First trip of the 2017 Season...has begun!

January 1st 2017 - Travel day. Headed to Norway. This is going to be a long ass day of travel. I had a 5:30AM wake up. Which was not easy since we stayed up with family past midnight to ring in the new year. Oh yes…happy new year my friends! I want to wish all my friends and crazy shark family all the blessings in the world. 2017 is looking to be an amazing year filled with fun, love and kick ass adventures. 

6am snaps taken while at the airport. Told you guys some of this crap would be boring as hell.  Follow us on snapchat for more. Eli_sharkguy

Ok so back to travel day. Again I was up at 5:30am. Needed to be at the airport at 6AM for my 8am flight. Thankfully people are smart and stayed home for the 1st, my home airport was very empty. I am excited about getting to Norway, but torn as well. I have to leave my girls for this trip and that is always so hard. Despite living this life, that part never gets easy. But like always, the road and the ocean calls me and so a traveling we must go. 

Norway is going to be great…although I am nervous as hell. I know the orcas are in the area, because the activity has been really great. But until I see that first orca. I have trouble relaxing. And even though we see the orcas, it doesn't ease up the stress I will feel. We still need to find good bait ball activity. That is the main reason our guests are going out there with us. To experience that ocean madness and capture photos and video of the experience. My buddy Ernst, is joining us to do a story for Red Bulletin and Terra Mater magazine, so I know he is hoping (needing) for great encounters. Damn it…more pressure.

And I know there are zero guarantees when you are dealing with wild animals. But I cant help feeling pressure for my friends. They travel a long way and are hoping for the best experiences possible. I want to help them do that. That is what I live for. To see their soul’s on fire after having amazing encounters. 

Last season we had great bait balls. We had orcas everyday, but out of 6 days in/on the water, we only had two days where the orcas were feeding. The rest of the days they were hunting and running hard. However the magic from those two days was just insane. Here is a quick video from last season and the boys when they got out of the water after one of those days. I do love that shit!

So here we go. I still have another day of travel. My flight leaves JFK at 10:30PM and we do not arrive in Oslo, Norway till 11:30AM the following morning. Ill figure out the time difference later. 

I spend the night in Oslo, then catch a puddle jumper to Andenes where I will meet up with our guests. Its going to be great, I have traveled with them all before, so its going to be a nice reunion. Our first day in the water is January 4th. Cant wait to share the beauty of this place with you…and of course the conditions? How freaking cold will it be this year? Last year it was below zero on a few days so we will see what this year will be like. Hopefully, it will be 70 degrees and sunny with orcas feeding on bait balls everywhere…Hey, I can dream!

2017 Diving Season Begins! Well at least the prepping does.

Happy New Year my crazy Shark family! It all begins today for me. As promised I will be blogging our entire 2017 season for you guys. I really want to document the highs and lows of life as a professional Shark Diver and this amazing season we are about to experience. Its getting kind of wierd saying I am a professional Shark Diver Well, since we do dive with other big animals. But... down deep in my core I am still a Shark Diver...because it's all about the sharks. Always has been. Always will be! 

So anyway, I leave for Norway in two days and today is camera prep day. Batteries need to be charged. Cards need to be cleaned, o-rings need to be lubed, and the dome needs to be polished. (the camera dome port guys. lol)

So this year will be a mix of written and video blogs, because some stories are better told in their proper format. So here is a video I recorded live on Facebook earlier today.I am a bit rusty with live chats, but will get better at it, as time goes by. I also added some clips from last seasons trip so you guys can really see the conditions and the crazies I shared that adventure with. 

Hope you enjoy...

I have decided to document my journey throughout the entire 2017 diving season. The highs and lows of life as a professional Shark Diver. We kick off 2017 with a trip to Norway for orcas. I originally recorded this video live on Facebook, on our Shark Diver Magazine page.

2016 Was an Amazing Year...Thanks to all our Shark Family!

2016 season was an incredible season with great adventures, beautiful scenery, epic animal encounters and amazing people. A huge thank you to everyone who joined us out there. No words to truly share our gratitude for allowing us to share this world with you all. 

