Showing posts with label Erick Higuera. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Erick Higuera. Show all posts

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

LIVING THE DREAM


After 150 trips to Isla Guadalupe over the last eight years, you might think that I might be getting tired of it. Well I am not. Hell NO! Deep down I still love it all and I am still thrilled each and every day that I am out there. I am indeed grateful to be “Living the dream”.



However there have been days when I wondered WTF am I doing this for, and those days are pretty much in the past now. With the Navy issue out of the way for the time being and most probably for good (but you never know when working in Mexico), now there are just little annoyances occasionally but with the 2010 season pretty much in the history books, the little things just don’t seem to matter much anymore. There still is lots of work to be done and battles to be fought, but the tide of the war has definitely turned in our favor and we now have the upper hand on things.  Most people just have no idea what goes on behind the scenes with permit issues and having to deal with inept officials that make ridiculous decisions based on rumors and hear say. It is extremely difficult working in a third world country and the bureaucracy is absolutely stifling at times. People have no idea how many hoops we must jump through to keep this whole thing running or even in existence for that matter.  But we do it and we will keep up the fight and we will never quit.



Having had this amazing opportunity to share these incredible animals with so many people over the years has been very rewarding for me on a personal level.
It still makes my day when I am able to coax a first time diver into the water and watch them blow their first bubbles. That is something that I truly enjoy. Those little things are what makes it all worth it. Seeing the smiles on the faces of divers coming out of the cage after their first encounter with white sharks is still priceless to me.  What is really cool is that on most trips nearly half of our guests are repeat clients, some of which have made the journey with us several times. We have created a unique and special relationship with our guests and we have all become one big extended family. We share a bond that is hard to explain. It is so wonderful to have met so many different people from all walks of life who share a passion and common interest in such a special animal. To many the experience has been life changing and that is what keeps us going.



I truly am honored to have had the opportunity to work with the Solmar V and her awesome crew. It has been such a pleasure and we have all become close like brothers over the years. We are hands down the best White Shark diving operation in the world and I am very proud and confident in making that statement. No one else has the amount of experience as we have or the amount of success that we have had.  We are so successful because we work very well together and we keep an open mind about every aspect of our operation. Every season and every trip we learn something new and we take what we have learned and we make improvements and that keeps our operation fresh and leaves our competition in the dust. We continue to lead the way as we always have with new technology and new techniques and that is what makes us the best white shark diving operation in the world.



Thank you to all of our “Shark Fans”. We are looking forward to the next 150 trips.
Stay tuned for some very exciting news! We will be making an important announcement in the very near future.
Thank you Dean Karr for these recent and most precious images.



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Saturday, September 18, 2010

SHARKS ALL DAY EVERYDAY

The 2010 White Shark Season has been just incredible so far!
We have been out at Guadalupe on the Solmar V for 8 trips this season so far and they just keep getting better. The action has been nonstop and the sharks very cooperative. The Shark Fans have been outstanding and we have been enjoying a stellar season with some fantastic people.



Here is a little note from some of our newest family members.

Hi!

I just wanted to send an extra "Thank You!" to Lawrence, Kat, the Solmar V crew, James and anyone else who had a part in making our trip to Guadalupe Island from Sept. 6-10 so wonderful.

This trip was so much more than I ever expected!  Lawrence and Kat made sure everything went as planned.  The crew made us feel so at home.  And James made sure we had our dive gear on time from Dive California.

This was a true "once in a lifetime" experience.  I have always had a passion and fascination with sharks, especially white sharks.  So, I was going to be satisfied if we only saw one shark  the entire trip.  Little did I know that we would see multiple sharks all day every day!!  It was absolutely exhilarating!!  

Thank you all again for making this trip (and our anniversary) such a wonderful experience!!!  We are already researching other trips with you all.

Best regards,

Christy and Chris Cole
Birmingham, AL






You are quite welcome you two love birds! :)


With all the sharky action and cool shark fans like these fine folks who could ask for anything more?




The weather has been very cooperative with relatively smooth crossings and sunny days at the island.



The sharks are plentiful and still very hungry. But there is still plenty of shark food at the island, there are hundreds of fur seal pups all around the island and the tuna are thick and seen from the cages nearly everyday. The Elephant seals numbers are increasing steadily as well. YUM!




Photos by Erick Higuera (Somar V )




Thank you! to all of our friends for making this an epic year for us and we look forward to having you back again soon!


I wish I had more time to write but I have to get ready for the next departure in a few hours.


May the sharks be with you all!


Yours in sharks,
Lawrence

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Thursday, August 12, 2010

2010 Isla Guadalupe White Shark Season Begins


Greetings Shark Fans
Sorry for my prolonged absence as I have been litteraly on the move for the last 6 weeks.
I am currently in port in Ensenada on board the Solmar V preparing to depart for Isla Guadalupe for the second of 14 trips.

