Shark Diver : Shark Diving : Swimming With Sharks

How do we identify the Great White Sharks?

2021-07-29T10:27:00.004-07:00

We have over 370 individual Great White Shark identified at Guadalupe Island. The Marine Conservation Science Institute has been keeping track of these awesome animals since 2001.

Lets look at what makes these unique and the methods we use to identify them. The first thing we determine is the sex of the sharks. Male sharks have claspers and Females don't.

Female Shark, no claspers

Male shark, claspers

Once we know the sex of the shark, we look at the pattern of the transition from the white belly to the grey top. This transition is like a fingerprint. We primarily look at 3 different areas of the Shark. The gills, pelvic area, and the tail.

Lets look at this picture of a Great White Shark and identify it.

First we need to determine the sex of the shark. So lets take a closer look at the pelvic area. We can see that there are no claspers, so it is a female.

No claspers, = female shark.

Now that we know that is a female, we look through our database and try to match up the color pattern to the females we have in our database.

#262, Deb

I think we found a match #262, Deb, looks like a perfect match. What if we are not convinced? In that case we look at another area. How about the gills?

Left is our photo, right is our databese

As you can see, the color pattern on the gills matches as well, so we have a confirmed match. The shark in our picture is #262 "Deb"

Aside from the color pattern, we also look for mutilations. We have previously talked about the amazing healing ability of our sharks here, so we have to be careful to not use regular injuries as a sole means of identification. Here is a picture of"Bruce" with a big bite from another shark.

Just a year later, he barely showed any sign of that injury.

Unlike flesh-wounds, mutilations are permanent. We have many sharks that have some unique mutilations, like the famous "Lucy" with her mangled tail.

Lucy

However, even with mutilations we have to be careful. There are multiple sharks who may have similar mutilations, so we still have to make sure that we positively identify those sharks. At Guadalupe, "Andy", "Chugey", "Tzitzimitl", and "Cori B" all have the top of their tail missing

There are other mutilations, like missing pieces of a pectoral, pelvic, or dorsal fin that can all be used as a preliminary identification, but like mentioned above, it's never a sole means and always has to be confirmed by looking at the color pattern.

Many people, especially on social media are using "birth marks", black spots on typically the white belly of the shark, to identify the sharks. Those are actually not birth marks at all, but rather copepods, a parasite that can move around and may disappear from a shark, so they are not a good way to identify our sharks.

"Tzitzimitl" with copepods.

All of our divers receive a copy of the entire Photo ID Database witch contains every shark we have identified at Guadalupe Island.

Now that you know how to identify the sharks, you are ready to come shark diving with us. How great will it be when you watch "Shark Week" the next time and you're able to say "this is the shark that swam right by me". Our goal is not to simply get you face to face with Great White Sharks, but to also share everything we know about all the individual sharks we encounter. Some individuals we have known for 21 years and watched the grow from "little" 12 footers to well over 16 feet.

Some of our trips are hosted by Nicole Nasby-Lucaas, the scientist who keeps the database, where she shares her vast knowledge from years of researching Guadalupe's Great White Sharks with our divers.

Call us at 619.887.4275 or email crew@sharkdiver.com for more information on our expeditions.

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.

Special Great White Shark Expedition to Guadalupe Island.

2021-06-23T15:40:00.000-07:00

Shark Diver is excited to announce that we will have a very special expedition to Guadalupe Island this fall. From Sept. 8-13 we will have both Nicole Nasby-Lucas, the scientist responsible for the Guadalupe Photo ID database and Tanya Houppermans, a world renowned underwater photographer on board.

Nicole Nasby-Lucas

Nicole has been studying the white sharks of Guadalupe Island, Mexico since 2001. Her research includes satellite tagging and tracking studies to examine migration patterns and behavior. She also manages the Guadalupe Island white shark photo-ID program and maintains a database of all sharks sighted at Guadalupe Island since 1999. The photo-ID program is important for tracking the visitation patterns of individual sharks as well as monitoring the overall status of the population. By using the unique coloration of these sharks, she’s been able to identify over 360 individuals to date. This project started in 2001 and some of these sharks have been seen every year since. All of this research is crucial for the management and conservation of northeastern Pacific white sharks.

All our guests will receive a copy of the official Guadalupe Shark Photo ID database. How awesome would it be if you can say "this is the shark that swam right next to me" the next time you watch Shark Week?

Tanya Houppermans is a world renowned underwater photographer and conservationist best known for her images depicting the grace and beauty of sharks.

Tanya Houppermans

A former mathematician and research operations analyst, she left the corporate world behind in 2015 to concentrate full time on conservation after learning that over 70 million sharks are killed every year with many species being on the verge of extinction. Her articles and images have been published around the world, and she is the recipient of several prestigious awards for her photography including her photo "Harmony" which won:

First Place awards in the ‘Sharks’ category in the World Shootout in 2017, First Place in the ‘Portrait’ category in the Underwater Photographer of the Year competition, and the Grand Prize in the California Academy of Sciences Big Picture Natural World Photography Competition.

"Harmony"

A prominent public speaker, Tanya has shared her experiences in the underwater world with international audiences in locations such as Singapore, Shanghai, Paris, and Washington D.C. She is actively involved in cutting-edge shark research and helped to develop the citizen science program Spot A Shark USA to study sand tiger shark populations along the east coast of the Unites States. Tanya can be seen in the program ‘Shark Gangs’ that highlights her work with the sand tiger sharks of North Carolina as part of National Geographic’s SharkFest 2021.

Sand Tiger aggregation

On our expedition Tanya will share her vast knowledge of underwater photography, giving tips and advise to our guest as well as talk about her work in conservation.

Having both Nicole and Tanya on board will give our guests the unique opportunity to get to know our sharks, some of which we have known for over 20 years now, participate in the research and learn how to take awesome pictures and videos or our toothy "friends".

We only have a limited number of spaces left on this special expedition. Call us at 619.887.4275 or email crew@sharkdiver.com for more info.

Let's go shark diving!

Cheers,

Martin Graf

CEO Shark Diver

Guadalupe Great White Sharks in danger.

2020-08-07T09:23:00.001-07:00

I started SCUBA diving and spear-fishing at Guadalupe Island in 1996, 5 years before we started shark diving there. It is during that time that we discovered the Great White Sharks that are aggregating at there. At first it was just the occasional encounter, mainly while spear-fishing, but over the years those encounters grew in frequency and it was not unheard of to see a GWS while SCUBA diving.

My first encounter with a GWS happened at the south end of Guadalupe, while working as a divemaster, watching some divers. I noticed something moving behind me and when I turned I was face to face with a Great White Shark. It calmly swam by me, continued away from me for about 100' or so and slowly turned around, swimming right back towards me and passing just inches from my body. Strangely, it was not a scary experience, but rather a "wow!" kind of moment. It wasn't at all what I expected from seeing a GWS up close and personal and it started my love for (some people might say my obsession with) these awesome animals.

In 2001 we started our first season of cage diving at Guadalupe. At the time the Island was not a biosphere and there were no rules and regulations regarding diving with sharks and even fishing for Great White Sharks was legal. The operators of the cage diving boats got together and created the Guadalupe Island Conservation Fund, a non profit organization with the goal of helping create protections for the sharks and fund research that is critical for their protection.

In 2003 a young graduate student by the name of Mauricio Hoyos started studying the sharks at Guadalupe. He was living on the Island for 3 months at a time and the shark diving boats supported him with money, supplies as well as a hot meal and warm bed for the night when we were at the Island. Of course the world now knows him as Dr. Hoyos from various shark programs on TV as he continues to do research at Guadalupe.

In 2005 Guadalupe Island became a biosphere, the equivalent of a national park in the US. That designation allowed the government to establish rules and regulations for using the Island and also created revenues from the sale of permits for the boats and entrance fees for everyone visiting the Island. Every year thousands of shark enthusiasts visit Guadalupe to admire these animals up close and personal. The popularity of the White Sharks, combined with the typically crystal clear waters at the Island, have established Guadalupe as the premier White Shark diving site in the world. Numerous TV programs filmed there also made Guadalupe a household word for anyone watching Shark Week or Nat. Geo's Shark Fest on TV.

