Great White Shark on Maui

[Chad_Ordelheide]

hmmmm, I guess there are other reasons to Pee in your wetsuit other than to warm it up!!

 

[lukeROB]

Wow, where to begin....Thanks to all for your comments.

Tim: good to see you here, too. I am still planning to be on Maui July 19 through....will you be around? No snorklers in the full shot. There were some inside the crater and Whitey could have had its pick, but obviously it wasn't there to feed.

Michelle: Believe me, we had rubber necks. No one else from the boat was in the water with us and had no idea what was going on. If it came back I was planning on pointing at Blesi with one hand and rubbing my stomach with the other to sway its dinner choice. When we got on board, Blesi hand signaled to her husband that we had seen a large shark and one of the students said, "So you guys saw the 5 foot reef shark, too!" Didn't laugh then, but now....
By the way, for $5000 I will wear a rubber shark suit and swim around you in a heated pool humming the "Jaws" music!!!

David: If it wasn't meant to be wet they wouldn't call it...oh, you know what I mean. I really never considered it was a White at the time, just a large shark and part of the show...until I saw Blesi (Maui long-time resident and my mentor) hugging the rocks. That's when reality hit and the photography stopped.

Renee: I CANNOT tell you how intense that moment was...It had no fear. My cat gives me less eye-contact. It has been mentioned that it may not have been hungry, but I have never seen a show that featured GW's that were tired of eating. Who knows what made it leave...or what made it go to Maui.

Vladimir: My plan for next trip is to rub bacon grease all over my wet suit. I hear that will allow me to get closer.

Best to all of you...this is a great forum and I look forward to communicating with all of you again.

Jon

Very cool. I had an almost identical experience last year. My pics are still up in the gallery. But here again it proves that these things aren't just out to kill. This still easily the best experience I have ever had and you can now count yourself one of the very lucky few who have dived with a white in the 'wild' (ie. by chance - no cage or baiting).

I know all about that eye piercing stare down. The one we saw swam around us for about 10 minutes, not aggressivly but making sure that her presence was noted.

Final note - your ballsy, saftey stop - I gave that one a miss. Luckly I was only in 12 meters of water and the 12 - 14footer followed use at a distance back to the boat so I happy I made the choice not to wait it out in mid water.

 

[Azotomix]

If I am thinking to be in the same situation I already start shaking and my stomach start hurting me. Very Very scary

 

[Jon C]

Well, maybe calling it a "safety stop" was inappropriate...but we were down deep for much of the dive and down a long time...nearly out of air. Wow lukeROB, 10 minutes with your GW is a LONG TIME!

It was a great experience. I only wish the other pictures showing the polar bear and giant squid following it turned out.

 

[menemsha43]

Holy crap! That is incredible. Not sure the safety stop would have materialized if I was on that dive.

The Great White must be incredibly distinctive - between the size and the black eye there really must be no doubt what you are seeing. Is that right Jon C? You must have know immediately. Just amazing

 

[Jon C]

Holy crap! That is incredible. Not sure the safety stop would have materialized if I was on that dive.

The Great White must be incredibly distinctive - between the size and the black eye there really must be no doubt what you are seeing. Is that right Jon C? You must have know immediately. Just amazing

Actually, I have been asked that a few times...I did not know it was a Great White at the time for a couple of reasons...

First, I have never seen one in the water before. I have lived in southern California all my life and have NEVER seen one here. Strange since they are considered "common" to the area.

Second, it didn't have the dark top, white bottom appearance I have seen in pictures and film. It was almost a polished aluminum color at the angle and depth we were at.

Third, while I knew it was a shark...a BIG shark...I assumed it was a common Maui variant. Gallapagos, Thresher, Bull, Tiger...whatever is the norm.

Looking at the picture afterwards, no doubt in my mind. I'll know better next time.

Since my choice of going ahead with the safety stop has been questioned, I am hesitating to tell you we went ahead with the second dive. :bomb: That time I stuck close to the "larger" members of the dive group....

By the way, I did not get the shot that would have shown the full length as Blesi's bubbles were in the way. The shot shown is right after it cleared her bubble stream, before the "coral hug" and before it turned toward us.

 

[molksmith]

Generally the older White Sharks are WHITE...they lose their distinctive shading at older ages hence the name White Shark....at one point in time there must have more older ones in the ocean...wow aren't you a lucky devil...
I am a shark hugger and I still would have been nervous..
Now that's a nice log entry..

 

[ChrisM]

How cool is that??

Great job on having enough sense to pull the trigger on the camera

Saw a show recently on tagged GWs from Northern Cal. Tracked some down to Guadalupe Island, some to So Cal, and one to.... you guessed it, Maui

Chris

 

[Otter]

...Third, while I knew it was a shark...a BIG shark...I assumed it was a common Maui variant. Gallapagos, Thresher, Bull, Tiger.......

Phew, you thought it was only a Tiger shark

Everytime I go to Maui, I think about Tigers. I have been in close quarters to Bulls (once with a big one thankfully), Black Tip, Silver Tip, Nurse, White Tip without a worry. A Tiger would run my sac rate up to 2.0 whereas a GW would only have to 1.5....as long as I was underwater. On the surface, either would have me trying to run on water to get on to the boat.

Great pic.

 

[orangelion03]

Hey, that's my picture!!!

I was the one with Blesi from B&B Scuba Maui that got to share the water with "Whitey". Definitely got our attention, especially when it turned toward us. It came within 15 feet before deciding we weren't worth the trouble. But it REALLY checked us out. We ended up hugging the coral...the eels didn't seem so bad suddenly. And yes, the 3 minutes on the anchor line were the longest of my life.

"Safeway Camera"? Hey, that was an MX-10 with a malfunctioning strobe...might have saved my life!!!

Jon

What a fantastic opportunity!!! I would have probably had to trash my wet suit though...

Did you see if it was a male or female? The photo stops short of showing the anal fins to see if there are claspers. It looks "thick", so it could be a pregnant female and she's probably cruising off of Catalina now about to give birth =)