shark dive

I had the opportunity over the weekend to try the aquatica charter's shark dive off the coast of catalina island. I had a great time with their crew and can't wait to return. We saw at least 9 different blues and I was in the water with 5 circling.

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Hey cool! Thanks for the pictures and the report!

How did they guarantee you'd be swimming with sharks? Is the location that reliable for sharks?

Gregg

I don't believe anyone can guarantee we would be diving with sharks, but we were told they have never struck out in the months of October and November in the past. In the late summer they also attract mako's which would be interesting to see as well. It was quite a thrill to be out of the cage in the open water with blues. I have swam with white and black tip reef sharks in the past, but this was much more enjoyable.

one more...

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Is this an open water chumming dive in a cage or are these just natural schools that come by seasonally ?

How are blue sharks to dive with? ARe they aggressive or do they generally leave you alone?

Must be scary !

>>Is this an open water chumming dive in a cage or are these just natural schools that come by seasonally <<<<

This is an open water chumming dive. We chummed with frozen mackerel/anchovy cubes for about 3 hours before our first blue showed up and by the end of the day I think there were somewhere between 8-12 different sharks that visited. The boat has a cage for you to float in as long as you wish, but definitely encouraged a few divers for the first half hour to get the sharks acclimated to us. Then, they allowed each diver to decend to about 25 feet depth and hang onto drop lines with one crew person to each diver. I was able to spend exactly 20 minutes in the open water with the sharks and it was quite a thrill. The blue sharks are open water scavengers and tend to cover a lot of ground. The crew brought one shark on board to tag which they do with every trip. They said they have never seen one of their tagged sharks again, though fishermen have caught some from as far away as Japan.

>>How are blue sharks to dive with? ARe they aggressive or do they generally leave you alone?<<<

The blues were the highlight of my diving days so far. The only other sharks I've dove with to date are white and black tip reef sharks. Blues are not aggressive at all, but very curious. In the 20 minutes I spent down there I lost count of how many came within 2 feet of me brushing by with their eyes pegged on me and with their eyes rolling from front to back as they pass you by. It was fascinating and I can't wait to go again. I'll include a link below for anyone who has interest in tying it out for themselves.

http://www.diveaquatica.com/sharks.html

I've emailed my photos to family and friends and received many comments about them looking mean or scarry which kind of suprised me. These are very gentle creatures and if anything, they're awe inspiring in terms of their streamlined presence and effortless movement underwater. They pose little, if any, threat to divers that are not trying to harm them.