It wasn't until 2007 that the Great White Shark became a protected species in all of Mexico. Unfortunately, the enforcement of that ban was difficult, since there is only a small naval detachment at the south end of Guadalupe and poachers were still trying to catch these sharks. During the early years of the ban on White Shark fishing the shark diving boats "discouraged" more than a few boats that were illegally targeting these sharks. Over the years, the wannabe poachers have learned that they can't easily get away with poaching at Guadalupe because all the shark boats were keeping a watchful eye on the area.

That brings us to the present. Because of covid-19 the Island has been closed. That means that right now, with the Great White Shark aggregation season underway, there is no deterrent for any poacher that wants to kill these sharks. We already know from other locations like the Galapagos where a Chinese fishing trawler poached 300 tons of fish and Fiji, where poachers used the covid-19 shutdown of the shark diving activities to go and poach in the Shark Reef Marine Reserve, that when there is no effective barrier for illegal fishing, that the poachers have free reign.

Can you imagine what would happen if a Chinese fishing vessel is targeting the Great White Sharks at Guadalupe? Fins from Great White Sharks are highly prized and that is without the value of the jaws and teeth that can fetch as much as $1k PER TOOTH! An action like this could wipe out the entire population of Great White Sharks at Guadalupe in a week!

For me these sharks are more than just another fish. Over the last 20 years of diving with them, I've gotten attached to not only Great White Sharks in general, but to numerous individuals, some of which I've seen every year since 2001. Lucy, Chugey, Scarboard, Tzitzimitl, Bruce, Geoff Nuttal, Luca Arnone, Slash Fin, Screaming Mimi, Crazy Tryss, Mau, Jacques, Thor etc. etc. I worry about them.

We have over 360 individual Great White Sharks in our database that is maintained by Nicole Lucas from the Marine Conservation Science Institute That database is maintained with photos from the cage divers and Shark Diver even has 4 trips a year that are specifically designed as a fund raiser to help keep that database up to date.

We hope that the Mexican authorities will reopen the Guadalupe biosphere as soon as safely possible, so that we can go out there once more and keep and eye on our sharks. Their lives may literally depend on it!

Cheers,

Martin Graf

CEO Shark Diver

Introducing "Luca Arnone" a subadult Great White Shark at Guadalupe

2020-04-23T10:11:00.002-07:00

In our continuing effort to bring the sharks to you while we are all confined to our homes, let me introduce you to Luca Arnone. He is listed as #163 in our photo ID database at Guadalupe Island. We first met him in 2013 and he has been coming back every year since.

A few years ago "Luca" looked a bit rough. He was partially wrapped in a thick rope, which fortunately was being removed by Dr. Mauricio Hoyos, the local researcher at Guadalupe Island. The cut caused by the rope was not too deep and since white sharks have an amazing ability to heal, it did not cause him any permanent harm. When he swam by me last year, his injury was barely noticeable, with just a faint black mark remaining.

"Luca" was a fairly small shark when we first met him, probably just shy of 12', but he didn't seem to mind the bigger sharks and was a frequent visitor to our cages. He has grown quite a bit in the last seven years but hasn't lost his active behavior. He is still as curious as ever and exhibits a fairly dominant behavior, even towards bigger sharks.

Luca was named by one of our divers, who named 2 different sharks, one after his son, Luca and the other after his daughter Milana. Naming a shark is one way our divers support the ongoing research at Guadalupe Island. The Marine Science Conservation Institute, "MCSI" who maintains the photo ID has various levels of sponsorship available, including naming a shark.

Our divers can also support the research by letting "MCSI" use their pictures to update the Photo ID database.

If you want to find out for yourself what it's like to come face to face with a great white shark once this virus crisis is over and maybe name one of these sharks, come join us on one of our expeditions. We do have some spaces open and would love to introduce you to our sharks.

Call 619.887.4275, email crew@sharkdiver.com or visit www.sharkdiver.com for more information.

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 crew@sharkdiver.com.

Introducing Slash Fin, an iconic Great White Shark at Guadalupe Island

2020-04-15T10:53:00.000-07:00

Continuing to introduce you to the Great White Sharks of Guadalupe Island during our coronavirus quarantine, I'd like you to meet "Slash Fin", #213 in our Photo ID database. She is a very active shark, swimming around normally and exhibiting all the typical white shark behaviors.

There is however something very different about this shark. Aside from a big lump on her side, she only has 3 visible gill plates on her left side. When looked at from the top, the left side of her head is pretty straight, while the right side curves out around her gills. It doesn't look like she is getting much water through her left side gills either and she seems to be breathing mainly through her right side gills.

Check out the video below. Aside from a nice bite injury she has, there are only 3 visible gill plates.

When you look closely, you can see that she has 5 gill slits, but 2 of her gills are completely covered by another gill plate. The bite on her gills has nothing to do with this oddity, since she has looked this way since we first met her and the injury is new.

Aside from her gills, she also has a deformed dorsal fin, with the trailing edge looking all ragged. It could be due to an injury, but I don't see an obvious signs of a trauma there.

On her right side, just behind and below her dorsal fin, she has a growth that is sticking out at least 6 inches. Is it a tumor, or is something embedded in her body?

Watch the video below and check out that growth for yourself.

Slash fin is a subadult female and about 13' in lenght. Despite her deformities, she doesn't exhibit any signs of distress and seems to be doing well.

The longer I dive with these sharks, the more I'm amazed by the new things we discover and learn about them. Are her deformities genetic? Is it a birth defect? Or....? I don't know, I'm just reporting my observations. Any scientists out there want to take a look at this?

Once we leave this coronavirus behind us, come and join us on one of our expeditions to Guadalupe Island and meet our sharks face to face.

Contact us at 619.887.4275 or crew@sharkdiver.com for more info.

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 crew@sharkdiver.com.

Introducing Screaming Mimi, a very unique Great White Shark at Guadalupe Island

2020-04-08T11:57:00.000-07:00

During our confinement at home due to the coronavirus, we are introducing you to a few of our favorite characters you might meet when you visit Guadalupe Island through a series of blogs. Today we'd like you to meet "Screaming Mimi"!

At Shark Diver, our goal is to not just take you to Guadalupe to see some Great White Sharks, we want you to get to know these awesome creatures individually. They all have different character traits and behaviors. How awesome would it be when the next time you watch shark week you can say "this is the shark that swam right next to me!"? So that you can identify the individual sharks when you come home from your trip, every one of our divers will receive a copy of our Photo ID to take home.

We met "Screaming Mimi" a couple of years ago. When I first encountered her, I nicknamed her "Kinky". She has a very distinct kink in her tail. I have no idea what caused that kink, since she doesn't have any obvious scars or signs of injury. She was named "Screaming Mimi" by someone through the "Sponsor a shark" program of the Marine Conservation Science Institute. That sponsor program is one of the ways they raise funds for the Photo ID database at Guadalupe Island.

Mimi is a very active and curious shark. When she encounters something new in the water, she exhibits a typical white shark trait. Unlike what most people think, white sharks don't just attack when they encounter something they don't know. They swim by close to check it out. It is actually quite funny some times. A couple of years ago, a beach towel blew overboard and started to drift down. 3 white sharks came by to investigate it. 2 of them jerked away and rapidly swam away when the towel moved a little in the current. The 3rd. one kept swimming close to it, jerking away, and getting closer again. I don't know if it eventually bit the towel or not, as I lost sight of both the shark and the towel in the distance.

Watch the video below of Mimi checking out my GoPro camera that was attached to a long pole and handled from the boat.

You can see that they don't just attack something they don't know. The swim by and check things out first.

Screaming Mimi ©Tim Peterson

Mimi also likes to swim really close to the cages and makes eye contact with the divers.

Mimi is around 14' long and not quite mature yet. It is amazing how big these sharks have to be, before they are mature and able to reproduce.

I hope we'll see her again this year. She loves to swim around the cages, sometimes for hours. It never ceases to amaze me that we keep seeing the same individual sharks year after year. It's not like they are resident sharks. They migrate thousands of miles each year but come right back to the same spot at Guadalupe Island.