Guadalupe Island Expedition Sept.

As I reflect back on our year, its pretty mind blowing realizing how fast the year flew by and how many miles we traveled to get to the places we visited. From orcas in Norway to belugas and polar bears in Churchill, Canada. Not to mention the countless hours we got to spend with my beloved sharks. 

2017 is shaping up to be a crazy great year with even more adventures. Me and 'Vera' are looking forward to kicking off the year. (Vera is my camera for those that didn't know.) But before I go crazy with that I am going to enjoy the end of this year and my home time with my family. The true sacrifices of living the travel life is missing out on precious family moments that I will never get back. Sadly and to my lasting regret, not ever.

I hate missing every moment with my family, more than anything. But the call of the ocean and the pull of the magic of this world is such a strong call and I I cant imagine not being out there. Such is the internal ying/yang of life. 

So for the 2017 season I decided to share this personal journey with you all...
I am going to be blogging, both written and video blogs of my entire 2017 season on the road. Something I have never done before. Its going to be difficult trying to balance it all, but this is a goal of mine that I have always wanted to do but I never disciplined myself to see through. I decided that 2017 is the year that I finally do it. 

It is going to be a look at the highs and lows of my life on the road. Might be completely boring sharing it all. For sure there will be many boring moments, but it will have amazing animals and great scenery for you all. Lots of animal behavior observations and definitely some very cool people that I get to share my time with. So that is the plan, it's going to be raw and real. Some locations may be difficult trying to document in real time, because I am out in/on the ocean with no signal. But for those trips I will be posting on the days when I get back. This is the dream I had when I originally planned out our documentary ‘Summer of the Sharks.’ I have always wanted to document the true experience.

When we made the film back in 2006, we didn't have the tools available to us like we do now. Lots of small cameras that are not invasive, So it just makes for a easier way to document the journey once we are out there. 

I will be starting with my prep for my orca expedition coming up January 1st and then it will be full bore from there. (No pun intended. Lol). 

So now that I made that announcement, back to 2016. Thank you again to everyone for sharing this journey with us. Wishing you all happy holidays and an amazing new year. Want to say thank you with a quick highlight video of our animal encounters from our 2016 season. Hope you enjoy…

Here is a quick highlight reel from our 2016 season, diving with sharks, whales dolphins and crocodiles. Thank you to all our extended Shark Family who joined us out there. You all have made this year special and amazing. Footage by Eli and Maritza Martinez, Kourosh Taie.

New Highlights Video Added...White Sharks.

So this is quick blog for you guys. I recently wrote a trip report on our Guadalupe expedition this past September for white sharks. What I didn't share was a highlights video from the trip. I have been so busy with our store and other projects that I never got around to editing a video for you guys. And one was over due. The only video I have shared of white sharks with you is the one I made years ago from our 2012 trip. Very outdated. Its still fun, but I wanted to do something new. 

So here you guys go. I have already added it to our white shark expedition page. But thought I would also share it here as well. Hope you enjoy. 

My Perfect Moment; I was ONE with nature…or was I?

I have so many favorite moments in the water. It is difficult to find my most memorable one. However, one particular story that I have shared many times, is a story where I felt like I was one with nature. It was perfect, it was beautiful. Until that is… I realized the fish I shared my moment with, were actually assholes.

It was a perfect day in the Bahamas; beautiful, deep blue water, hot, sunny, with flat calm conditions. We were looking for oceanic whitetips off Cat Island. We had been chumming for a while, but no whitetips. I decided to go on a scouting snorkel to see if I could find any sharks skulking around. This was pre gopro era, and the only camera I had was my big bulky Equinox camera. So I decided to go without it. My captain suggested that I swim in the direction of some sea birds that were out in the distance. The birds were pretty worked up, so I started my swim towards that activity. 

There was not much shade on our little boat, so the water felt amazing. I snorkeled out around 100 yards from our vessel and I could see the birds getting closer. I was hoping they were following a shark, but marlin or schooling tuna would be amazing as well. The birds were flying in my direction, so I started scanning the area. I would pop my head up, look at the birds, see where they were, then look down to see what they were following. They got closer and still nothing. 

