Location: Lighthouse Bay, Guadalupe Island, Baja California, Mexico
Comments: Why aren’t seagulls scared of great white sharks? You would think that they would be. It seems very odd to me that seagulls apparently contentedly bob around the back of the boat right in the “shark zone.” You would think the gulls would be a tasty little appetizer for a white shark and in fact, they do get “taken” from time-to-time. I puzzle about this every time I see one off the back of the Nautilus Explorer while on station at Guadalupe Island.
Great white shark sightings and behaviour remained top-notch today. Not as consistent as yesterday (which may well have been our best day ever) but there was a steady stream of white sharks all morning long and then things picked up again in the late afternoon.
Of special interest were juvenile sharks hanging around the back of the Nautilus for the first time. The wonderfully named “Rocket” – an extremely cute 7ft great white shark – showed up first and zoomed around the back of the boat, staying out of the way of the bigger sharks. “Rocket” lived up to his name when he zoomed up out of the deep in a very, very fast vertical ascent for the tuna.
To our great surprise, some even smaller sharks showed up as well. Newborn great white sharks are believed to be 1.5 metres in length (slightly less than 5 feet). Well, we saw 2 different sharks that couldn’t have been more than 6 feet long! Way cool and I would think much younger than even a year old. They were unbelievably cute (if you are into great white sharks that is). The little male has officially been named “Dori.” I am trying hard to get the little female named “Charlie” as a namesake for my 5-year-old son who made his first cage dive with great white sharks last week. The only thing about these super cute little white sharks is that I can’t help but wonder if they might be able to squeeze through the bars on cages…
–Captain Mike
Weather: Overcast in the morning, very light sprinkles of rain, clearing up in the afternoon. Calm with a light chop. Air temperature mid 70’s.
Water: Water visibility 100ft plus and the normal lovely shade of blue. Water temperature 70˚F
