05/01/2010

The volunteers had a relaxed start to the day, thanks to the genius coloured coat hanger system that has been devised to keep record of the wetsuit count on the boat. The sunrise was beautiful, and wonderful to drive into riding on the back of old rusty, (the trusty bucky). Andres, Emma and Georgie loaded up all the wetsuits for a jam packed day of cage diving, with at least 18 clients on each trip. A lunch time nap seemed inevitable. We all flew out on the boat in the sunshine, dodging the spray, and within fifteen minutes of lowering the cage into the water; a 2.2 meter shark had arrived at the boat and was circling inquisitively. The shark had clear claw markings on its nose, almost certainly from an attack on a seal, and it was unclear as to who won the battle. The visibility was incredible this morning and you could see layer upon layer of fish swimming around the boat trying to suck up the floating tuna debris. It’s amazing how these sharks see through all those pesky, greedy fish. The first shark that came was extremely calm and collected, and showed mild interest in the bait but clearly knew not to be fooled by the floating head. We think the shark was much more interested in posing for the cameras. Finally, it even gave the clients an action shot as it took the corner of the cage in its mouth and shook them up a bit! The shark was joined through the course of the morning by some other larger and feistier sharks. The majority of the sharks were female and were very polite in taking turns to try and outwit Gerald and bag the bait. However, none were successful and the sharks seemed to be more than happy to just indulge in a light morning swim. The biggest shark we saw was 3.2 meters and female. It’s always great when you see a large female because soon, you can hope she’ll be able to give birth to plenty more of these beautiful creatures. The excitement was not over yet though. As we packed away the cage at the end of the trip, Georgie and Emma were looking over the edge of the boat, and a HUGE shadow appeared beneath the boat which was easily the biggest shark they’d ever seen. Its identity remains anonymous as we quickly moved off after the sighting, which actually nobody else saw. But they swear that it was at least a 3.8 meter beauty. Hopefully it will be back tomorrow and Gerald and Grant will have to believe them!