I just kept looking, scanning and finally I could see a few fish hauling ass towards me. The group got bigger and bigger. Finally a school of about 20, 3 foot rainbow runners approached me and started circling me. Underneath them was a group of about 10 tunas (about the same size). On the outside of them were three dorados that also joined in the spin. They all circled me, over and over. I was totally blown away. They were within touching distance, but I didn't try to touch them. I crossed my arms and stopped swimming to enjoy this perfect amazing moment. I was glad I didn't, but at the same time, I was wishing I had a camera. It was so magical. 

Moments later, a huge oceanic whitetip approached me. The swirling fish parted and the shark swam up to bump me. I put my hand on her head and gently guided her away. She swam around me and tried to bump me again. I put my hand out and guided her away again. She approached me for a third time. As I picked my hand up to put on her head, she winced and swam away from my touch. This time, she swam around me and dropped down into the blue abyss. The entire entourage of fish that was with me followed her and disappeared.

I was left alone in a daze of what I had just experienced. It was easily one of the most amazing moments I have ever had in the water. I have shared this moment with people countless times. It was perfect and beautiful, just everything we all dream of when we think about the ocean and the animals that live there. I was thankful for this gift…that is until, I really understood animal behavior. Then it hit me like lightning. Those dirty buggers were all there because they wanted to eat me!

Now, I see clearly what happened that day. Those game fish were out hunting for food. They probably were rounding up baitballs, which is why they had the birds excited. The oceanic was tailing them to join in on their action. And maybe to eat one of the distracted tunas or rainbow runners, while they were feeding on the baitball. I showed up, all by myself and the game fish found me. They started circling me to attract the oceanic in. Their plan was for the oceanic to kill me and they would grab a free meal, courtesy of the oceanic whitetip.

They left when they realized I was formidable prey and it was not worth the risk of injury. It is fight or flight in their world. Well, I ain’t gonna lie, I was a bit heart broken when I realized it was not this perfect zen moment with all these fish. Instead it was a tribal dance of death. Whatever it was, I still dream of something like that happening to me again, because even though those fish wanted to eat me…it was still was so great, almost getting eaten by those awesomely beautiful assholes. 

Advice for the budding professional Shark Diver…or whatever you want to call yourself

“YOU ARE SO LUCKY. How do I get a job like yours and do what you do?”
That’s a question I get asked all the time. I get emails like that nearly every week.

And I’m always a bit hesitant in how I respond—because the truth is, I don’t really know. I’m not entirely sure how I ended up here, doing what I do for a living.

But if there’s one thing I can say with absolute certainty, it’s this… LUCK, had nothing to do with it.

"Editing and laundry—hotel floor edition. The behind-the-scenes hustle never stops."

When I step back and look at what I do—and what I get to do—I’ll admit, it’s pretty exciting and fun.

But what people don’t see are the years, the countless hours, and the behind-the-scenes hustle it took to make this life work.

I get emails all the time from people asking to intern or work with me. And honestly, I think it’s cool that they’re reaching out. But most of them don’t really know what it is we actually do. They’re under the illusion that I spend all my time on or in the water.

They want to shadow me, learn about shark behavior—and more specifically, they want to learn how to feed sharks.

But what most don’t realize is that I spend about 75% of my time at a desk. Behind a computer. Writing, editing, marketing, responding to emails. It goes on and on. Sometimes 10–12 hours a day… every day.

When I think about it, why would anyone know that part? I don’t exactly post about it. What ends up on the website or on social media is the excitement—the life of a professional shark diver. You see us out there, playing with sharks, swimming with orcas, photographing polar bears.

That’s what you’re supposed to see. Not the boring stuff—me sitting at a computer for 12 hours straight, editing a video or updating social posts.

So… how did I get here?
Again, I’m not really sure. It’s all kind of blurred into one long, wild adventure.

I’ve never really had an official job title either. I guess if I had to write it down, it would look something like:
Professional Shark Diver / TV Host / Photographer / Wildlife Guide / Teacher / Magazine Editor / Storyteller / Marketing Rep / Toilet Scrubber / Mail Boy.

