Marie Tartar has posted some great pictures and written a blog about her recent trip to Guadalupe Island with us.Cage diving, swimming with sharks, shark diving, at Isla Guadalupe. experience a real shark weekOn her FB page she writes. “Just when you t…
Just how rough a life do Great White Sharks have? We have talked about the amazing healing power of these amazing animals here and it looks like they really need that ability to heal. Chugey, the shark we were talking about in that blog, is back at Gua…
We have seen an unusual number of sharks with fresh bite marks at Guadalupe Island this season. It seems like most sharks, over about 12 ft long have some kind of new bite marks on their bodies. Chugey has another nice bite to his head, a new shark’s f…
On our recent expedition to Guadalupe Island, we had a couple of talented amateur photographers on board. Kyle and Tiffany Chapman. They documented their “real shark week” with these pictures, all taken with a Gopro!As you can see, the sharks have been…
We just finished our second trip and the action continued, where it left off on the last trip. A lot of familiar faces are back at Guadalupe. Our boys, Don Julian, Horizon, Kenric, Geoff Nuttall Mike, Drogin Thor and Micks are all back and Lamini, a little female from last season was also around. We counted a total of 15 named sharks, along with 4 new ones and a few we haven’t identified yet.
There seems to be a lot of fighting going on at Guadalupe right now. Many sharks are sporting brand new bite marks. I saw Horizon take a big chunk out of a bigger sharks head, which is very unusual, since the hierarchy is usually established based on size. (we haven’t identified the bigger shark yet) Chuggy, who we talked about last season, having recovered from a nasty bite to his head, came by with some very fresh bite marks on his face. The big gash from 2 seasons ago, is now just visible as a black scar.
With all that fighting going on, I hope that those idiots who dive outside the cages, thinking the sharks are accepting them as one of their own, are wrong. I have seen, what those sharks do to smaller sharks and those guys would indeed be very, very small sharks.
Oh, did I mention that the sharks got close?
We are just about to board another group of divers. I will update you on our season, when we get back in 5 days.
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 sharkcrew@gmail.com.
We just came back from our first expedition to Guadalupe Island. It was, what can I say, phenomenal!. We saw over 20 different sharks, with both familiar and new faces. I’m happy to say that Jacques, Bite Face, Johnny, Thor, Squire, Gunther and #148 are all back, safe and sound.
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| Jacques and Criss Cross |
Criss Cross, who we haven’t seen in a few years also showed up, missing a big chunk of flesh, in the right pelvic area, but the injury seems fully healed. These sharks seem to have a rough live, but their healing ability is absolutely remarkable.
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| Criss Cross with new mutilation. |
After a flat calm crossing to the Island, the action was non stop on day one. Bite Face and Gunther competing for who can his picture taken more often. One diver ended up taking 7000 pictures in one day!!!
Gunther also showed a new and unusual behavior for a white shark. He came up to the cage, very slowly and proceeded to bite the cage in various places. He was going in slow motion and though it didn’t seem to be a predatory kind of biting, it is just another reminder, that it is definitely a good thing to stay inside the cages, despite what any “expert” says to the contrary.
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| Think being outside is a good idea? |
On day two the action didn’t slow down. It actually got even better. We lost count at 13 different sharks, at least four of them being new individuals, that have not been added to our photo id database.
On our last day, the sharks gave us an unbelievable send off. At least 10 individuals came by to say goodbye to our divers.
We only have a couple of hours, before we leave again on our second “real shark week”. I can’t wait to be back down there and introducing a new group of divers to these magnificent creatures.
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.
A couple of days ago, I wrote about this video, that was taken aboard “our” vessel “Horizon” last November. REMUS SharkCam: The hunter and the hunted from Woods Hole Oceanographic Inst. on Vimeo.This video is part of the Discovery Channels “Shark week”…
Yesterday, we sold the last spaces for this years Great White Shark expeditions to Guadalupe Island.It didn’t take long for our phones to ring, with divers asking us to add another trip to our schedule. So we decided to run another expedition from Nove…
In November of 2013, the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution took “our” vessel “Horizon” to Guadalupe Island to do some research on Great White Sharks.This is a video of the expedition. REMUS SharkCam: The hunter and the hunted from Woods Hole Oceanog…
We always hear about “shark scares” in the media. In Western Australia, the government is conducting a highly controversial shark cull, mostly because of fear that sharks are bad for business.
shark diving, swimming with sharks is fun, cage diving, bull sharks
So I was quite surprise to see this headline “Shark sightings off Cape Cod a boon for tourism“
The East Valley Tribune writes “ In “Jaws,” the fictional mayor tried to protect the summer tourism season by keeping a lid on reports of the man-eater lurking offshore. As sightings of great white sharks mount off Cape Cod in real life, however, businesses in the Massachusetts town of Chatham are embracing the frenzy.”
Maybe the Western Australia government should visit Chatham Mass. and talk to their businesses. They would hear that instead of the great white sharks scaring tourists away, they actually attract them.
Shark T-shirts are everywhere, “Jaws” has been playing in local theaters and boat tours are taking more tourists out to see the huge seal population that keeps the sharks coming. Harbormasters have issued warnings but — unlike the sharks in the movies — the great whites generally are not seen as a threat to human swimmers.
No sensational headlines, no mass hysteria, no loss of business. Why don’t we see more of this kind of reporting in the media?
A local business man is quoted as saying: “I mean, truthfully, we’ve probably grown about 500 percent in terms of the sale of our shark apparel,” he said. The T-shirts, hoodies, hats, belts, dog collars and other accessories bear the iconic, torpedo-shaped image of great whites and sell for between $10 and $45.
Read the entire article here
It’s nice to see that an entire community has been embracing the great white sharks and found a way to use them to their benefit. This is an example, how humans and nature can benefit from each other. The people have a booming economy and the sharks don’t get culled. Are you listening, Western Australia?
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.
