Drifting with an Oceanic Whitetip Shark

We started out today at VV buoy (FAD - Fish Aggregation Device) where the current was really ripping. There wasn't much going on there fishing-wise, so we concentrated on photography. We took some photos of the buoy, which was tilted over diagonally by the current. At SeaPics.com, we sometimes get photo requests for ocean currents, which is a tough topic to illustrate. Today, though, we got some decent shots of water currents around the buoy, along with the brown boobies, Sula leucogaster, resting on it.

After hanging around there for a bit, we spotted an oceanic whitetip shark, Carcharhinus longimanus, approaching the boat. Marine wildlife photographer, Masa Ushioda, was eager to get some shots of this one, so despite the strong ocean current, he jumped in at the up current of the buoy as the shark stationed at the down current. Predictably, he drifted fast away from the boat, buoy and the shark without getting off much of a shot. I took the boat down to pick him up, and we went back to the up current of the buoy to try again. We ended up repeating this exercise about 10 or 12 times until Masa got physically exhausted, trying to get off a shot of that shark right.

The current was still pulling hard, and there was a lot of fishing line tangled on the buoy chain, stretched out horizontally by the pull of the current. Masa was a bit worried about getting tangled up in that stuff while consentrating on the shark in the viewfinder. Most days, when there's no current, the lines just dangle straight down, unnoticed, but today it was a diver trap.

By now, the oceanic whitetip had accumulated some juvenile amberjacks, a nice rainbow runner and a pilot fish. These fish are sometimes seen together with oceanic whitetips, and shots of them in a group are colorful and very marketable. Despite the current and the dangerous fishing lines, we kept at it. Masa urged me to take a turn in the water on the grounds that I needed to witness this puppy face to face for my blog. I eventually got in, carrying a small bat with me, just in case...you know.

Oceanic whitetips are large pelagic sharks and known to be aggressive. They like to approach fishing boats and pilfer whatever fish are being reeled in. When a diver's in the water, they'll come right up to bump their nose with whatever, or take a nibble of whatever limb is being offered up. I was hoping this one, a female, wasn't in a mood for contact. As it turned out, she stayed about 12 to 15 feet away, which suited me just fine. We checked each other out for a while and drifted apart.

I got out of the water, and Masa tried his luck again. We repeated our game of hide-and-seek with the shark, but the current never did cooperate, and we called it a day, with just some so-so pics of her. Too bad; that oceanic whitetip lost her chance to be a cover girl for SeaPics.com.

As we left the area, we saw some small skipjack tunas, Katsuwonus pelamis, jumping out of the water. Boobies were flying all around us, attracted by the baitfish schooling there. A dog on a nearby boat was barking its head off, which made us laugh.

From there we went to C buoy. A small pod of short-finned pilot whales, Globicephala macrorhynchus, probably juveniles, was out there, just a little too far away for any decent shots. We noticed a great frigate bird, Fregata minor, circling, which is usually a good sign for fishing. As expected, there were some pantropical spotted dolphins, Stenella attenuata, leaping. We got some great pics of airborne dolphins. They jumped so high, it was sometimes hard to keep the horizontal line in the shot. There were also some big yellowfin tunas, Thunnus albacares, out there, and I got off a nice shot of a leaping tuna. I say it jump once and held ready for the second jump, which I got. Nice work, me! After a good afternoon of dolphin photography, we took off for home. Some baby dolphins followed us and rolled around and around in our boat's wake.

By now, a huge dark cloud had descended on us. We wanted to reach port before it really started pouring, but just then we spotted a beaked whale breaking the surface! We cut the engine, and miraculously, that whale metamorphosized into a large drifting log. Incredible, the things that happen at sea. Despite the impending rain, we decided to fish the log. Driftwood tends to accumulate small fish, and before long, it's a complete environment. We had time to catch a small wahoo, Pacific kingfish or ono, Acanthocybium solandri, by jigging under the log, and then headed back to the Keauhou Bay marina. We were drenched from the rain, but I had no time to change or even dry off, as it was my turn to carpool for my daughter's gymnastics group. No time to help Masa clean out the boat either; maybe next week!