I wear a lot of hats here at SDM—and I genuinely love every part of what I do.
Except the toilets. Don’t really love that crap (no pun intended).

We’ve been in business for 13 years, and it took a very long time to get to where we are today.

There were so many nights I’d lie awake, trying to figure out how to keep things going.
We weren’t making it. I’d ask myself:
Why am I doing this?
Why am I still trying to publish this magazine?
How am I going to pay for this boat charter?

But somehow… it worked.

We made it.

And quitting? That was never an option.
Even when I questioned it.
Even when it would’ve been easier.

Because I don’t really know how to quit.

That part of me—the drive, the determination—it all stems from my bull riding days.

When I was riding bulls, I wanted to be great. So I trained hard. Like, really hard.
I didn’t have natural talent, and I didn’t have a coach. I had to be both student and teacher, and gut it out the hard way.

To be a great bull rider, you have to keep your feet in the fire—all the time.

There’s one story I always remember:
I was at a practice buck-out, riding a bull, and I got thrown off after just a few seconds. I landed face-first in the dirt. A second later, the bull stepped on the back of my neck and shoved my face even deeper into the ground.

Luckily, the arena had just been plowed, so the dirt was soft. In a weird way, it kind of acted like an airbag—an airbag filled with bullshit.

I got up, did a quick damage check.
My neck hurt like hell—red, raw, and missing some skin. My face was sore and completely caked in dirt. A little blood in my nose, but nothing broken.

And I was furious. Not from the pain—but because I bucked off.

I grabbed my rope, dusted some of the dirt off my face, and threw my rope on the next bull in the chute. I was ready to ride again.

Everyone around me was telling me to take a break, to catch my breath. They wanted to make sure I was okay.

But I didn’t want to wait. I was okay.
Physically, at least. My pride was bruised, sure… but that failure lit a fire in me.

I was more determined than ever, and I wanted to channel that negative energy into the next ride.
So I did.

And that’s still how I live and work to this day:
I take the sting of failure and turn it into fuel.

That grit inside me—that’s what drives me.

It’s what’s kept me on this journey and allowed me to live this life and do what I do.

It took a lot of work to get here. And I guess if I can do it… anyone can.
Anyone can become… whatever it is that they want to become.

But it does come with a price.

Long hours.
Rough seas.
Freezing oceans.
Shitty travel days.
And so many missed family moments you’ll never get back. That’s one of my biggest regrets in life.

But the highs… the highs make it all worth it.

Those magical moments you carry with you forever—
Sunsets that you will never forget.
New friends from around the world.
Landscapes so beautiful they don’t seem real.
And the privilege of sharing time with some of nature’s most incredible animals—both big and small.

I’ll finish this rant with this:

This life is amazing—and it’s worth everything you’re willing to put into it.

If you want to work with sharks, then chase that dream.
Find a way to make them your life.

But know this:
You’ve got to be willing to do the work.
To make the sacrifices.

You can’t give up when things get hard—because they will get hard.
You just need to find your own kind of grit.

Wishing you the best of luck...
Even though, in the end…luck has nothing to do with it.

---

Interested in traveling with us…
visit our expeditions page, find and a trip and join us on an adventure!

Shark Diving can contribute to Shark Science!

Tequila the tiger shark. Formerly known as New Girl.

There has always been a love-hate relationship between shark divers and shark researchers. Researchers have often been very vocal about their dislike for shark diving. Some researchers, not all.

Of course, many shark divers have also been critical (again, some—but not all) of shark research and the methods used.

I admit, I’ve been very vocal in the past about my issues with shark research. Though, as I’ve mentioned before, I do understand the value and necessity of some of it. On the flip side, some researchers have also been very vocal about me and what I do in the water—how I’m invasive, how I shouldn’t be touching sharks or feeding them, or how I’m “molesting” them. The criticism goes on and on.

That said, I absolutely respect legitimate shark researchers and the contributions they’ve made to shark conservation. I’ve even participated in tagging programs in the past. But I’m just too hands-on, too huggy and kissy with sharks to ever feel completely comfortable with that kind of work.