If you want to come face to face with a great white shark and would like to learn how to identify these sharks, join us on one of our "science" expeditions. We do have some spaces open and would love to introduce you to our sharks.

Call 619.887.4275, email crew@sharkdiver.com or visit www.sharkdiver.com for more information.

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 crew@sharkdiver.com.

Introducing "Chugey" an iconic Great White Shark at Guadalupe Island.

2020-04-06T09:52:00.002-07:00

Since most of us are still staying at home during this corona crisis, I'll continue to bring some "shark joy" to everyone by introducing you to our great white sharks at Guadalupe. Today I'd like you to meet Chugey. He is one of the iconic sharks at Guadalupe. We first encountered him in 2004 and he's been regularly sighted ever since. One of his characteristics is his cut caudal (tail) fin. It pretty much resembles the tail of an airplane, with a flat top.

Chugey is a very active shark, to say the least. Being cautious doesn't seem to factor into his actions. He's had numerous injuries throughout the years, but seems to be just fine despite of it.

Just how rough a life does he have? We have talked about the amazing healing power of these amazing Great White Sharks here and it looks like they really need that ability to heal. Chugey, the shark we were talking about in that blog, was back at Guadalupe Island in 2018 and it looked like that he hadn't gotten any more careful since he got his face bit the first time. While his original wound closed quite nicely, he was sporting some brand new bite marks.

As a reminder, here is what he looked like 2 years earlier.

Here is what he looked like with his old scar and new bite marks.

This is another picture of Chugey, taken by one of our divers, Marie Tartar.

It's great to see him back at Guadalupe every year, acting like nothing happened. I continue to be blown away by both their ability to heal and never showing any signs of discomfort or indication that they are in pain, when swimming around with severe bite injuries.

Once this corona virus pandemic is over in the fall, we are heading back to Guadalupe Island for our 20th season of diving with our Great White Sharks. Nicole Nasby-Lucas, who is the person responsible for our photo ID database, will be coming out with us on 4 of our expeditions. Thanks to her database, we can individually identify the sharks and also have a history of when they visited Guadalupe Island. In 2019 we added over 60 new sharks and are now over 360 individuals that have been sighted since we first started diving there in 2001.

How many new sharks will we encounter this season? I can't wait to get back there and find out.


What will he be named?

If you would like more information on our expeditions once this corona virus pandemic is over, Call 619.887.4275 or email us at crew@sharkdiver.com

Hopefully soon we'll be able to once again say "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 crew@sharkdiver.com.

Introducing "Crazy" Tryss, a very unique Great White Shark at Guadalupe Island

2020-04-05T09:54:00.003-07:00

Continuing to introduce you to the Great White Sharks at Guadalupe Island during this coronavirus crisis, I'd like you to meet "Crazy" Tryss. Thanks to Nicole Lucas from the Marine Conservation Science Institute, we have a way to identify and keep a record of all the sharks seen at Guadalupe Island. This is how we know that on one of our 2018 expeditions we encountered a record-breaking 52 different individuals, including a whopping 16 sharks that have not been previously identified. This shattered our previous record of 34 individuals seen on a single trip.

It was not just the number of sharks we encountered that was unusual, it was also the behavior of one of the new sharks. Meet "Tryss", or crazy Tryss as I like to call her! Tryss displayed a very unusual behavior for a Great White Shark. She came to the cages multiple times, without any bait attracting her, sticking her nose into it, bumping the boat and squeezing through narrow gaps. She did all that in slow motion, never freaking out like other sharks would, when they touch the cage, keeping her eyes open, totally aware of her surroundings.

Check out the pictures and videos of her.

"Tryss" coming between the cages and the boat.

"Tryss" sticking her nose into the cage.

Checking out the boat.

Sticking her nose into the cage.

Hello there!

Hey, anyone up there?

See ya guys!

In 18 years of diving with these amazing animals, I have never witnessed a shark behave quite like this. It just goes to show that they will never stop surprising you. That's why I love my job and am completely fascinated by these awesome creatures.

Shark Diver proudly supports the Marine Conservation Science Institute through our MCSI hosted expeditions. Joining us on one of these expeditions is a great way to learn about our sharks and support the research at the same time. Maybe you'll even get to name a shark, like the ones who named "Tryss" in 2018.

Once this coronavirus crisis is over and we are free to travel again, let's go shark diving!

For more information, visit www.sharkdiver.com, email crew@sharkdiver.com, or call 619.887.4275

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 crew@sharkdiver.com.

Introducing Bruce, one of the biggest male Great White Sharks at Guadalupe.

2020-04-02T07:36:00.000-07:00

Continuing to bring you some positivity during our home confinement due to the Coronavirus, I want to introduce you to "Bruce", another regular Great White Shark at Guadalupe Island. Bruce has been around since we started shark diving at Guadalupe in 2001. When we first encountered him, he was just a "little" teenager, probably not much longer than 11-12'. Of course we had no idea that we would see him year after year and that he would grow into one of the larger males at the Island. He is now on the north side of 16' and one of the dominant shark at the site. Despite his size, he is one of the more mellow sharks around. He keeps swimming around with, what seems to be, a grin that looks like he stole something and got away with it.

Bruce saying hello to Whitney, one of our divers!

Bruce is also the shark who got me interested in shark research. I have to admit, that reading scientific papers held about as much excitement to me as watching grass grow. It simply wasn't my thing. When Dr. Domeier tagged Bruce with a satellite transmitter and used some of the data it produced for his paper on white shark migration, Nicole Nasby-Lucas, who works with Dr. Domeier and is responsible for the Guadalupe photo ID database, gave me a copy of the research paper. I started reading it, and realized that this paper was not just a research paper, but more like Bruce's travel journal. It was exciting to find out where he was going, when not at Guadalupe and what he was doing. Who knew that he was vacationing near Hawaii?! I mean, who wouldn't want to vacation there? Did you know that Great White Sharks can go deeper than 3000'? Well, I didn't, until I read that paper.

Even though he is one of the more mellow sharks around, being a great white shark and male, Bruce was not averse to a little fighting here and there. I remember one particular morning. I was just getting into the cages to sort out all the regulators when I noticed some movement behind me. I turned and saw Bruce who looked me straight into the eyes. He sported a huge bite injury, just in front of his gills, with a hole that let me look straight through it and out his mouth. The amazing thing was, it didn't seem to bother him. He just kept swimming around and stayed active, like nothing had happened.

Bruce about a week after the bite.

Just like Chugey, when he came back the following year, his wound was closed and there was barely a scar to indicate that he was ever injured.

Bruce with his closed bite injury.

So that is Bruce.

Since we started shark diving at Guadalupe Island, we have met over 360 different individual sharks. Who is going to be back this year? Who is going to make its first appearance? Hopefully by the time we are ready to go back to Guadalupe, this coronavirus will be a thing of the past and we will find out! Maybe you'll be able to join us and get to meet them up close and personal. They do pose for pictures with you! Next time you watch shark week, you can say, "Hey, I know that guy!"

Hopefully, we will start our expeditions in August. 4 of our trips are research trips. On those trips, you'd get to meet the researcher who knows all about those sharks, Nicole Nasby-Lucas, along with all the rock-star white sharks of Guadalupe Island. Call us at 619.887.4275 or email crew@sharkdiver.com for more information.

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 crew@sharkdiver.com.

Introducing "Scarboard" one of the biggest Great White Sharks at Guadalupe

2020-04-01T07:49:00.000-07:00

"Scarboard" is another one of my favorite sharks. You're probably beginning to see a pattern here. I have a lot of "favorite" sharks. It's is amazing how all these sharks have different behaviors. Some are a bit skittish, others are seemingly relaxed without a care in the world. Observing them for 16 years, I have grown attached to these guys and girls. However, as I always point out, I absolutely love these sharks, I'm crazy about them, but it is NOT a mutual feeling. As much as some people want you to believe that they just want to be hugged, they really don't. They are awesome predators, not out to get us, but they are not harmless pets either.

