my fears. My second attempt was successful. The secret was to get a steady rhythm breathing through my mouth to gain confidence, close my eyes, and exhale through my nose while tipping the mask.
We didn't have to wait long. The first Great White appeared within a few minutes, circling the cage a few feet below us in its graceful way. That shark was followed by another shortly behind. Both sharks hovered below and made lazy trips around the cages and all too soon, our first hour's rotation was over. All of us were fortunate on this trip. Two people had to cancel so this meant we had 10 divers instead of 12. The cages fit four people each. This meant that we could effectively have as much dive time as we wanted.
I took an extra shift that first day so I had five hours in the cages. We saw seven different sharks the first day. Most kept a respectable distance from the cage but some ventured close enough to touch if we were really inclined to do so. No one was. :) We knew that they were different sharks as the patterns of markings around their gills and fins serve as a sort of fingerprint. These sharks are in turn named by the people who first see them. Scientists do this so that they can identify populations and measure data points such as the number of years that they have been coming to the island, how much the sharks are growing, and how many sharks are seasonal residents.
Some come every year while some visit more irregularly. For the record, the sharks we saw on Day One were Jacques, Bite Face, the Russian, Johnny, Cris Cross, and a new unnamed male. We don't know who gets to name that shark . . . the suspense is delicious. :) The highlight of Day One -- aside from the fact that I was diving with Great Whites! -- was a rotation where Jacques circled the cage for the entire hour. I was able to shoot forty minutes of video going from one side of the cage to the other. Some passes were within inches of my video camera - - I got some great shots!
Day Three
The next morning, I took the first rotation of the day along with two other brave souls. We saw some sharks but they were far below. We tried a variety of tricks to attract the shark's attention - - stomping our feet, hitting the cage ladder with some of our lead weights, singing show tunes - - but nothing enticed the sharks closer that first shift.
Following shifts were much more productive. I spent the first three hours of the day in the cages and shot more video. I grabbed another three shifts after lunch for a total of six hours in the cages. There were two highlights on day two. The first was that I happened to be looking in the exact direction necessary to witness a full breach. This is when the shark completely propels itself out of the water while in pursuit of prey. The prey happened to be a seagull and it got out of the way just in time to escape the leaping shark. I was one of two people onboard who saw the breach and it was truly a magnificent sight.
It was a smaller shark - - maybe 6-8 feet - - but it was a full breach!! The second highlight was more ignominious. We saw a new shark -- Gunther -- who was kind enough to - - - well, poop - - - directly in front of the cage next to us. It was amusing to see and pleased the 10-year old children inside my cage mate and I . . . until the current pulled us directly into it. I can thus say that I was blessed enough to be pooped on by a Great White.
Day Four
I only took half of the sharkwatch shift. It was okay - - nothing really when compared to the first couple of days. I took two more shifts for the day before we had to leave. We did get a great couple of close passes by Bite Face and Jacques. This was especially memorable for me as Bite Face was a featured shark on Expedition Great White, a show about scientists tagging Great Whites at Isla Guadalupe. It was fun to see the satellite tags that they had attached to Bite Face to track him. It is also cool to know that if they show his progress in a future show, one of the lines will cross where I saw him. :)
We left for home following the morning drives and have a rough patch of choppy water to look forward to. I'm writing this as we make our slow way north across the Pacific. I can honestly say that there are four events in my life that top my list. The first would be my wedding with really, a tied two and three being the births of my kids. Close behind would be this trip. I was a little worried that I'd be petrified of going into the water with the sharks but I didn't have even a lick of fear. The sharks are obviously curious about we monkey folks in the cage - why would they stick around if they weren't?
They certainly did not make any attempts to harm us and I didn't hesitate to hang my arms out of the cage to hold my camera for a better picture. That said, I wasn't stupid - - - no dangling legs over the side of the cage, for example.
Final Tally on how many hours I dove - - 15.5 hours!
My favorite Martin Graf quote - Sharks are like babies. There are only two types of items to a shark -- things that fit in their mouth and things that might.