I know shark research is important. But there’s also so much more we can learn—beyond just hooking sharks, drawing blood, and taking measurements. There’s immense value in simply observing sharks, especially at dive sites like Tiger Beach.

These places are living laboratories: you can witness shark social structures, hierarchies, mating behaviors, healing processes, interspecies dynamics, and more.

So many stories. So much science. But as I’ve been told by researchers, because it’s a “non-natural” setting, it doesn’t count as real science.

Still, I finally got a chance to contribute in a way that made my point clear.

On December 2, 2014, I filmed one of our resident tiger sharks—Tequila—showing up with fresh mating scars. She had two chunks missing from her tail fin. I remember seeing her and thinking, “That’s not good.” She was clearly agitated and skittish, which is typical of a shark that’s recently been injured. She never came in close, and that was the only dive we saw her on during that trip.

Fast forward to October 12, 2015—less than a year later—Tequila showed up again, and to my amazement, she was completely healed. What’s more, the missing sections of her fin had grown back. I didn’t even know that was possible. (And yes, before anyone asks—it was definitely her. She has a distinct color pattern on her left side that makes her easily recognizable.)

This shows that some shark species are capable of not only healing but regenerating parts of their fins. While it’s widely known that sharks heal quickly, the idea that they can regrow damaged fin tissue is still relatively new. I had documented the whole thing in my journal—something I do for all the tiger sharks we encounter here—and I happened to catch it on video.

I shared the footage with the research community and asked if this was already known. Some aspects of it were, but for the most part, it was new information.

Now, this isn’t research that’s going to get published. It probably never will be. And that’s fine. What matters to me is that the footage sparked discussion within the researcher community. That, in itself, proves that shark diving sites like Tiger Beach can make real contributions to science—without needing to hook a single shark.

Maybe some researchers will still disagree with me on that… some, but hopefully not all.

Guadalupe is White Shark Heaven!!!

Guadalupe bound…We left port, thankfully with a good crossing. Something, I was extremely happy about. My last major crossing had us in 15 foot seas. The ocean was screaming at us and it felt like we would never see land again. Nothing worse than being locked down in your bunk for 20 hours straight, not moving because you just felt like crap. The good and bad thing was I found out what my super power would be if I had one; Projectile vomiting. Disgustingly, I was amazing at it! 

Thankfully this wasn't a crossing like that…Nope this was a heavenly crossing. We made good time and all of us were anxious to arrive. I was excited to see what the next few days of diving with white sharks would be like. 

Our trip last year was good, but the whites were in and out, with a lot of down time in between visiting sharks. I was really hoping this years action would be better….and it was!

Typical Guadalupe with rolling clouds from our 2015 trip

We dropped our anchor into flat calm seas. As I looked around the first thing I noticed was that there were no clouds. There are normally clouds rolling off the top of the volcanic mountains here, but today there wasn’t. The skies were clear, the sun was out and the visibility looked amazing.  Within an hour of arriving, our first shark show up and the mad dash for gear began. Shortly after that a second shark, then a third. Once we started diving, it just never stopped. From about 9 in the morning till the last divers entered the cages in the evening - the sharks never stopped rolling in. 

September is such a great time to be here, because its the middle of the season. It’s good for both small sharks and the big boys. And on this trip, we had them all…from small, 10 foot sharks, to 17 foot, 3,000 lb. monsters. It was a dream. The stress of running a shark diving trip is that you are always worrying that no sharks will show up. The smiling faces and full camera cards told me that this was not going to be one of those trips. 

The white sharks performed like rock stars. They cruised by our cages, over and over again, trying hard to take the hang baits off our shark wranglers. The sharks are getting smarter, you could see them trying to figure things out. They kept changing their approach strategies, using speed and stealth to steal the bait away. It was awesome. We had quite a few half breaches as the sharks would rocket up from underneath the cages to surprise our wranglers. Everyone got a show - Those that were in the cage and our guests that were topside. We all had a blast watching the cat and mouse game that was going on. 

By the end of the day, everyone was exhausted and cold from hours spent in the cages. It is hard sometimes to explain to people who are there for the first time just how special a day like this is, because these kind of days are so rare. I was just thankful it happened on my watch.