Our first trip to Guadalupe was nothing short of EPIC! We had 12 individual white sharks over the 3 days at the island. That would be a record for the first trip of the season. All males as expected and they were very active throughout the trip. The first shark arrived only 20 minutes after arriving at the island and Cal Ripfin arrived after only 2 hours. Cal did not show up until late September last year and had us all worried.


Cal looks GREAT! He is still gaining weight and appears to be in excellent condition. For those who have not had the priviledge of meeting Cal Ripfin (aka Shredder) he is one of the most famous white sharks in the world. I met Cal Ripfin back in 2002 and have seen him at the island every season for the last 9 seasons now. He is truly one of the greatest "Players" in the shark world. He hangs around the boat for hours at a time and loves to swim close to the cages and he even swings by the submersible cage and HI 5"S the dive masters. He is the Coolest Shark in the World! Sorry Emma.... (Jimmy's fav Tiger shark)

The weather was fantastic providing us with a very smooth crossing. At the island, morning clouds cleared to bright warm sunshine and we enjoyed just a slight breeze to keep us comfortable. August can be blistering hot at Isla Guadalupe. The water conditions were ideal with a temperature of 65-67 and 80' of visibility.

We were boarded twice by the Mexican Navy and all of our documentation were inspected and approved.

Never a dull moment down there!

I will be back in 5 days to bring you another Shark Action Report.


Photos by Kat Fisher

Team update:
ABC4 just arrived back in Cape Town SA. Congrats to ABC4  for scoring #5 of ALL TIME, Shark Week Show with his "Into the Shark Bite" show. He also just signed a new contract with NAT GEO! Keep it up Bro!

Mary O'Malley is currently also in S Africa finishing up a extended Sardine Run Expedition

Bobby Mc Nerney is preparing for an expedition to Tonga and will be joining us back at Guadalupe soon.

Erick Higuera is on board the Solmar V


STAY TUNED!

May the Sharks be with you!

Yours in sharks,
Lawrence

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Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Welcome to Our Shark Diving International Team Blog



Happy Earth Day to All


Well, here we go! Our first post.


We have purposely chosen to start this blog on Earth Day April 22, 2010
to celebrate our successes over the last decade and to share a new and promising decade with all of our friends from around the world.

Currently our Team is scattered to the four winds:

Heidi Derosa
Heidi is stuck in London this week due to the Eyjafjallajökull volcano eruption. She was returning from her Red Sea diving expedition and was grounded there by the complete commercial aviation shutdown in Europe. We wish her all the luck in getting home safely and soon. Hiedi will have some good stories from this trip I am sure.

Andy Casagrande
Andy is currently on assignment in the Bahamas on a documentary film shoot.

Erick Higuera
Erick is on the Solmar V diving at the Revillagigedos Islands. His season dive report will be coming soon.

Bobby McNerney
Bob is back home in San Pedro, CA and just returned from a trip to Tiger Beach on the Shearwater with Jimmy Abernethy. Bobby will be heading back out very soon for a Oceanic White tip trip with Jimmy in early May. 

James Moskito

James is back at SDIHQ "West" in the SF Bay area after a very successful Nor Cal coast dive trip. Save us some Abalone Dude!

Mary O'Malley
Mary has been super busy working on Shark Safe campaigns since her recent trip to Indonesia last month. Mary has been working diligently writing letters and emails in support of The Hawaii SB 2169 bill to ban sale, possession, distribution of shark fins and all shark harvest in Hawaii.

SB 2169 passed the Conference session with a unanimous YES vote on Tuesday 4/21. Without a doubt, this bill would have never got off the ground without the Herculean efforts of Stephanie Brendal who has been on the forefront of shark conservation in Hawaii. Our friend Steph is also the founder Shark Allies around the globe.

Lawrence Groth am currently at SDIHQ "East" preparing for my annual migration back to the west coast. I will be driving across the USA in early May to arrive in time for the Long Beach Scuba Show May 15 &16 at the Long Beach Convention Center. On May 24th I will be departing for Cabo San Lucas to join Erick and all my amigos on the Solmar V for a 9 day trip to the Revillagigedos Islands. Upon my return from that trip I will be embarking on a massive 3 year filming project, documenting the natural history of White Sharks. I will be spending a great deal of time diving and filming in southern California prior to the start of the 2010 Isla Guadalupe white shark season. I will be posting regular reports along the way to keep you all up to date on this epic project. I am sorry that I cannot say very much else about the project at the moment due to nondisclosure agreements.


So just stay tuned for some very exciting posts and incredible adventure stories from The Team!


A personal note:

This blog has been a long time coming. I personally have been turned off of blogging by certain persons who have no scruples and that think they can just put anything up on the internet without any sense of honesty or morality. This unethical "BLOOSER" (My own word :) has been left on their own for far too long. They have taken advantage of the fact that most people believe everything they read on their blog. Most ethical people would not write anything but the truth and thus their readers automatically believe that whatever they read must be true, because it is posted on a blog and viewed by everyone. We have had enough of this BS! Beware little man....

Read more...

Battle for survival at South East Farallon Island

The Ultimate Shark Dive