Just returned from a short trip to San Fransisco (sorry Eric should have called you to tell you I was in town but had a busy schedule). I went out on a boat to the Farallons to get in some cage diving and hopefully see some whites. We hit the biological lottery on the second day - finding a dead blue whale carcass on our way out, just a few miles from the islands. We had to wait about 15 seconds before we saw the first white shark hit. We watched for a couple hours. Amazing stuff. As far as I know this has only been observed a couple times. We saw multiple sharks throughout the period and even saw Scot Anderson (white shark researcher) successfully tag one of the white sharks with a pole-spear tagger. This was especially exciting to me as I am a shark researcher myself. Here is a sample pic - had to really reduce the size down. The shot was taken with my 20D and a Canon 75-300 IS lens at 300 mm. Enjoy!
cheers...
- MP
Great White? That thing looks like a mouse! Why are we scared of them!?!?!
Seriously though, Awesome Matt, what a thrill!
Sooooo.....did any of you jump in or what? You could have had the next "Blue Water, White Death" on your hands....but this time with whitey instead of the oceanics...
I think you need to try again!
What, they wouldnt let you in the water to snorkle around the whale. What a shame. You could have gotten some great shots.
Matt -- you bastard! I can't believe you were in town and didn't invite me on the trip. Must have been amazing..
-eric
Eric -
Yeah, unfortuneatly life seems to get complicated when you add a girlfriend. I was admitted on the trip free as a guest due to my expertise as a shark biologist - otherwise you would have been the first one I invited. As for ngetting in the water - the boat I was on was large, not very maneuverable and had a side mounted cage - all a recipe for disaster when trying to hit a floating target. The viz was also like 5 ft so the topside worked a lot better. I really wanted to get on the whale - figured I could use my canon 10-22 instead of the 75-300 is but there was the marine mammal act to consider and all...haha, Anyway - it was amazing stuff - I am working on trying to submit for a short contribution to a major magazine - science, nature or even nat geo - we will see. Just another day in the life of a jaded shark biologist...It was actually funny - we had the paying customers on the boat asking me "how often do you see this?" - and I tried to explain how this never happens and is observed, how it is like winning th lottery. I think I was the most excited person on the boat. All I can say is bless the 20D for 5 fps - the white shark breaches against the whale lasted seconds but I took over 300 shots. The most amazing thing to me was despite the carnage they left in terms of bites, the actual predation was graceful and delicate - almost like ballet. I was awed by the experience. Heres a little more for everyone...
enjoy!
- MDP
ps. there were actually sea lions swimming all over near the whale carcass - probably would have been ok to snorkel as the whites were way more preoccupied with the carcass - however - even I am not crazy enough to get in under the conditions - 5 ft viz...I'll pass - haha!
And one more - looks kinda like eating a corn cob...except the corn cob happens to be seventy five or so feet long here...
cheers
- MDP
Was the whale rotting? I bet it smelled pretty bad. Great find.
Joe
Hi Matt, I haven't been around the 'net much due to work and just happend on your post, amazing event this! Did anyone get video?
Regards,
Scott
Scott -
Actually in a stroke of good luck we had seen whales the day before and someone commented on how we should have video. My girlfriend work for the cage diving operation and has a hi-def camera from the company. She decided she should bring it in case we saw whales again. Talk about the perfect day to bring the hi-def! She took a bit of footage which I haven't seen yet but apparantly is pretty good. If I hear anything about the footage being released I will be sure and post on wetpixel...
ps. - yes the whale stunk to high hell - anyone who hasnt been privy to rotting whale - there is hardly a worse smell on the planet - but apparantly screams appetizing to the whites...
