Coming up, Jonathan travels to Mexico to dive with Great White Sharks!
Welcome to Jonathan Bird’s Blue World!
One of the greatest places in the world to see Great White sharks is Guadalupe Island
in Mexico.
I haven’t been there in ten years and so now I’m heading back!
Guadalupe is a tiny island 150 miles off the coast of the Baja peninsula in Mexico.
It’s not easy to reach.
My trip begins with a van ride from San Diego California down to Ensenada, Mexico, passing
some ruggedly beautiful coastline.
I board the Sea Escape live-aboard dive boat.
This big boat will be our team’s home-away-from-home for 5 days as we travel to Guadalupe and dive
with the sharks.
On the back of the boat, there are two huge shark cages just begging to be used.
With all the pressure on sharks around the world, and overfishing of the oceans, will
Guadalupe still be as good as it was back ten years ago?
Once the crew and all the passengers have arrived, we leave the dock and start our 18
hour run to the island.
Within three hours of leaving the dock, we come across a whale entangled in fishing gear.
The crew mounts a daring rescue, which saves the whale and only costs us a couple hours
on our crossing.
We are joined by a pod of Pacific White-sided dolphins on the bow as we continue our way
west.
The next morning we awake while approaching Guadalupe.
The island is spectacular.
There is little in the way of vegetation growing on this harsh volcanic rock.
About 200 fishermen live on the island in camps here and there, but most of the inhabitants
are birds, and pinnipeds—seals and seal lions.
Because the fish life here is so abundant, the seals and sea lions have plenty of food.
There are thousands of them, frolicking in the surf.
All those big seals and sea lions attract Great White sharks!
In fact, between the clear water and the massive numbers of sharks, Guadalupe Island is now
considered the number one place in the world to see Great White sharks.
Our crew anchors the boat and begins the process of getting the cages in the water.
We barely have cages in the water before the first shark shows up, wondering what delicious
snacks we may have brought.
Ten years of interacting with the sharks has taught them that divers mean no harm, and
usually come bearing gifts.
Big, yummy fishy gifts.
The bait wranglers have a tough job.
This may seem strange, but they are not trying to feed the sharks.
In fact they are trying to keep the sharks interested enough to stick around without
feeding them.
If you actually feed the sharks, they fill up on bait and then leave.
So the trick is to keep pulling the bait away at the last minute.
It gives the sharks a challenge that they keep pursuing.
Every once in a while though, a sharks gets one by doing a stealthy approach.
So they manage to grab enough baits to feel encouraged.
And the divers love it almost as much as the sharks!
Once the shark action is on, the crew starts putting divers in the cages.
I suit up and get ready for action!
And of course, when you dive with sharks, you always wear gloves so your hands don’t
look like bait!
You have to cover all that skin!
Haha!
I head down to the swim step with excitement.
The sharks are out there.
Nothing is quite as exciting as the first step into the cage.
But first I need a weight belt.
50 pounds worth.
That keeps me planted on floor of the cage for stability.
I’m going to sink like a brick!
I also get a regulator hose attached to my back.
The divers breathe from a huge tank of air on the boat.
It’s easier and more compact than scuba tanks, and we have an unlimited dive time.
Divemaster Benjamin Olivari hands me my big Gates camera, and down I go.
I get my camera turned on and focused as soon as possible so I’m ready for sharks.
Soon Cameraman Tim joins me in the cage.
Now we wait.
The cage is thrown around in the waves.
It’s not an easy place to shoot steady video.
But the sharks are around, and they have a habit of appearing seemingly out of nowhere.
It’s surprising how easy it is to miss the approach of such a large shark.
The solution is to keep an eye on the floating baits.
That’s what they’re after.
Take your eye off the bait for one second, and you might miss it!
Not all the divers can be in the cages at the same time, so we take turns.
The people on the boat are getting a great show.
But the view from underwater is hard to beat.
My big Gates camera is a handful inside the cage, but the action is amazing!
It’s a wild ride, but everywhere I look, the sharks are awesome!
Sometimes a shark gets very persistent about getting a bait.
This big male is in a battle of strategy against the bait wrangler.
And all the action is playing out right in front of me.
In the end, the shark wins.
And I have it all in the camera!
Every once in a while, a shark takes a little interest in the cage.
But for the most part, they only care about the bait.
They have no interest in us.
Now you might be wondering why I don’t go out of the cage and swim with the sharks.
The main reason is because the Mexican government does not allow it.
The fact of the matter is that White sharks are incredibly large animals.
Even though they probably have no interest whatsoever in biting a diver, it is always
a possibility.
And even a small bite from an animal this big could spell death.
The Mexican government doesn’t want anyone getting bitten or killed by sharks at Guadalupe.
It’s bad for tourism and it’s bad for sharks.
So we have to stay in the cages.
Unfortunately, the wind has kicked up some big ocean swell, and it’s throwing Cameraman
Tim and I around in the cage like rag dolls.
It’s all we can do to hold on, which is making the shooting really tough.
It’s time to call it a day.
As the sun sets, we plan for tomorrow’s diving.
The next day, the conditions have calmed down a bit…
I’m going to go in the deep cage!
It’s going to be awesome!
So the crew decides to deploy the deep cage.
While the best shark action is up at the surface where the bait is, you can get a unique view
of the action from down below.
Okay, thank you.
And since we can’t scuba dive down there without a cage, one of the cages is on a steel
cable that can be lowered.
Ben, can you hand me my camera?
It’s up on the table.
The Gates.
See you on the flip side!
As they slowly lower the cage down, we all clear our ears.
If anyone can’t clear their ears, there is a rope we can pull to tell them to stop.
Soon I’m in the deep cage, 30 feet below the action and looking up at the other cage.
There definitely isn’t much shark action down here.
Occasionally one of the sharks gets curious and makes a wide pass, but they know we don’t
have any snacks for them.
We mostly just look up at the sharks above.
Over three days of diving with the White sharks at Guadalupe, I see more than 20 different
sharks.
Some of them stay with us for hours on end, engaged in the game of trying to steal our
baits.
Most of the time the bait wranglers are one step ahead of the sharks.
But not always!
Looking down the island, I can see as many as 6 other boats here, full of divers that
have come to experience the world’s greatest predator in its natural environment.
Guadalupe Island is an enigma in the ocean world—one of the few places where the marine
environment seems to be improving.
With careful administration by the Mexican government, the amount of marine life—including
sharks—seems to be getting larger.
In an ocean where things seem to be constantly on the decline, this is a breathtaking piece
of good news.
So I set out to discover if Guadalupe was as good as it was ten years ago and the answer
is no.
It’s better.