"Scarboard"

Scarboard is a massive female shark, one of our biggest at Guadalupe Island at around 19'. When we first met her in 2002, she was already huge. As most of our adult females, she shows up at Guadalupe Island every other year. After mating at Guadalupe, she is spending the year in between offshore, before giving birth off the coast of Baja or in the Sea of Cortez. She doesn't have any mutilations, like "Lucy" and so many others, but she does have a very unique characteristic that makes identifying her easy. She has a very distinct line from her nose halfway to her dorsal fin. Where most Great White Sharks' lines have a continuous curve, Scarboard's is straight.

"Scarboard"

After we first encountered her in 2002, she came back in 04 and 06, but then we didn't see her again until 2011. We don't know, if we simply didn't see her, or if she stayed away from Guadalupe for 5 years.

When we don't see a shark during the season we expect to see them, we always worry that something might have happened to them. Luckily, sometimes, like in Scarboard's case, we worry about nothing. Where do they go during that extended time away from the Island, what do they do? There is so much we don't know about those sharks.

The first time we saw Scarboard, after her 5 year absence, I was in the middle of our 2 cages, she slowly swam by the first cage, checking out each individual diver and when she came to me, she looked me straight into the eyes, stopped and did a 180-degree turn, looked at me again, swam off, turned and swam back at me, stopped again, turned and swam off. It looks like that she recognized me, even after a 5-year absence.

2 seasons ago, "Scarboard" was being used for protection by some baitfish. I've never seen anything like that before. When she swam by, she looked like the "Bearded Lady".

Scarboard the "Bearded Lady"

A lot of people are surprised to learn that Great White Sharks recognize individual divers. The fact that they do is not as strange as it seems. We know of lots of fish that recognize divers. Groupers that have a favorite individual they follow around, moray eels that come out of their holes when they recognize a diver, Wolf eels that wrap themselves around the neck of an individual etc. It's important to remember though, just because White Sharks recognize individual divers, doesn't mean that they "love" us, want to be petted, or have any feelings towards us. We need to respect them for what they are, amazing predators, neither mindless killers nor harmless pets.

For me there is nothing quite like seeing a familiar shark and realize it recognizes me as well. It still amazes me that we keep seeing the same individuals on a regular basis. They migrate thousands of miles but come right back to the same spot.

If you want to find out for yourself what it's like to come face to face with a great white shark and want to learn how to identify these sharks, join us on one of our "science" expeditions. We do have some spaces open and would love to introduce you to our sharks.

Call 619.887.4275, email crew@sharkdiver.com or visit www.sharkdiver.com for more information.

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 crew@sharkdiver.com.

Introducing "Lucy", a Great White Shark at Guadalupe Island

2020-03-31T08:46:00.000-07:00

With the coronavirus holding us hostage in our homes, I decided to bring something positive into all of us shark lovers lives and introduce you to some of the sharks at Guadalupe Island.

First up is Lucy! I love "Lucy", and I'm not referring to the popular TV show of the 50ies. "Lucy" is a large female Great White Shark, that is regularly visiting Guadalupe Island. Most mature females are only seen every other year. They mate at Guadalupe Island and then stay away from the Island until after they give birth off the coast of Baja and in the Sea of Cortes, about 18 months after they get pregnant at Guadalupe.

In 2008 she suffered an injury to her tail, most likely from a bite by another shark. Her tail is pretty much mangled and it probably affects her speed. Even though she is definitely a mature female, we saw her every year until 2014, which meant that she didn't get pregnant, since pregnant females stay away from Guadalupe for a season and return every other year. I don't know if the mangled tail was the reason she didn't seem to get pregnant for all those years, but fortunately, she has started showing up every other year since then. Hopefully, this means that she is indeed getting pregnant now. We last saw her in 2018, so hopefully, we'll see her again this fall.

"Lucy's" tail makes it very easy to identify her. Usually we identify the individual sharks by their coloration. The transition from the white underbelly to the grey top is unique for every individual. Some people try to identify the sharks by their scars. That is how "Bite Face" got his name. The problem with scars is that they heal and if that is the only identifying characteristic you have, you would not recognize that same shark when it comes back the following year. Mutilations, like Lucy's tail, don't change and can be used in conjunction with the markings to identify her. We have a photo id database that is managed by Nicole Nasby-Lucas from the Marine Conservation Science Institute, with over 220 individual sharks identified.

If you are coming out on one of our "science" expeditions, you'll get a chance to learn how to identify these sharks from Nicole herself. You will also get the complete photo ID database, so you can identify all the sharks you encountered and what's really cool, you will then be able to identify the sharks you see on TV. How awesome will it be, when you see a shark on TV and realize that this is the individual that swam inches from your face at Guadalupe?

Even with her tail slowing her down, she seems to be healthy in every other way. She is definitely getting enough food and is holding her own among all the sharks at the Island. Lucy is a very curious shark and she swims very closely to the cages, making eye contact with our divers as she is gliding by slowly.

I hope to see Lucy when we return in the fall. She truly is one of my favorites.
If you would like to get more information, call 619.887.4275, email crew@sharkdiver.com or visit our website www.sharkdiver.com

Once this coronavirus allows us to get out of the house again, 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 crew@sharkdiver.com.

How easy is it to dive with Sharks?

2019-12-10T12:15:00.002-08:00

One of the big reasons why people never fulfill their dreams or take a leap of faith to try new things is because they fear the process requires a lot of work. So they throw up their hands and say “Forget it. It’s not worth it.” We are here to tell you that the steps to experiencing an incredible life-changing adventure are easier than you think when you book with Shark Diver. It is our goal to make things simple and smooth as possible. The first step starts with a phone call or email; however you like to communicate.

The minute you connect with us, you have just done the hardest part; deciding that you are going to do something exciting with your life. Now, just let go and we will help you from here.

Gather information on the adventure that you are about to embark upon. There is plenty to know about shark diving. Ask questions. We will answer them and address your concerns. Is it safe? Yes. Do I need to be certified? No. How much does it cost? It varies on the stateroom style, but the starting price is $3095 per person.

You are ready to make the move? What do you do next? Put down a non-refundable $600 deposit per person. We take credit card information right over the phone. If you want to leave a deposit by another method of payment, such as a check or bank transfer, you can. Your spot will be held when we have received payment.

Next, purchase your Medical Evacuation Insurance. Shark Diver partners with AIG Travel Guard and DiveAssure for your convenience. It is mandatory to have this coverage since we are so far out at sea. Both of them include cancellation and trip interruption coverage as well.

Book your hotel accommodations IF you are flying or driving in from out of state and want to rest before and after your shark dive. Our adventure is a live-aboard trip, so no hotel accommodations are necessary if you arrive on the same day as your dive starts. Some people like to arrive a day or more early and stay after to prepare for their journey home. We partner with the Holiday Inn Bayside and Best Western Plus Island Palms which are both in the Point Loma area of San Diego; only 5-7 minutes from San Diego International Airport. Ask for the ‘Shark Diver Discount.’

Make a second payment of $600 by Jan 1st of your dive year and then pay off the full balance by May 15th of that same year. Payment plans are available as well if you want to make smaller payments along the way; monthly, etc.

Make sure your passport is valid and expires at least six months after you return from your shark dive. We do travel to Mexico, so passports are required. If you need to order a passport, allow 6-8 weeks for it to be delivered back to you. Passports can be ordered through your local US Post Office.

If you are driving into San Diego and need to park your car, visit San Diego Airport Parking to find the perfect place to keep your vehicle while you are on your dive. You’ll find competitive rates and the best ways to save time and money.

Now you are ready to go! Pack your bags and prepare for an incredible adventure with Shark Diver. We will send you a suggested packing list. Keep your belongings to a minimum. You will be wearing a wetsuit for half of your trip, so there’s no need to bring the whole closet with you. This trip is casual all the way!

And there you have it; the basic steps to taking an incredibly memorable and life-changing adventure with Shark Diver. If you get nervous, just give me a call. I will walk you through any concerns you may have. Shark Diver’s goal is to ensure that you have a great time. Making it great means smooth sailing from beginning to end.

Let’s go shark diving!