The basic concept behind any successful invasive species culling effort is to create a marketplace for the species. It's not a new idea, and it's one that's been floating around for a while now.
Watching the reaction to our post on Facebook and within the dive industry was telling. Overwhelmingly folks got it, unfortunately LionErects TM is just an idea.
Which gets us to an earlier post about shark conservations need for funding, and the idea of generating funds not seeking funds. We can do this.
Tapping into established markets is an easy proposition and one that allows entities to enjoy long running revenue bases to work from.
In a perfect world the profits from one conservation effort fuels another.
LionErects TM is the perfect idea and business model to tackle a fish species that is devastating entire reef systems throughout the Caribbean. The other option is for some NGO to seek funds so they can pay fishermen to harvest lionfish with no real or lasting market incentive to do so.
Which model do you think will ultimately be successful in culling the lionfish invasion?
It's not magic folks. It's just business. Conservation needs to become engaged in the business world soon, or forever be on the back burner. We can only get so far with the programs in play today.
Tomorrow's answer to conservation will look a lot different.
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Nigel Barker, supporter and spokesperson for Shark-Free Marinas, is being nominated for a VH1 Do-Something award for his work on our recent PSA and non-profit advocacy. If he wins he'll have a chance to talk about wildlife and shark issues on VH1 National Television. Please help help him out and cast your vote.
So I need your vote!!!! Last year I was nominated for the first time for a Do Something award in the Style category and I lost to my dear friend and fellow judge Tyra…… BUT I have been nominated again for my work as a United Nation’s Foundation Ambassador for Girl Up and for my work with the Humane Society Of The United States, specifically for my work on the Protect Shark campaign ( Last year it was Protect Seal campaign) You need to go to the Do Something Awards page and vote (for me..!) for your winner in the STYLE category and check out the other categories while your there. The Do Something organization are truly marvelous and I have been an admirer of their work for several years. I actually shot an ad campaign for them a couple of years back too. Their mantra is simple – don’t just talk about it but DO SOMETHING! They actively seek out and support young people the world over who are changing not only their lives but their communities and sometimes the world at large. Now is your time to do something…. for me…wait did I just say that? Most importantly cast you vote for the Do Something nominees who are out their motivating us all to make a difference
More info about the awards and the event click here
Thursday, August 18, 2011 @ 9/8c Location: Los Angeles, California
DoSomething.org and VH1 have once again partnered to present The Do Something Awards to honor young people’s commitment to social change. The Do Something Awards will be taped at the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles and premiere Thursday, August 18th, 2011 at 9/8c on VH1. Emmy and Golden Globe winner Jane Lynch will return to host the star-studded Do Something Awards telecast for a second year.
Additional announcements regarding celebrity attendees and contest finalists will be forthcoming. Taping on August 14th, 2011, this year’s VH1 Do Something Awards are executive produced by Michael Dempsey and Lee Rolontz for VH1. Nancy Lublin and Naomi Hirabayashi oversee the awards show for DoSomething.org.
The final five nominees and grant recipients were announced Monday, May 23, 2011 during a star-studded DoSomething.org event at B.B King Blues Club in New York City. Each nominee was honored for his or her commitment to social action with a community grant of $10,000. Of these five nominees, Do Something, Inc. with the help of your votes will select a grand prize winner which will receive a $100,000 grant for his or her cause during the live VH1 broadcast of the ceremony at the Hollywood Palladium.
Since 1996, DoSomething.org has honored the nation’s best world-changers, ages 25 and under. The Do Something Award is the premiere national award for social action. Nominees and winners represent the pivotal “do-ers” in their field, cause, or issue.
DoSomething.org is one of the largest organizations in the US that helps youth rock causes they care about. A driving force in creating a culture of volunteerism, DoSomething.org is on track to get two million young people involved by 2011. By utilizing the web, television, mobile, and pop culture, DoSomething.org inspires, empowers and celebrates a generation of doers: young people who recognize the need to do something, believe in their ability to get it done, and take action. Plug in at www.DoSomething.org.