Of course in the morning when we kicked off our 2nd day, I was half expecting it to be back to old Guadalupe, where the sharks come in, hang around for 10-30 minutes and then take off. But nope, when the cages were dropped (at 8am), within 20 minutes our first shark showed…and again, it was going off! The rest of the day played out like a repeat of day one. The only difference was we lowered one of the cages to 30 feet, to get a different perspective of the sharks. Those rides are always so much fun. 

The day was just amazing, the sharks never stopped coming in. I shot over a thousand photos in a two hour session. Most ended up crap, but what was great was getting the opportunity to shoot that much. I got out of the water cold and happy, excited to see what day three would bring…BUT, our captain dropped a bomb on us. Tropical storm Frank was headed our way. So, we finished up our day of diving, pulled the cages and headed home. 

We had one more day of diving left and even though everyone was not thrilled with leaving, riding home for 18 hours through a tropical storm was not something anyone wanted to do either. So we left and thankfully everyone was very happy. The two days in the water were so great no one really felt let down. I was excited for everyone and yes I admit, secretly even more excited about beating the storm for a smooth crossing home. Which meant, that my super hero, secret identity was not revealed on this trip. Till next season Guadalupe…You were amazing.

A video from our trip by one of our guests Steve Crawford. So much fun.

---

2016 WHITE SHARK EXPEDITION GALLERY

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Our new website...Hell Yea!

Well, I finally did it. I updated our website.

This has been one of those projects that has given me hell for years—costing thousands of dollars, endless frustration, and disappointment after disappointment. For almost a decade, I pretty much gave up on the idea of building a new site. I stuck with the original, flawed as it was, because at least it was ours.

Our first website. February 2002

But every time I looked at that old site, it bugged me. I knew it could be better. So after one last, desperate search for help, I decided: enough was enough. I was going to build it myself.

I built our original website for Shark Diver Magazine years ago, after being let down by the first round of web developers. And here’s the thing—most web developers I’ve worked with try to get too fancy. They get excited about the latest tech trend or some new design tool, and instead of giving me what I need, they end up overcomplicating it. And, well... it usually ends in a mess.

2nd attempt.

I’m not the sharpest tool in the shed, but I was determined to get this thing done.

Thanks to a good friend (shoutout to Jero), I gave Squarespace a try. After a full day of fumbling through it, I picked a template I liked and just started building. Slowly, it began to feel like something I could actually be proud of.

The first priority was getting back to the core of what SDM is all about—who we are and what we do: travel, adventure, and wildlife. From there, it was about creating a better experience for you—more content, more stories, and a gallery of images. We’ve got thousands of photos sitting on hard drives, collecting dust. So many moments worth sharing. Creating galleries was always something I dreamed of doing, and now it’s finally happening.

3rd facelift

Next, I tackled the blog. The old setup made blogging a total pain. I love writing, but it was just too clunky. Now, this new blog page is user-friendly—well, at least for me—and I plan to use it often.

So this is what you’re seeing now: the new look and feel of SDM Adventures. We’re currently using sdmdiving.com as the main URL, mostly because I’m still figuring out how to connect sdmadventures.com. And there’s way too much history with sharkdivermag.com to let it go entirely. Eventually, I’ll migrate everything over—but for now, it’s baby steps. 

My first attempt as a web designer.

I’ve been blogging on sharkdivermag.com since 2005. I haven’t yet figured out how to bring all those old stories over here, but maybe I’ll find a way to link them. There's a lot of history there—too much to lose. Again, baby steps.

And speaking of history…
Sadly, the old website is now down—and with it, all the years of blogging I’d been doing since 2005. That one hits hard. I had documented our journey in real time—our early trips, our wins and struggles, the animals, the people, the behind-the-scenes stories. So many memories. So many moments now lost in cyberspace.

It’s something I’m not happy about. But I’m not giving up on them just yet.

I’m going to dig into the Wayback Machine, see if I can recover some snapshots. I’ll check old backups, hard drives, even see if our former hosting provider has anything archived. Maybe—just maybe—I can link some of those old stories back into this new home. Baby steps. Always.