Cindy Michaels
Director of Communications, 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 crew@sharkdiver.com.

Are you an Activist or a Slacktivist?

2019-06-14T09:13:00.001-07:00

What makes a person a real Shark/Ocean Activist/Conservationist? Is it commenting on social media? Is it freediving with a shark, touching it to show how "friendly" these animals are, is it calling anyone who is fishing for sharks names? If you're only doing the things avobe, are you an Activist or a Slacktivist?

Most exchanges on social media happen in an "echo chamber"! If you are commenting on a post in a shark related group, you are not talking to anyone who is not already "saved" and not the ones killing sharks? Do you think that calling out fishermen in those forums is going to change something? You may feel good about other people agreeeing with you and think you really achieved something by telling off a person who in all likelyhood will never even see your comment, but did that really make a difference? Did you really change someones mind?

Real activism involves hard work, doesn't usually yield immediate results and most of the time happens far away from the eyes of the social media conservation groups. Take the example of the lady who keeps freediving with Great White Sharks to "proof" that these animals are harmless and to raise "awareness". How many people, outside of her adoring fans will actually look at those pictures and think the sharks are harmless? Most who don't already love sharks will think "this lady is crazy" or something similar. Besides, is raising awareness really helping to save sharks?

Is this conservation?

Most fishermen don't kill sharks because they hate them or are afraid of them. They kill them for food or money. If we want fishermen to stop fishing for sharks, we have to find alternative ways for them to make a living and feed their families. We always hear that a live shark is worth many times more than a dead one, but WHO is making more money from it? Is it a tourist operation, or do the fishermen themselves profit from the live sharks as well?

There are operations that have successfully managed to get the fishermen involved in saving the sharks. One example is what Beqa Adventure Divers did. They work with the fishing village who is the traditional owner of a reef and in exchange for a levy that is paid by their divers and hiring some of their fishermen to work for the dive operation, they created a national marine park in Fiji. They continue their conservation work with the Myfijishark adoption project. Their mission is the protection and conservation of all of Fiji's shark species and their natural habitats through ecotourism, research, advocacy and education. They also support and cooperate with local communities.

How many of you have seen their video "Celebration"? How many of you are aware of what they are doing? Do you think they have a lesser impact on saving sharks than someone getting 12 million views of a video with them touching sharks?

Shark Diver started the Shark Free Marinas initiative, a program for marinas to pledge that they will not allow their tenants to bring back a shark to their marina.

We also work with shark fishing tournaments to get them to have a catch and release division, instead of catch and kill. This has actually lead to a lot of backlash on social media. We've been accused of consorting with the enemy, especially after they started doing catch, tag and release. The scientists involved with it have been accused of glorifying those tournaments. People tell me that catch and release is not OK, because of post release mortality. I agree that there is a substantial post release mortality, especially with sharks like the Hammerheads, but catch and release is still a heck of a lot better than an all kill tournament. The fact that we know about the higher post release mortality for Hammerheads is due in part to the catch, tag and release program. After being told that Hammerheads are more likely to die after being released, a bunch of fishermen now cut the lines when they realize they have a Hammerhead on the line and don't fight it to exhaustion.

So here is my question to you, are you an Activist or a Slacktivist? Tell us what you do to help save the sharks and their habitat and you might even win a free shark trip. Check out Ocean Championships for more info on how doing some real conservation work gives you a chance to win a free shark trip.

Let's do something to save our sharks!

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 crew@sharkdiver.com.

15 years of BAD is awesome!

2019-04-10T10:05:00.001-07:00

Beqa Adventure Divers, known as BAD, is celebrating it's 15th anniversary. We want to congratulate BAD for being one of the most awesome dive companies in the world. Their moto, "We are a conservation group, masquerading as a dive shop" is more than a mere slogan. What they have accomplished in their 15 year history is simply amazing.


Bull Shark at the Shark Reef Marine Reserve

If you ever heard of what Valerie Taylor called the best shark dive in the world, she was referring to the dive at the Shark Reef Marine Reserve, operated by none other than BAD. And speaking of the Shark Reef Marine Reserve, it was created by BAD in 2004. Initial fish counts at the reef showed about 280 different species of fish, which is very bad for the south pacific. After 10 years of protecting the reef, the number of species increased to 480! As of November, 2014, Shark Reef Marine Reserve has been designated Fiji’s first National Marine Park and BAD was being entrusted with its day-to-day management. To my knowledge, this is the first national park in the world that was created due to the efforts of a single private entitiy.

There are a few sharks to be encountered

But creating a national park is not all that BAD has accomplished. They also partnered with Projects Abroad to create Mangroves for Fiji, a project designed to combat global warming and now their latest, My Fijishark a shark adoption program benefitting protection and conservation of the sharks in Fiji.

myfijishark.com

Congratulations to BAD for being the best conservation shark diving operation! Keep up the good work!

The BAD boys and girls, celebrating!

Shark Diver is proud to be using BAD for our Bull Shark diving expeditions to Fiji. We are heading there in May, and we can book a Bull Shark dive for you anytime of the year.

For more information on our Bull Shark diving adventures, call us at 619.887.4275 or email crew@sharkdiver.com for more information.

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.

Get to know "Chugey" a Great White Shark at Guadalupe

2019-02-26T11:30:00.000-08:00

Chugey is one of the iconic sharks at Guadalupe. We first encountered him in 2004 and he's been regularly sighted ever since. One of his characteristics is his cut caudal (tail) fin. It pretty much resembles the tail of an airplane, with a flat top.

Chugey is a very active shark, to say the least. Being cautious doesn't seem to factor into his actions. He's had numerous injuries throughout the years, but seems to be just fine despite of it.

Just how rough a life does he have? We have talked about the amazing healing power of these amazing Great White Sharks here and it looks like they really need that ability to heal. Chugey, the shark we were talking about in that blog, was back at Guadalupe Island and it looks like that he hasn't gotten any more careful since he got his face bit the first time. While his original wound closed quite nicely, he was sporting some brand new bite marks.

As a reminder, here is what he looked like 2 years earlier.

Here is what he looked like with his old scar and new bite marks.

This is another picture of Chugey, taken by one of our divers, Marie Tartar.

It's great to see him back at Guadalupe acting like nothing happened. I continue to be blown away by both their ability to heal and never showing any signs of discomfort or indication that they are in pain, when swimming around with severe bite injuries.

This fall we are heading back to Guadalupe Island for our 19th season of diving with our Great White Sharks. Nicole Nasby-Lucas, who is the person responsible for our photo ID database, will be coming out with us on 4 of our expeditions. Thanks to her database, we can individually identify the sharks and also have a history of when they visited Guadalupe Island. In 2018 we added over 30 new sharks and are now over 300 individuals that have been sighted, since we first started diving there in 2001.

How many new sharks will we encounter this season? I can't wait to get back there and find out.


What will he be named?

If you would like to come out with us, we only have a few spaces open for this season. We are also booking for the next 2 season and some expeditions are almost sold out. Don't miss your chance for an amazing trip of a lifetime. Call 619.887.4275 or email us at staff@sharkdiver.com for more information or to reserve your space.

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 crew@sharkdiver.com.

Get to know "Lucy" a Great White Shark at Guadalupe

2019-02-11T14:16:00.003-08:00

I love "Lucy", and I'm not referring to the popular TV show of the 50ies. "Lucy" is a large female Great White Shark, that is regularly visiting Guadalupe Island. Most mature females are only seen every other year. They mate at Guadalupe Island and then stay away from the Island until after they give birth off the coast of Baja and in the Sea of Cortes, about 18 months after they get pregnant at Guadalupe.

In 2008 she suffered and injury to her tail, most likely from a bite by another shark. Her tail is pretty much mangled and it probably affects her speed. Even though she is definitely a mature female, we saw her every year until 2014, which meant that she didn't get pregnant, since pregnant females stay away from Guadalupe for a season and return every other year. I don't know if the mangled tail was the reason she didn't seem to get pregnant for all those years, but fortunately she has started showing up every other year since then. Hopefully this means that she is indeed getting pregnant now. We last saw her in 2018, so most likely we won't see her again until 2020.

