Another perfect day at Guadalupe Island, but today was very special. This week we have a private charter group. Also joining us is Dr. Mauricio Hoyos who has dedicated his life’s studies to the White Sharks of Guadalupe Island. He is a wealth of knowledge and has been teaching us all about the sharks and their behavior. In the evening, he gave an interesting talk about his studies and a little of the history of Guadalupe Island.
Early the past two mornings, we concentrated on sharking and the cages. We have on board several families with kids, so the first few dives we to teach them how to get in and out of the cages, and how it feels to be inside a shark cage. It is so much fun to work with children onboard. Imagine the stories they can tell to their classmates when they go back to school. “What did you do over the break?” By mid morning, all the kids were feeling comfortable and the practice dives turned into real dives early on as the sharks came in close to check out what was happening inside the cages. It was great to be in the water with a couple of young kids when the sharks swam right in front of them… they immediately had to pop their head up and shout to the people on deck. Their enthusiasm is so contagious. Not just the kids were having a great time. The adults got in too.
After a morning of heavy shark diving, everyone took a “siesta” after lunch to get ready for the afternoon’s activity: an island hike. As we do not normally have a permit to go on the island, the crew were just as excited to go ashore as the guests. With Dr. Hoyos (who spends months at a time living on the island) as our guide, we all loaded into the skiffs and headed for the beach. We landed near the old navy base which is nothing more then an old building. From there we got a good look at a few Northern Elephant Seals which were sunning themselves on the beach. Then we hiked up the canyon to where the old church was. It is in ruins now, but interesting. We saw the new lighthouse which is now solar powered and hiked back down to the beach. What a great opportunity for the kids. They will tell these stories for the rest of their lives.
Tomorrow we are looking forward to diving in with the Great White Sharks again.
Surface Conditions: Sunny and warm, slight breeze, mid 70’sF.
Underwater Conditions: Temp. 67F, Viz. +90′, no current to speak of.
It's a lot of fun working with a group of kids onboard who are having the experience of their lives diving with great white sharks – divemaster log – September 22, 2010.