The official hashtag for the Do Something Awards is: #DSAwards
In 2011 Shark Diver and our film and television team at Shark Divers was asked to tackle a technically challenging commercial shark production by one of the largest ad agencies in the world BBDO.
Over the years we have come to be known within the film and television community as the company that successfully pulls off challenging and unique productions with sharks. From Mythbusters to "walking on water with sharks," our teams always look at shark environment in new and trulyunique ways to keep audiences interested and engaged.
That's not to say we take the animals we are fortunate enough to work with for granted, or treat sharks as just props. In fact the animals welfare, and the entire production design, starts and ends with the sharks.
We have turned down countless productions that fail to meet or exceed our policies towards sharks in this game there is only one way to do shark productions. Safely.
We are one of the few shark production companies that have designed a shark production protocol that has been approved and adopted by the American Humane Association.
In this behind the scenes look from Gillette you can see the entire team in action. There's no room for error and everyone works in tandem with professional speed and direction.
This recent commercial is now on nation wide television, seen in every market in the U.S and was featured at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year.
This one seem different, and it also involves Rob Stewart. His film Sharkwater was the first of what became many shark conservation films, and dare we say it proposed a white hot idea. That all of us had the power to make a difference and as we well know ideas are dangerous things.
The past three years since Sharkwater has seen a profusion of shark conservation groups and one shark conservation victory after another.
Congratulations Rob and Co, we'll be watching your space for good things to come.
Over the years Shark Divers has worked with a number of outstanding film and television productions on shark shows that have ranged from Discovery Channel to Ushia Natural History.
We have also turned down many shark productions like Endemol's "Killer Shark Live" at Isla Guadalupe for reasons that ran the gamut from poor production value to the actual name of the show.
This year we have been busy once again on a series of shark productions in the Bahamas, most notably a Gillette commercial that involved a huge crew and a boatload of dignitaries from the Bahamas Film Commission. Getting to meet the "Queen of Productions," Donna Mackey in person and wrangling sharks together on the back deck was one of the many highlights of this amazing shoot.
When we got the call months ago with a "kernel of a commercial idea," it intrigued me.
How do you produce a main stream commercial that involves live sharks that is scientifically accurate, and commercially valid at the same time, without going over the edge into territory reserved for the moniker Shark Porn?
This was the challenge, additionally we wanted this high value production to benefit a local community as well, so we chose the Bahamas as the target site for shooting. In the end this production bought out 3/4 of a local resort to stage from, and involved many levels of the Bahamian government who had never seen a shark production in action and who were also very interested in the value of a live shark. They joined us on our last day of production to see how a production with sharks was done in the Bahamas.
The commercial value of a shark to ongoing conservation has been talked about a lot recently with several first rate studies coming out on the subject. The Bahamas just recently recognized this and declared all of the Bahamas a Shark Sanctuary a stunning development, but when presented with industry figures of a valuation of $80 million a year for live sharks you can see why.
Often left out of this discussion are film and television productions that drop many millions of dollars into local communities, keeping local business alive, and none more than the Bahamas West End on Grand Bahama, which has seen tough times as of late.
The Production
We always work with the same small production group and we tend to tackle projects that are technically challenging and at the same time exciting to work on. The premise for the Gillette commercial is absolutely "tongue in cheek," it's in the same vein as a recent commercials featuring white sharks and Snickers bars, or white sharks and Nicorette gum. The answer to the question of Shark Porn is to produce a commercial that is based in humor. The outrageous notion of two guys shaving in shark cages with one of them cutting themselves, is so far out there you discount it, until you see the actual sharks. That's the hook.
We were gearing up to do a live shoot and as the old saying goes, "never work with children or animals." You have to rely on the animals to be at the right place at the right time with the right conditions to make it happen. Sometimes it does not, and we know this first hand.
You can watch the Behind the Scenes Reel from this shoot and see the dedication and seriousness we all put into this production. It was always "go time" on the back deck while we were out there.