"Lucy's" tail makes it very easy to identify her. Usually we identify the individual sharks by their coloration. The transition from the white underbelly to the grey top is unique for every individual. Some people try to identify the sharks by their scars. That is how "Bite Face" got his name. The problem with scars is that they heal and if that is the only identifying characteristic you have, you would not recognize that same shark when it comes back the following year. Mutilations, like Lucy's tail don't change and can be used in conjunction with the markings to identify her. We have a photo id database that is managed by Nicole Nasby-Lucas from the Marince Conservation Science Institute, with over 220 individual sharks in identified.

If you are coming out on one of our "science" expeditions, you'll get a chance to learn how to identify these sharks from Nicole herself. You will also get the complete photo ID database, so you can identify all the sharks you encountered and what's really cool, you will then be able to identify the sharks you see on TV. How awesome will it be, when you see a shark on TV and realize that this is the individual that swam inches from your face at Guadalupe?

Even with her tail slowing her down, she seems to be healthy in every other way. She is definitely getting enough food and is holding her own among all the sharks at the Island. Lucy is a very curious shark and she swims very close to the cages, making eye contact with our divers as she is gliding by slowly.

I hope to see Lucy when we return in the fall. I do have mixed emotions though. While I would love to see her, it would of course mean that she didn't get pregnant last season.

If you would like to join us, or just get more information, call 619.887.4275, email crew@sharkdiver.com or visit our website www.sharkdiver.com

Let's go sharkdiving!

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.

Get to know "Scarboard" a Great White Shark at Guadalupe

2019-02-10T12:15:00.000-08:00

"Scarboard" is another one of my favorite sharks. You're probably beginning to see a pattern here. I have a lot of "favorite" sharks. It's is amazing how all these sharks have different behaviors. Some are a bit skiddish, others are seemingly relaxed without a care in the world. Observing them for 16 years, I have grown attached to these guys and girls. However, as I always point out, I absolutely love these sharks, I'm crazy about them, but it is NOT a mutual feeling. As much as some people want you to believe that they just want to be hugged, they really don't. They are awesome predators, not out to get us, but they are not harmless pets either.

"Scarboard"

Scarboard is a massive female shark, one of our biggest at Guadalupe Island at around 19'. When we first met her in 2002, she was already huge. Like most of our adult females, she shows up at Guadalupe Island every other year. After getting mating at Guadalupe, she is spending the year in between offshore, before giving birth off the coast of Baja or in the Sea of Cortez. She doesn't have any mutilations, like "Lucy" and so many others, but she does have a very unique characteristic that makes identifying her easy. She has a very distinct line from her nose halfway to her dorsal fin. Where most Great White Sharks' lines have a continuous curve, Scarboard's is straight.

"Scarboard"

The first time we saw Scarboard, after her 5 year absence, I was in the middle of our 2 cages, she slowly swam by the first cage, checking out each individual diver and when she came to me, she looked me straight into the eyes, stopped and did a 180 degree turn, looked at me again, swam off, turned and swam back at me, stopped again, turned and swam off. It looks like that she recognized me, even after a 5 year absence.

2 seasons ago, "Scarboard" was being used for protection by some bait fish. I've never seen anything like that before. When she swam by, she looked like the "Bearded Lady".

Scarboard the "Bearded Lady"

For me there is nothing quite like seeing a familiar shark and realize it recognizes me as well. It still amazes me that we keep seeing the same individuals on a regular basis. They migrate thousands of miles, but come right back to the same spot.

If you want to find our for yourself what it's like to come face to face with a great white shark and want to learn how to identify these sharks, join us on one of our "science" expeditions. We do have some spaces open and would love to introduce you to our sharks.

Call 619.887.4275, email crew@sharkdiver.com or visit www.sharkdiver.com for more information.

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.

Meet "Slash Fin" a Great White Shark at Guadalupe Island.

2019-02-08T15:47:00.000-08:00

Meet "Slash Fin", #213 in our Photo ID database. She is a very active shark, swimming around normally and exhibiting all the typical white shark behaviors.

Check out the video below. Aside from a nice bite injury she has, there are only 3 visible gill plates.

Aside from her gills, she also has a deformed dorsal fin, with the trailing edge looking all ragged. It could be due to an injury, but I don't see an obvious signs of a trauma there.

Slash fin is a subadult female and about 13' in lenght. Despite her deformities, she doesn't exhibit any signs of distress and seems to be doing well.

The longer I dive with these sharks, the more I'm amazed by the new things we discover and learn about them. Are her deformities genetic? Is it a birth defect? Or....? I don't know, I'm just reporting my observations. Any scientists out there want to take a look at this?

Come join us on one of our expeditions to Guadalupe Island and meet our sharks face to face.

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.

Meet "Tryss" one of our Great White Sharks at Guadalupe.

2019-02-07T07:30:00.000-08:00

The 2018 season at Guadalupe Island has been phenomenal. Thanks to Nicole Lucas from the Marine Conservation Science Institute, we have a way to identify and keep a record of all the sharks seen at Guadalupe Island. This is how we know that on one of our expedition we encountered a record breaking 52 different individuals, including a whopping 16 sharks that have not been previously identified. This shattered our previous record of 34 individuals seen on a single trip.

It's not just the number of sharks we encountered that was unusual, it was also the behavior of one of the new sharks. Meet "Tryss", or crazy Tryss as I like to call her! Tryss displayed a very unusual behavior for a Great White Shark. She came to the cages multiple times, without any bait attracting her, sticking her nose into it, bumping the boat and squeezing through narrow gaps. She did all that in slow motion, never freaking out like other sharks would, when they touch the cage, keeping her eyes open, totally aware of her surroundings.

Check out the pictures and videos of her.

"Tryss" coming between the cages and the boat.

"Tryss" sticking her nose into the cage.

Checking out the boat.

Sticking her nose into the cage.

Hello there!

Hey, anyone up there?

See ya guys!

Shark Diver proudly supports the Marine Conservation Science Institute through our MCSI hosted expeditions. Joining us on one of these expeditions is a great way to learn about our sharks and support the research. Maybe you'll even get to name a shark, like the ones who named "Tryss" last season.

Let's go shark diving!

For more information, visit www.sharkdiver.com, email crew@sharkdiver.com, or call 619.887.4275

Cheers,

Martin Graf

CEO Shark Diver

Meet "Bruce" a Great White Shark at Guadalupe Island

2019-02-06T09:13:00.001-08:00

The world is full of celebrities, but how often do you actually get to meet them and spend some quality time with them? Over the past 18 years, I've been privileged to do just that. I've met many stars of film and TV at Guadalupe Island. Stars like the incomparable "Shredder" "Bruce" "Jaques" "Lucy" "Scarboard" etc. All of those sharks have been featured in countless shark week episodes and their pictures are all over the internet. They truly are the rock-stars of Guadalupe Island.

I want to introduce you to a few of these Rock-stars, before our season begins in August.

Today I want to introduce you to "Bruce", another regular at the Island. Bruce has been around since we started shark diving at Guadalupe in 2001. When we first encountered him, he was just a "little" teenager, probably not much longer than 11-12'. Of course we had no idea that we would see him year after year and that he would grow into one of the larger males at the Island. He is now on the north side of 16' and one of the dominant shark at the site. Despite his size, he is one of the more mellow sharks around. He keeps swimming around with, what seems to be, a grin that looks like he stole something and got away with it.

Bruce saying hello to Whitney, one of our divers!

Bruce is also the shark who got me interested in shark research. I have to admit, that reading scientific papers held about as much excitement to me as watching grass grow. It simply wasn't my thing. When Dr. Domeier tagged Bruce with a satellite transmitter and used some of the data it produced for his paper on white shark migration, Nicole Nasby-Lucas, who works with Dr. Domeier and is responsible for the Guadalupe photo ID database, gave me a copy of the research paper. I started reading it, and realized that this paper was not just a research paper, but more like Bruce's travel journal. It was exciting to find out where he was going, when not at Guadalupe and what he was doing. Who knew that he was vacationing near Hawaii?! I mean, who wouldn't want to vacation there? Did you know that Great White Sharks can go deeper than 3000'? Well, I didn't, until I read that paper.

