Hello everyone,
I just got back from another trip down to Gonzaga Bay in Baja CA. We have been on the go making another video of our expeditions and spearfishing in the Enchanted Islands in the northern Sea of Cortez. We left San Diego on the 12th and arrived in Gonzaga bay after a 7 hr drive 3hrs of it on bad dirt roads. There was some wind when we got there but it died later that day and was flat calm. The next morning we headed out to our regular spots where we know of several species of Grouper live. On our first spot we got the usual 20ft vis and nailed a couple of nice grouper. We where moving to another spot when I saw it.
The unmistakeable silloute of a "HUGE" Shark. It was a dark color with a wide head, it had to be at least 5 meters long. The shark passed to my right side as we drove by. We were only 100 meters from the dive site, a pinnicle surrounded by deep water. "Did you see that!!!" I asked the cameraman. "What?" he says. I threw the boat into a hard right turn and say "Big FUC$#NG SHARK!" and circle back, trying to figure out what else it could be. I sure didint want it to really be a shark. As I came back to the spot where I had seen it, there it was. The dorsal fin broke the surface and I got almost sick at the sight. It was about 30 feet and closing to the boat, the biggest tiger shark I have ever seen! This thing must be 20 feet long! Then as it got closer and I thought I was gonna barf I notice it is covered with spots and the 1.5meter head is flat and giant. "Its a WHALE SHARK!!" I almost broke my ankle trying to get my gear on. I had never even heard of whale sharks up this far north in the islands that I go to, but when you spend enough time in a place you are gonna roll some good dice sooner or later. I jumped in the water with the cameraman who was shooting a High-Def camera from Sony. Then it happend. I swam through the 20 ft vis towards the massive shark. My mind was telling me that it was not a safe thing to do. The tail was huge the fins where huge, I felt like one flick and the thing could just mess me up. But judgement has never been my strong point so I kept swimming up to it drawn in like a mindless remora. I dove down and gently held on to its Dorsal fin. It was like I was in a dream. The shark didnt even react. I petted his side like I was petting a giant dog. The shark would let me and my dive buddy and the cameraman swim with him and then he would gently glide down just a little too deep. We would swim back to the boat and he would come up again and let us swim and ride. This went on 5 times. The best thing is that we got it on video. If we didnt I wouldnt even have beleived it happend myself.
The next day we shot some more grouper and got some great footage. We also got a golden grouper. We went and dove at a sea lion colony and had a great time there. There where new born babys on the rocks. One fell in the water when I was swimming up taking pics and the mother jumped in and grabbed it by his neck right in front of me and hualed it back up on the rocks just like a cat with a kitten. I got the pics.
The trailer for our new video comming out is on www.spearfishingvideos.com
the pics are at this link
www.spearfishingvideos.com/RecentTrip/RecentTripPics.html
The whale shark riding pic was pulled off of the High-Def camera and is not "deinterlaced" whatever that means(producer lingo) so thats what makes it grainy. I just had to have something quick to prove to my doctor that I wasnt loosing it.....
"No really, I rode it Doc....hey, whats that for..... :duh "
I hope I did the link thing right.
GTB
I just got back from another trip down to Gonzaga Bay in Baja CA. We have been on the go making another video of our expeditions and spearfishing in the Enchanted Islands in the northern Sea of Cortez. We left San Diego on the 12th and arrived in Gonzaga bay after a 7 hr drive 3hrs of it on bad dirt roads. There was some wind when we got there but it died later that day and was flat calm. The next morning we headed out to our regular spots where we know of several species of Grouper live. On our first spot we got the usual 20ft vis and nailed a couple of nice grouper. We where moving to another spot when I saw it.
The unmistakeable silloute of a "HUGE" Shark. It was a dark color with a wide head, it had to be at least 5 meters long. The shark passed to my right side as we drove by. We were only 100 meters from the dive site, a pinnicle surrounded by deep water. "Did you see that!!!" I asked the cameraman. "What?" he says. I threw the boat into a hard right turn and say "Big FUC$#NG SHARK!" and circle back, trying to figure out what else it could be. I sure didint want it to really be a shark. As I came back to the spot where I had seen it, there it was. The dorsal fin broke the surface and I got almost sick at the sight. It was about 30 feet and closing to the boat, the biggest tiger shark I have ever seen! This thing must be 20 feet long! Then as it got closer and I thought I was gonna barf I notice it is covered with spots and the 1.5meter head is flat and giant. "Its a WHALE SHARK!!" I almost broke my ankle trying to get my gear on. I had never even heard of whale sharks up this far north in the islands that I go to, but when you spend enough time in a place you are gonna roll some good dice sooner or later. I jumped in the water with the cameraman who was shooting a High-Def camera from Sony. Then it happend. I swam through the 20 ft vis towards the massive shark. My mind was telling me that it was not a safe thing to do. The tail was huge the fins where huge, I felt like one flick and the thing could just mess me up. But judgement has never been my strong point so I kept swimming up to it drawn in like a mindless remora. I dove down and gently held on to its Dorsal fin. It was like I was in a dream. The shark didnt even react. I petted his side like I was petting a giant dog. The shark would let me and my dive buddy and the cameraman swim with him and then he would gently glide down just a little too deep. We would swim back to the boat and he would come up again and let us swim and ride. This went on 5 times. The best thing is that we got it on video. If we didnt I wouldnt even have beleived it happend myself.
The next day we shot some more grouper and got some great footage. We also got a golden grouper. We went and dove at a sea lion colony and had a great time there. There where new born babys on the rocks. One fell in the water when I was swimming up taking pics and the mother jumped in and grabbed it by his neck right in front of me and hualed it back up on the rocks just like a cat with a kitten. I got the pics.
The trailer for our new video comming out is on www.spearfishingvideos.com
the pics are at this link
www.spearfishingvideos.com/RecentTrip/RecentTripPics.html
The whale shark riding pic was pulled off of the High-Def camera and is not "deinterlaced" whatever that means(producer lingo) so thats what makes it grainy. I just had to have something quick to prove to my doctor that I wasnt loosing it.....
"No really, I rode it Doc....hey, whats that for..... :duh "
I hope I did the link thing right.
GTB
