Blue Shark Diving
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Our dive group aboard the Snappa
Captain Charlie Donilon cuts up bait for the sharks
In the summers of 2002 and 2003, Veronica and I went with a group of friends to try our hand at blue shark diving off Point Judith, Rhode Island with Capitan Charlie Donilon aboard the Snappa. As with most wild animal encounters, we were at the mercy of luck and our comfort or discomfort was dictated by sea conditions. In 2002, the sea conditions were extremely rough with seas up to 8 feet. It was a good day for blue sharks and we had them around the boat most of the day. It happened to be a bad day for me and my camera as mechanical problems left me without any usable photos.
The shark cage and the viewing platform in 6'+ seas
A blue shark is brought to the boat - tagged - and released
The summer of 2003 came quickly and the bright summer sun made the boat a very comfortable platform. Unfortunately, the calm seas were not favorable to enticing sharks close to the boat and we saw three sharks the entire day. They did not seem interested in the chunks of fish that we were offering and our encounters were short and it was hard to predict where a shark would appear. This made photography difficult.
Robin Reed in the shark cage
Beth Dalzell in the shark cage
Late in the afternoon, Mister Big showed up. We estimated this blue to be about 8 feet long. I was not in the cage but my friend Robin Reed was. She watched as Mister Big turned towards me and continued at me until I had to push him away with my camera. This made me very nervous. I decided not to go into the cage despite Robin's wild hand gestures. Mister Big must have liked my decision because he made another run at me, this time taking a bite on the lens shade of my camera. I again used the camera to push him out of the way. You will see that run at me in the sequence of shots below.
Mister Big, approximately 7' long shows up for an inspection