Even though he is one of the more mellow sharks around, being a great white shark and male, Bruce was not averse to a little fighting here and there. I remember one particular morning. I was just getting into the cages to sort out all the regulators, when I noticed some movement behind me. I turned and saw Bruce who looked me straight into the eyes. He sported a huge bite injury, just in front of his gills, with a hole that let me look straight through it and out his mouth. The amazing thing was, it didn't seem to bother him. He just kept swimming around and stayed active, like nothing had happened.

Bruce about a week after the bite.

Just like Chugey, when he came back the following year, his wound was closed and there was barely a scar to indicate that he was ever injured.

Bruce with his closed bite injury.

So that is Bruce.

Since we started shark diving at Guadalupe Island, we have met over 300 different individual sharks. Who is going to be back this year? Who is going to make their first appearance? Come join us and find out! This is your chance to meet these celebrities up close and personal. They do pose for pictures with you! Next time you watch shark week, you can say, "Hey, I know that guy!"

We run our trips from August through November and have a few spaces left for this coming season. We even have a couple of spaces open on our research trip on November 4. On that trip you'll get to meet the researcher who knows all about those sharks, Nicole Nasby-Lucas, along with all the rock-star white sharks of Guadalupe Island. Call us at 619.887.4275 or email crew@sharkdiver.com for more information.

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.

Is shark diving good for conservation?

2019-01-31T14:34:00.000-08:00

Conservation and Shark Diving are often seen as opposites and not compatible. Let's look at some of the concerns raised and see how valid they are.

The biggest issue a lot of people have with shark diving and specifically feeding dives is that "It conditions sharks to associate people and divers with food!" While it does indeed condition sharks to associate divers with food, it definitely doesn't condition those sharks to associate divers AS food. The sharks at the Shark Reef Marine Reserve are being fed 5 days a week and I dove on a non feeding day. I got to about 45 ft when a few Bull Sharks sharks approached me, clearly looking for food. After they swam around me for a little bit, they realized that I didn't bring any food and they left. At no point did they show any indication that they looked at me as food or made any attempt to bite me. I actually think that being around divers at feeding sites makes the sharks less likely to attack. If I would be approached by a bunch of Bull Sharks at a non feeding site, I would be a lot more concerned, since it is unusual for them to approach divers without being attracted by some kind of food or chum source.

Another argument against feeding sharks is that it alters their feeding and migration behavior. Since I'm not a scientist that has studied this issue, my experience comes from observing and diving with sharks, I defer to those who actually studied this issue. There are a few good papers out that are addressing this.

This one is from 2013 by Juerg Brunnschweiler and Adam Barnett: https://fijisharkdiving.blogspot.com/2013/03/feeding-bull-sharks-in-fiji-paper.html

Or this one: http://fijisharkdiving.blogspot.com/2010/06/does-shark-feeding-influence-shark.html

Essentially they are saying that it has no real impact on their migration and hunting behavior. Click on the links above for more detailed information.

OK, so shark feeding is not as bad as people think, but is it actually good for conservation? While there are certainly some outfits that don't have conservation in mind when they do their shark dives, there are also responsible operators who care deeply about conservation and who have accomplished some amazing things.

We all know about the problem associated with the overfishing of sharks. If we want to protect sharks, we have to find a way for the shark fishermen to make a living doing something else.When we argue that a life sharks is worth hundreds of times the amount of a dead shark, we have to make sure that a life shark is worth more to the fishermen as well and not just to the tourism industry.

This is what Beqa Adventure Divers (BAD) has accomplished in Fiji. They got a fishing village to agree to not fish on a reef in exchange for a fee paid by all the divers. "They also hired people from fishing villages and trained them to be Divemasters, Instructors and Boat Captains. When they started diving at that reef, an initial fish count netted about 280 different species of fish, which for the south pacific is very dismal. Ten years later, another fish count showed over 480 different species. The number of sharks seen at the feeds also increased from a handful to sometimes over 100.

The efforts of BAD has resulted in the reef the shark dive takes place on being declared a national underwater marine park, the Shark Reef Marine Reserve. To my knowledge this is the first time a private entity managed to create a national park. Not only does the fishing village continue to receive money from the divers, which they use for educating their children, creating opportunities outside of fishing for them, but the ones who are still fishing now catch more fish outside of the reserve than they ever caught in and outside. This is clearly a win win situation, where the sharks, the divers and the fishermen all profit.

So clearly, operating a shark feeding dive has benefited not only the sharks, but the reef as a whole. Shark Diver is proud to support BAD by taking a group of divers to dive with them every year. This year we are heading there in May. Since we are based out of a hotel, the dates are flexible. Call Cindy at 619.887.4275 or email crew@sharkdiver.com for more info.

Here is a little video of what you can expect to see on your trip.

Let's go Shark Diving!

Cheers,
Martin Graf

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.

Ocean Ramsey and Deep Blue?

2019-01-18T02:31:00.001-08:00

For the last couple of days, the internet has lit up with postings of Ocean Ramsey diving with Deep Blue.

source

While Deep Blue was actually spotted and filmed by Mark Mohler and Kimberly Jeffries, the female Great White Shark that Ocean Ramsey was diving with was not Deep Blue, but another massive female named "Haole Girl" by the diver who first reported her. Check out her markings at the pelvic fin vs. the ID picture of Deep Blue. You can clearly see that it is not the same individual.

Right side pelvic area Deep Blue

A lot of people have commented that it really doesn't matter if it was Deep Blue or another shark. So what's the big deal?

While it certainly didn't make a difference in the experience the divers had with this shark, it matters greatly when Ocean Ramsey claims to be a scientist and doing these dives for research. From a scientific perspective, it is far more interesting to know that there are other massive females out there than to "show how harmless these sharks are". The whole reason we do have a database of these sharks is so that we can have population estimates and find their migration patterns. I also find it puzzling that people portray great white sharks as either mindless killers or as harmless. They are neither! Why can't we just love them for what they are? Awesome predators, neither out to get us nor wanting to be our "friends"! I love these sharks and I'm not afraid to say, it's not a mutual feeling!

A completely different problem with the diving taking place around this shark is described by "Doc Domeier", one of the preeminent shark researchers at Guadalupe Island. Doc, along with Nicole Lucas-Nasby are the scientist at the Marine Conservation Science Institute, the first scientists to tag and catalog the great white sharks at Guadalupe Island.

Here is what he has to say on Facebook

Ocean Ramsey has Jumped the Shark...Literally and Figuratively
I was going to let others chastise O. Ramsey for riding the white shark in Hawaii, but then I saw her post this: "I waited quietly, patiently, observing as she swam up to the dead sperm whale carcass and then slowly to me passing close enough I gently put my hand out to maintain a small space so her girth could pass." Take a look at this video and see if you feel her words are consistent with her actions. Years ago she came to social media fame by illegally riding white sharks at Guadalupe Island. Not only is it illegal in Mexico, it is unethical the world over. The number 1 rule of legitimate shark diving operators is DON'T TOUCH THE SHARKS! This is not shark advocacy...it is selfish, self-promotion. Look at all of the other people in the water hoping for a once-in-a-lifetime experience...instead they can't even take a pic of the shark. And lastly...posting selfies with white sharks is really the wrong message..these are very dangerous animals. Yes, in this case they were very satiated and unlikely to bite...but the average person should not be hopping in the water with them. Would you go on a safari and ride the lions? Remember what happened to the bear whisper in Alaska???...he thought he knew them so well that he was part of their family. One day one of the bears killed him and the poor woman that was with him. And FYI, despite what she says, that’s not Deep Blue she’s harassing. It’s a newly discovered shark that has been named Haole Girl by the diver that first reported her to us.

Before you claim that this is just sour grapes and he simply doesn't like Ocean Ramsey, read his reason for not approving of Ocean's behavior.