But if none of it comes back, then this blog becomes something even more important. A clean slate. A tribute to what came before. A place to keep telling the stories that still matter. Because there are so many left to share—and I’m not done yet.

Now, the store—that’s been the hardest part. For some reason, it’s always been a stumbling block. Every time I hired someone to help build a store, it turned into something bigger. I’d ask for a simple store, they’d want to redesign the whole site, and I’d say yes (so yeah, this mess is kind of on me). Thousands of dollars later… no working store.

But not this time. I’m building it myself. And when it’s ready, I’ll proudly share it with you.

The final look of our website SharkDiverMag.com (2016), before we moved over to SDMdiving.com.

The store will include our shirts, rash guards, back issues of the magazine, and something I’ve always wanted: an art gallery of prints, featuring some of the most powerful moments we’ve captured over the years.

For now, I’m just excited to share the new site with you. It looks great, it feels right, and I hope you enjoy it and come back often. I’ll be updating it regularly, and the blog will feature both written and video stories. There’s still so much left to share—so many animals, places, and moments worth remembering.

To all our friends who’ve been with us from the beginning—this is for you.
Thank you for sticking with us through it all.

La Jolla Shores is Freaking Shark Diving Heaven!

1/320, f/5.6, ISO 125

La Jolla Shores has always held a special place for me. It was the site of my first beach dive, and, of course, it’s full of sharks.

The first time I swam here was in 2006. As the editor of Shark Diver Magazine, I had already published stories about La Jolla Shores and its thriving leopard shark population, so I was eager to experience it firsthand. I finally got my chance when we included the location in the documentary I produced, Summer of the Sharks.

1/320, f/5.6, ISO 125

Image by Keith Brooks

For this dive/snorkel, you walk into the surf zone, and just a few feet beneath the waves, you’re surrounded by these beautiful little sharks. As a shark diver, it doesn’t get much better than that. My first dive here in 2006 was an unforgettable experience, and from that moment on, I was hooked. I made it a point to return every year since.

What makes La Jolla even more special is that leopard sharks aren’t the only stars of the show. The waters here are home to an impressive variety of shark species. You can encounter tope sharks, horn sharks, grey smooth-hounds, angel sharks, and the big stars of La Jolla—the seven-gill sharks.

I’ve been lucky enough to see them all, except for the elusive swell sharks. But no matter where you swim here, there’s always a shark nearby, lurking just beneath the surface, waiting to remind you why La Jolla is one of the best places in the world for shark encounters.

1/320, f/5.6, ISO 320

The leopards weren’t the only reason I came out here. I was also after tope sharks. Swimming among the grassy sea beds is where the topes tend to gather. These sharks are a true conservation success story. Once nearly wiped out, their numbers have rebounded thanks to the enforcement of the gill net ban along California’s coastline. Their return is not only great for the ecosystem, restoring balance to these waters, but it also adds to the excitement of an already incredible dive site.

I’ve been coming to this area since 2006, and while the sharks are always here and the diving is relatively easy, it’s not without its challenges. The ocean almost always has a strong surge, which wreaks havoc on visibility. Most of the time, I’m swimming in what feels like a muddy soup, trying to capture footage of these beautiful little sharks through the haze. Photography here is especially challenging. The constant movement of the water, shifting sand, and low visibility make it difficult to get sharp, well-lit images. Even with proper settings and adjustments, it’s a game of patience and luck.

1/320, f/5.6, ISO 250

This year, I finally got lucky. The stars aligned, and I had the rare opportunity to film them in near-perfect visibility. The surge was still there, and the sand was stirred up in places, but for once, I could see the sharks clearly, gliding effortlessly through the water. It was the kind of dive I had been waiting for.

We spent a lot of time playing with the leopards. Over two days, my friend, Margo Adamson, and my buddy Keith Brooks, and I logged about five hours in the water with them, and it was just pure fun.

1/320, f/5.6, ISO 320

Dive Tip. If you want the best chances of seeing them, I recommend diving during low tide. The vis is better during high tide, but they tend to scatter. During low tide, they gather in large groups, making for much better photography and filming opportunities.

