I had the amazing experience of observing Great
White Sharks yesterday at the
Farallon Islands volunteering for my good friend Marni Doyle, who works on a
boat. It was just what I needed, connecting me back to nature and seeing such an awesome animal to humble me. There's nothing like it to remind you of your place on the planet and put your petty problems in the grind of society into perspective.
We left the
Tiburon harbor at 5 A.M., and as we cruised under the Golden Gate
Bridge (a
viewpoint I don't normally get), the sun rose behind the San Francisco skyline, instantaneously dissolving my "land" worries. Well, except, as I pulled out my digital camera to capture the splendor, the dreaded message "change batteries" appeared on the screen. But a lovely passenger from Arizona graciously gave me two batteries. Too late for the Golden Gate sunrise, but with the day ahead, there were plenty of other
photo ops.
My fellow passengers, crew and guests alike, were excellent company. People had come from all over the world to see these sharks because, as Pete Winch, the naturalist aboard the boat pointed out, the White Sharks at the Farallons are among the largest in the world. Pete gave a presentation on the Great White as we started the two hour trip out to the islands. He stressed the bad rap these sharks have gotten with films like
Jaws. Great Whites are actually rather shy animals, and don't attack out of aggression. In fact, as we later saw out at the Islands, there is a
man who has been free-diving for sea urchins for 20 years there in shark-infested waters. While he encounters Great Whites half of the time he is underwater, he has never been attacked in all his years. A person is most in danger on the surface of the water, where he or she looks in silhouette like a seal, the sharks having terrible eyesight. Pete also pointed out that while every aquarium wants a crowd-pleasing Great White Shark, these animals don't do well in captivity, and something like 20 sharks die for each one they manage to keep alive in an aquarium. Because of their dwindling numbers and fragility as a species, then, it was good to hear that boats at the Farallon Islands are prohibited from chumming the water, and our seal decoy had to be pulled in whenever the boat was moving so as not to disrupt the natural habitat and behavior of the sharks. While this makes it more difficult to get a sighting, it is necessary to protect the animals.
We didn't have any sightings all day, except from afar as the other shark boat out there got a hit on their decoy, though I really enjoyed watching the seals and sea-lions (aka "snacks") frolicking in the surf, and drinking in the view of the islands. I had some great chats with passengers and fine Jacques
Cousteau-esque crewmembers. Midway through the day, I was offered the opportunity to go down in the shark cage, which was really fun. I didn't see any sharks swim by, but saw a few fish and goofed around with another volunteer, Nicki, who also went down.
Then, as the boat started heading back out to sea for the trip back home, someone shouted, "shark!" We all climbed up to the upper deck, where we spotted a huge red bloodslick in the water. The other sharkboat out there had also motored over to observe. Floating in the water was the bloody carcass of a seal, with seagulls perching atop it. Then, we saw fins sawing through the water as a shark ripped off pieces of flesh. It was truly thrilling to see something previously only seen on documentaries, live. Pete estimated the shark's size at about 13 feet long. Skyler Thomas, the boat's lovely and stellar videographer, captured it all on camera and burned it to DVD for posterity. Truly special.
Exhausted after a long day, the sun put on a spectacular show for us as it went under, washing the surface of the sea in deep pink and red behind the boat. I snapped photos, then sat back and just enjoyed its splendor. As we approached the Golden Gate Bridge , the city lights were coming up, and it looked magnificent. I grabbed my camera and ran up to the bow to capture it. Depressed the button, and: "change batteries". As on cue. I guess taking the Golden Gate home with me wasn't meant to be. But my personal batteries were recharged, and it's burned in my mind. As is this breathtaking day.