Many people who saw my last post may wonder: "Hey, what's the bid deal...the sharks weren't hurt by people riding them." Let me give you a bit of background on white shark life history. Females only give birth once every two years, and sometimes the process is so energetically taxing that they will skip a breeding cycle. All 3 sharks observed feeding on the whale were female...and there's a 50% chance each one was pregnant. In fact, Deep Blue is almost certainly pregnant since she has been pupping on odd years recently. Pupping time is just 4 months away, meaning these big girls are currently feeding about 500 pounds of babies in their uteri! These sharks spend almost their entire 18-month gestation in the deep offshore waters between the mainland and Hawaii, where food is very, very scarce. I led the very first expedition to that area, sometimes referred to the White Shark Cafe or Shared Offshore Foraging Area (our preferred moniker), and we found almost nothing that we would recognize as white shark food. We did find quite a lot of sperm whales, so maybe the occasional encounter with a dead sperm whale is the majority of the caloric intake for these huge sharks! Harassing a pregnant white shark while she is trying to feed could cause her to leave the meal...impacting her ability to successfully carry her pups to term or reproduce the next cycle. Did you know that the very next day after all the videos went viral there were about 60 people floundering around that dead whale in hopes of having their encouter with a white shark? Guess how many sharks were observed: ZERO! Don't you think all those people in the water might intimidate the sharks?? And if they try to come in and feed they have people climbing all over them, all wanting to be like O. Ramsey? Think about that....

You can read all of Doc's posts here
I have to agree with Doc. There are far too many "researchers" who are more interested in getting media exposure than doing actual research. In their zeal to get attention they often do things that not only don't help shark conservation, but actively hurt it. I've been diving with Great White Sharks for over 20 years. We discovered the sharks at Guadalupe while SCUBA and freediving, so I know firsthand what it's like to come face to face with a great white shark and I can say that the experience is no less exciting when you are safely in a cage. Sharkdiver will never allow out of cage divers at Guadalupe Island. It is illegal and dangerous. There is no reason to go outside of a cage, other than to brag to others about having done it. That's why we call what we do "Safe and Sane" Shark Diving.

If you want to experience coming face to face with a Great White Shark, give us a call at 619.887.4275, email crew@sharkdiver.com or visit www.sharkdiver.com for more info.

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.

Shark Diver and Great White Shark research.

2018-11-27T10:15:00.000-08:00

Shark Diver has been running trips with Great White Sharks at Guadalupe Island since 2000. Our owner, Martin Graf, encountered these sharks while SCUBA and freediving there for about 10 years prior to the first shark dive. Mostly while spearfishing, he, along with many other divers, started to encounter more and more great white sharks, which led us to explore the possibility of specific shark diving there. Little did we know that we discovered arguably the best place in the world to observe these awesome creatures. Typically crystal clear waters, with male and female sharks of all sizes in abundance, Guadalupe Island has become the premier place to dive with Great White Sharks.

Lucy

A couple of years after we started shark diving, the Marine Conservation Science Institute, MCSI, began putting together a photo ID database, to keep track of all the sharks sighted at Guadalupe Island. Our ability to identify the individual sharks is what really got me hooked on shark diving. After a few expeditions, I started to get a little bored with watching the sharks seemingly doing the same thing over and over. Luckily for me, just before I decided to stop going there, something amazing happened. A shark, later named "Shredder" swam really close to the cage and made eye contact with me. I realized that he was as much interested in us, the divers, as we were in him. He made eye contact with each individual as he swam along our cage. Realizing that he was checking me out instantly fascinated me. Knowing that they look at us as individuals made me realize that they are all individually different as well. For a lack of a better word, they all have different "personalities". Thanks to the Photo ID database, we have the ability to keep track of all the different individuals we encounter at Guadalupe. We use the transition from the white belly to the grey top, which is like a fingerprint, along with mutilations and individual characteristics to identify the sharks. So now, after diving with the Great White Shark for 18 years, I'm more excited than ever to go back. I don't care if it is the last dive of the last trip, I'm always eager to go into the water. Who is back? Who is new? What are they up to now? I can't wait to go back.

Scarboard

Of course maintaining a database involves some expenses. It is time consuming work to look through literally thousands of pictures and videos, to determine who all the sharks that were sighted are. Initially the research was funded through grants, but after about 2012, those funds ran out. When Nicole Lucas from MCSI told me that the research was no longer funded, we decided that we had to do something to keep financing that important database. Shark Diver specializes in identifying each individual shark and giving our guest all the information about them. What year did we first see it, what has this shark done in the past, is it a brand new individual that we have never seen before? These are the things we like to share with our guests and that would of course be impossible without an updated and maintained database. The need to maintain this database is why we came up with the concept of our "Science Expeditions". Our expeditions are designed to raise funds for MCSI and specifically for the maintaining of the database. Shark Diver donates a spot on the expeditions hosted by Nicole to MCSI, and our divers on all of our trips get a copy of that photo ID database. On the expeditions where Nicole Lucas acts as the host, she shares the results of her research with our divers. Not only do you support the ongoing research by joining us on our expeditions, but you'll learn how to identify the individual sharks you see. How cool will it be when you watch shark week the next time and you can say "This is the shark that swam right by me!"? All of our expeditions are either hosted by Nicole or by our owner Martin Graf, who has been diving with these sharks since before there was shark diving at Guadalupe Island. He probably has more hours observing these sharks than anyone at the Island.

Slashfin

Shark Diver is committed to not only give you an experience of a lifetime, but to also foster a personal connection to the sharks you encounter, all while supporting conservation. Shark Diver also started the Shark Free Marinas, which has since been taken over by the Humane Society.

Let's go shark diving!

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.

Deformed shark at Guadalupe Island

2018-10-25T16:27:00.001-07:00

During our last expedition to Guadalupe Island we encountered "Slash Fin", a shark that has been seen previously and is in our database. She is a very active shark, swimming around normally and exhibiting all the typical white shark behaviors.

Check out the video below. Aside from a nice bite injury she has, there are only 3 visible gill plates.

Aside from her gills, she also has a deformed dorsal fin, with the trailing edge looking all ragged. It could be due to an injury, but I don't see an obvious signs of a trauma there.

Slash fin is a subadult female and about 13' in lenght. Despite her deformities, she doesn't exhibit any signs of distress and seems to be doing well.

The longer I dive with these sharks, the more I'm amazed by the new things we discover and learn about them. Are her deformities genetic? Is it a birth defect? Or....? I don't know, I'm just reporting my observations. Any scientists out there want to take a look at this?

Come join us on one of our expeditions to Guadalupe Island and meet our sharks face to face.

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.

Meet our Great White Shark "Luca Arnone"

2018-10-11T07:10:00.000-07:00

"Luca Arnone" listed as #163, is one of our recent additions to the photo ID database at Guadalupe Island. We first met him in 2013 and he has been coming back every year since.

2 years ago "Luca" looked a bit rough. He was partially wrapped in a thick rope, which fortunately was being removed by Dr. Mauricio Hoyos, the local researcher at Guadalupe Island. The cut caused by the rope was not too deep and since white sharks have an amazing ability to heal, it did not cause him any permanent harm. When he swam by my a couple of weeks ago, his injury was barely noticeable, with just a faint black mark remaining.

"Luca" is a fairly small shark, probably just shy of 12', but he doesn't seem to mind the bigger sharks and is a frequent visitor to our cages.

Luca was named by one of our diver, who named 2 different sharks, one after his son, Luca and the other after his daughter Milana. Naming a shark is one way you can support the ongoing research at Guadalupe Island. The Marine Science Conservation Institute, "MCSI" who maintains the photo ID has various levels of sponsorship available, including naming a shark.

Another way you can support "MCSI" is by coming on one of our "science" trips. A portion of these expeditions goes to fund the research and Nicole Lucas-Nasby, the researcher maintaining that database is coming along as the host. She is sharing the results of her research with you and if we encounter a new shark, you'll also have an opportunity to name that shark. How cool would it be, if you see a shark that you named on "Sharkweek"?

If you want to find our for yourself what it's like to come face to face with a great white shark and maybe name one of these sharks, come join us on one of our expeditions. We do have some spaces open and would love to introduce you to our sharks.

Call 619.887.4275, email crew@sharkdiver.com or visit www.sharkdiver.com for more information.

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.