Sharks and Fish
Saturday, November 14, 2009 - Michaelbinger
Hello all,
I just got back from one of the most amazing trips of my life. My brother and I went diving with great white sharks and fishing for tuna about 200 miles off the coast of Mexico. We had to skip the WPT at Foxwoods, but wow was it worth it.
We met our fellow travelers on Wednesday morning in San Diego, boarded a bus for the port of Ensenada Mexico, and departed on a long distance fishing boat called the Searcher. There was a crew of 6 or 7 and 16 passengers. We left port around 2pm and headed out into the Pacific for our 18 hour journey to the remote Guadalupe Island. Shortly after leaving port, we were graced by dozens of dolphins and some whales.
For dinner we had an amazing gourmet meal prepared by the on-board chef Charles. Did not expect to be eating that good on a boat!
We arrive to the island the next morning and promptly get to our business. A suitable spot is found, the water is chummed, and the cages are put in the water. The cages are about 8 feet long, 4 feet wide, and 10 feet tall and hold up to 4 people at a time. The water is sufficiently cold to warrant full body wet suits; oxygen is supplied from the boat through a tube and regulator. My brother and I were part of the first group to go in… some 30 minutes or so passed before the first shark showed up… a 15 foot great white. Quite a beast! At this point you become more aware of the large open window in the cage… just about big enough for the shark to pop in and grab a little human snack. However, after a little while it becomes clear that no such thing will happen… these guys are cautious creatures… and anyways they don’t really like the taste of human flesh. They do however swim within arms reach of the cage regularly, prompted both by curiosity as well as the bait… there are large tuna carcasses attached to a rope on the surface near the cages. Watching them go for these is quite a sight.
Words don’t really do this justice… so check out the pics below and more on my facebook page, where you’ll also find some video.
Our second full day we pulled in the cages and did some fishing instead. First we were after yellowfin tuna, a staple for many sushi dishes. They were biting in a big way… I had my line out for all of 30 seconds when I hooked one. They are quite the fighters… it took 15-20 minutes or so to land him… a 50 pounder. I ended up catching another pretty quickly. Then I hooked a monster… this guy was fighting much harder than the others. I fought with him for almost 30 minutes before a great white was spotted circling the boat and I was warned that they often pick off tuna from the lines. I see the shark head down into the depths where my fish was, and next thing I know my fish goes bananas. I couldn’t see him but I felt it. Then all of a sudden the pressure on my line subsides… but I still have something on there… putting up a little bit of a fight. I reel in as quickly as I can and finally catch a glimpse of about 2/3’s of a huge tuna fish shimmering in the depths! Then wouldn’t you know it, Mr. Shark comes back and intercepts the remainder of his meal, putting the poor tuna out of his misery and giving me quite a fish story. I got sharked! The crew actually has a term for it… they call it paying your taxes! This is one tough tax man! Later on I hooked another tuna (and in the process my line snapped the line on a fish my brother had been fighting for a long time… sorry Nick!) and eventually got shark chomped again… however this time he left me the head to bring aboard. Check out the pic! After everyone had caught their fill of yellowfin tuna, we changed locations in pursuit of yellowtail snapper (Hamachi to sushi aficionados). I managed to catch one of about 15-20 pounds. By evening time we were getting hungry… and as luck would have one of the crew members is an experienced sushi chef. We had the most amazing fresh sushi ever.
It was a great day… and Nick and I took home about 60 pounds of fillets of sushi grade tuna and yellowtail which are currently vacuum sealed and in our freezer. I pan seared some last night… yum!
Day 3 we were back in the water in the cages diving with the sharks. Another amazing day, with perfect weather and 2 great whites showing up and hanging out with us most of the day. There were times when both were very close to the cage simultaneously.
Towards evening it was time to say goodbye to Guadalupe Island and start chugging on our 18 hour journey back to civilization. There were some serious swells and several on board got sick. The next morning we were entering Ensenada bay when a pod of 6-8 Orca whales (Killer whales) was spotted at the mouth of the bay. We diverted to check them out. While ooohing and aaahing we notice a huge group of dolphins… well over a hundred. They were booking it from the interior of the bay along the rocky abutment heading towards open water. The crew tells us that yes, orcas do eat dolphins, and that the orcas had essentially trapped the dolphins in the bay. The dolphins were trying to escape. At this point the orcas take off from frolicking near our boat and plot an intercept course. They split the dolphins into two groups; one heads out to sea and relative safety while the other heads back into the bay where they must bide their time. And at least one poor dolphin got picked off from the rest of the group… we watched in fascination and horror as the orcas chased it down, caught it, threw it in the air and then proceeded to eat it. A flock of seagulls descended to fight over the leftovers. The crew said they had never seen anything like that before. We were very fortunate to have witnessed such a raw and uncensored act of nature.
Really an amazing trip… made me realize why I played poker again… so that I can have the flexibility to have these experiences.
Last night I played a bit of poker online… including the VIP freeroll on UB which I hosted. I ended up winning it for $1200! Nice to run good.
Best of Luck,
Michael Binger
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Tags: Foxwoods, Michel Binger, Online Poker, Poker Poker Poker, ub, VIP Freeroll, WPT
November 17th, 2009 at 6:02 am
That is bad ass, man!! Good for you. Nice sized tunas and a a 15ft White. Gotta love motha, motha ocean! Peace.
November 17th, 2009 at 8:42 am
wow those are some really nice pics of those sharks! were you scared? nice catch to btw…
November 19th, 2009 at 3:48 pm
Thanks Bcrstar and muchinriver! Yeah it was almost surreal being in the water with them. Not really scary per se… more like awe-inspiring. You can tell they are not out to get you and that the cages are pretty darn safe and tough.