Trip 7 into our Guadalupe Island shark season was a little different. Two of the worlds most experienced free divers, William Winram and Fredric Buyle chartered the Islander with a group of guests and between cage diving activities, went beyond the cages to tag as many different animals as possible and aide Mauricio Hoyas’s research here at the Island.
Both tagging and free diving with sharks are controversial issues however by combining Maricios tagging methods with the experience of Will and Fred we where confident that the trip would run smooth and I am glad to report, it was another success.
The trip was also 8 days (as apposed to our usual 5 days) giving us plenty of time with the sharks and opportunity to put safety at the forefront. Most of our usual sharks made appearances throughout the trip including Bite Face and Bella (the latter being tagged on day 2 of the trip) plus the Tuna where back at the Island in great numbers too!
Tagging a shark whilst free diving is no easy task however, this was not Will and Freds first rodeo! They have conducted the tagging of many shark species in many locations around the world and had spent many hours in the water prior to this trip with white sharks. They comply with a strict code of conduct whilst doing this work and at no time during the process are boundaries pushed. In fact, due to their strict regulations it takes a while to be able to swim freely with the correct shark, in the correct conditions at just the right time. We also had a film crew onboard and putting all these elements together and then being in the right place to film it takes a lot of patience. 
The tags are small cylinder shapes (about the size of a cigar) and are shot onto the shark using a speargun just at the base of the dorsal fin. Once attached Mauricio is then able to get the data given off from the tag from the underwater receivers he has set around Guadalupe island giving him a further understanding of the movement of these animals. 
By day 3 of the trip 8 different sharks had been tagged successfully and on day 4 one of our favorite sharks “Gianna” made an appearance! Gianna is one of the islands large females and seems to show up for free divers in particular! Last year we spent many hours with her underwater for a film crew on rebreathers who got some very impressive shots with this 16ft shark and it seems she likes the camera because as soon as we entered the water again this year and started the camera rolling she arrived right on cue! 
During this time I was with one of the camera men in the drop down cage taking film of Fred and Will from below swimming with Gianna and from this angle you can really see her immense size as she makes the divers in the water with her look tiny! She is on the other had (and thankfully so) a very relaxed shark that shows no aggression towards any of the divers thus making her a fantastic shark to get such impressive shots!
After deploying 8 tags, giving everyone in the cages plenty of sharks to photograph and the film crew hours of footage we headed back to San Diego early as unfortunately some bad weather was scheduled at the island for the last couple of days of the charter. Not to be deterred , the islander headed for a days snorkeling, free diving and scuba diving at la Jolla coves’ kelp forrest in San Diego instead.
This is awesome - not only giving people the experience of a lifetime but doing your bit for shark conservation - SDX you are number one!
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