Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Monster Sharks in San Francisco Bay? Heck Yeah!


A few years ago on a flight out of Oakland we noticed something "sharky" below the plane. It was spring and as the plane banked back over the airport we looked down and saw "hundreds" of shark outlines in the muddy water moving slowly up and down the rock breakers at the airport. At the time we thought "these must be large Leopard Sharks".

Little did we know at the time there's a much bigger shark species lurking in San Francisco Bay.

Fast forward to last week. On a visit to our local Aquarium of the Bay, lo and behold there was the monster that we had seen in previous years from 15,000 feet...all ten feet of her!

San Francisco, CA, June 20, 2008 – Aquarium of the Bay today welcomed a nearly 10-foot long female sevengill shark, believed to be the largest of its species in captivity. The Aquarium, which conducts extensive research on sharks in the San Francisco Bay, has more than 50 sharks among its family of more than 20,000 aquatic animals.

Bringing the over 330-pound shark into Aquarium of the Bay required many skilled hands including the Aquarium’s husbandry team, as well as other Aquarium of the Bay staff members. Volunteer Steve Shirley of Team Fishfinder also played a major role in bringing the shark to the Aquarium.

Shark Introduction "Cuddles" Isla Guadalupe

For those of you who will be joining us this year at Isla Guadalupe we thought we would introduce you to some of the "locals" that you'll be meeting this season.

This gal is called "Cuddles". For reasons that are obvious, she's also one of the "nicest" white sharks on site.

We have been lucky enough to dive with her over the past three years, and she's usually the last to join us on any given day, seemingly content just to have divers gaze at her.

Not all animals at this pristine and unique site are the same and many have "distinct personalities" that become evident once you spend enough time with them. It's a strange way to look at Great Whites, purported to be the "ultimate killing machines". One week with this little gal will change the way you look at them, trust us!

Amusing-Bollywood Dancing and Sharks...Never a Good Combo

Word from the Bahamas this week that Akshay Kumar Bollywood's premier leading man and recipient of more Om Shanti Awards than any other human on the planet has suffered a head injury on his newest underwater set.

Insiders say while in the Bahamas, which involved a sunken vessel and many Lemon Sharks swirling around at 75 feet, his wild Bollywood gyrations and flowing outfit got caught, causing him to hit his head and bleed profusely. To get an idea of what we're talking about imagine the following Akshay video...underwater and covered in sharks:



Editors Note: We could not have made this up.