1/320, f/5.6, ISO 160

The topes were a bit more challenging to film since they stay a bit deeper. On my second day, I went out later in the day, hoping for a chance to find them. Thanks to my friend Margo, who dives here practically every day, locating them wasn’t an issue.

They put me on them quickly, and I got to work trying to frame shots in fading light. Since I shoot with natural light, it was tough. The topes are much more skiddish compared to the leopards, so tracking them down, sneaking up to get a proper composition, and adjusting settings in low light made for an added challenge, but it was all part of the adventure.

Tope Shark. 1/320, f/5.6, ISO 320

Thankfully, the water here is super shallow, allowing plenty of natural light to filter through. With the great visibility we were lucky to have today, the photos turned out even better than I had imagined.

As I was heading back in, the SDG girls had one more surprise for me—a Pacific black sea turtle. This was a huge moment for me. I rushed over to photograph it, and like a supermodel, it stayed in place, patiently letting me take shot after shot.

1/320, f/5.6, ISO 3200

I’ve set a goal of photographing all eight species of sea turtles, and so far, I have four. This is actually a shared goal between my daughter, Sophie, and me. The plan is to film them together one day, and now that I know where to find a black turtle, I can bring her back here to experience them firsthand. The one we found is a resident in these waters, which makes it even more special.

1/320, f/5.6, ISO 3200

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Photographing leopard sharks off La Jolla Shores was fun but challenging experience. The shallow water, ocean surge, and unpredictable lighting conditions pushed me to adapt on the fly. Looking back, there were a few things I could have done differently.

Here are five key lessons I took away from the experience…

1. Use a Faster Shutter Speed to Freeze Movement. I shot the leopard sharks using 1/320s shutter speed, which wasn’t quite fast enough to fully freeze their movement in the water. These sharks are constantly gliding, and between the motion of the surge and their natural speed, a faster shutter speed would have resulted in sharper, crisper images.

Lesson: A shutter speed of at least 1/500s–1/1000s is ideal for photographing moving sharks in natural light.

2. Avoid Auto ISO—Even in Changing Light. I’m usually against using Auto ISO, but in this case, I used it due to the rapidly changing light conditions. Some areas were only three to four feet deep, which meant a lot of light bouncing off the sandy bottom. This caused exposure shifts that I thought Auto ISO would help compensate for, but instead, it led to inconsistent noise levels across my shots.

Lesson: Manually Control ISO whenever possible, even in dynamic lighting. Instead of Auto ISO, set a base ISO and adjust in real-time as needed.

3. Work with the Surge, Not Against It. The constant water movement at La Jolla made it difficult to frame shots without the ocean pushing me around. At first, I tried to resist the surge, which only led to more camera shake and missed shots. I eventually learned to go with the flow—literally. By drifting with the water, I was able to anticipate movement and time my shots more effectively.

Lesson: Let the surge guide you into position rather than fighting it. Time your shots during the brief moments when the water steadies.

4. Use a Lower Angle for More Impactful Compositions. Most first-time shark photographers make the mistake of shooting downward, which flattens the subject and makes the image less dynamic. I made sure to position my camera lower in the water and shoot upward whenever possible. This approach separated the sharks from the busy background, improved contrast, and created a more engaging composition.

Lesson: Get low and shoot upward for a more dramatic and visually appealing shot.

5. Patience Beats Pursuit Every Time. Leopard sharks are curious but easily spooked. The more I moved toward them, the more they swam away. When I finally stayed still and let them come to me, they got comfortable and allowed for much closer shots. This not only resulted in better images but also let me observe their natural behavior without disturbing them.

Lesson: Let the wildlife come to you. Staying still increases your chances of getting close, natural shots without chasing the subject away.

Photographing leopard sharks at La Jolla Shores was a learning experience.

It reinforced the importance of controlling shutter speed, managing ISO manually, adapting to ocean movement, and being patient with wildlife. Every dive teaches a new lesson, and next time, I’ll be better prepared to capture these beautiful sharks with even sharper, more dynamic images.