Location: At anchor with the great white sharks of Guadalupe Island
Comments: Our first day at anchor on this trip with the great white sharks of Guadalupe Island has been very good and productive. 4 different shark sightings this morning, including our 3 favourite groupies – Bruce, Chica and Shredder. These particular white sharks really seem to like the Nautilus Explorer. Our neighbours on the beautiful sailing yacht Galatea related a very interested “chew toy” story to us. It seems that the great white sharks love their white inflatable dinghy. Different animals have been going up to it and “testing” (ie. gnawing!) on the white outboard engine, pushing the dinghy around with their dorsal fin, bumping it and apparently even coming up underneath and partially lifting it out of the water! We are so jealous! We have been leaving our 18ft Achilles inflatable in the water 24 hours a day and the sharks are totally disinterested in it. Heck, Mauricio and Pilar (2 white shark scientists that we are hosting onboard) have been out in the inflatable every day with chum and a trailing tuna bait and still can’t get any sharks to come close enough for DNA sampling. I’m wondering if the sharks don’t like grey rubber for some reason (I’m told that their visual acuity is the same as ours). I am also wondering if I should buy a white inflatable dinghy for next year?!
–Captain Mike
Weather: Sunny, winds 10 knots from the west, low swell in our anchorage, temperatures in the mid-70s.
Water: Water temp 70°F, visibility 100ft plus.
