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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ABC4 Arrives in South Africa for Film Project

I would like to share a note from the field from our "Man in Africa" ABC 4 (Andy Casagrande) :

Hey bro - I know you are already probably on the road - but wanted to wish you safe and crazy and fun travels man! It's great to be back in Africa and all is well with me - all the gear and crew made it and we should make a cool show that hopefully you won't call me a "douche" bag after! ;-) Keep in touch man and good luck! Let me know when I should try to plan to come out and visit you in Guadalupe ok bro! - Keep it real and keep up the blog! I love it! - ABC4

PS: If you see any of these BABY GWS - please give them a hug for me - ABC4



ABC4 just arrived in Capetown for a Discovery Channel shoot with white sharks there.
I will be posting more from ABC4 soon. Stay Tuned!

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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....

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