You also have to have the right crew in place, because there's no way a shoot like this involving as many folks mixing it up with large, wild, sharks has any room for "mistakes," and we take shark diving seriously.
After a decade in this game we remain "shark accident" free and it's one of the reasons productions seek us out time and again. I must say our DP was also one of the best in the field. Johnny Friday is based in La Paz, Mexico and shoots RED, and he's simply amazing. With the time we had on site he utilized every second and got every shot, he also one of the nicest commercial guys I have had the pleasure to work with.
We also had Luke Tipple on site as overall production manager and as one of the talent for this shoot. Luke is a marine biologist, and has been the driving force behind the Shark-Free Marinas Initiative, a conservation effort for sharks supported by the Humane Society, the Guy Harvey Institute, Slash from Guns n Roses and a host of fine folks from all over the shark conservation spectrum.
Day one saw as many as nine Tigers on site, and no Lemon sharks. This, as turned out, was too much of a good thing. By pure coincidence another shark boat three miles away was shooting a Spanish speaking documentary, we knew this after Johnny came up with his underwater comm gear and said, " I hear some guy talking about sharks in Spanish." It became evident that we had his Tigers and he had our Lemon sharks and both groups were in a mini shark purgatory.
Frankly, I am o.k with nine well behaved Tiger sharks on a shark production, but for this one, we needed Lemon sharks and lot's of them. As I like to tell folks on shark trips, "tomorrow is another day."
It was.
Day two was everything we had hoped it would be, thanks to Scotty and crew on the M/V Kate who kept our animals interested overnight, we acquired some 20 Lemon sharks the next day and that, with the Tigers, gave us the limited window we needed for the shoot. But time was running out as a boatload of Bahamian dignitaries was going to arrive that afternoon with the Vice President of BBDO, one of the largest advertising agencies on the planet who was paying for this.
We had to get busy and all we needed were sharks interested in cages.
It took time for the animals to "season up" to the two cages we had dropped the previous day, and as far as chumming we ended up using 20% of the total allotment we had on site. The idea was to appear as natural as this impossible scene could, and that meant limited chum. In fact we had submitted a complete shark site protocol written by Luke Tipple to the American Humane Association which they signed off on. No sharks were to be harmed in any way on this shoot, that meant animals getting into cages, caught on rigging, or any manner of production abuse to the wildlife.
We stand by that at Shark Diver, we're here for the animals first and foremost and it has always been the case.
It was the afternoon when the pure magic happened. For whatever reason, the current, the animals, our team pulled off the extraordinary and we got into a amazing rhythm of animals approaching myself on the back deck and then peeling off to investigate the crew on the seafloor with the cages. This fantastic production scene went on for two hours delivering everything we needed, just in time for Donna Mackey's arrival and her boatload of Bahamians who watched with some fascination at the scene unfolding in front of them.
I have wanted to spend some quality time with Donna on a professional level for several years, ever since we met her briefly in 2006 on a shoot. Donna is Bahamas Film, if you need anything to make your shoot work she is your go-to gal, and the reason why the Bahamas works so well for film productions involving sharks.
She and I ended up wrangling a few sharks on the back deck while we chatted about productions with sharks in the Bahamas and how, one day, the Bahamas might in fact become a Shark Sanctuary, that day has come, and it is thanks in part to the value of live sharks to the Bahamian community.
The final shark commercial is now on national television and we like it. It's a fine line that you tread when you get involved in shark productions. But over the years we have managed to tread that line well, and often, and this commercial is one in a series of shark productions you'll be seeing from us as time moves forward.
As for the crew, I have to say once again guys, from Scotty and the M/V Kate with Blue Iguana Charters, to Luke, Moondog, Johhny, and the L.A based production staff who were top notch, it's been an amazing few years doing magic with you, let's do it all again.
Strange though it may sound to folks who know white sharks, apparently the Seychelles gov has proof that a recent well documented shark attack was that of a great white.
