When, last Sunday, my biologist friend Michelle invited us to join her and two visiting colleagues on a shark snorkel on the North Shore, we jumped at the chance. Craig and I spend most weekends in Waialua, our former home base, and often, when we walk past the shark boats in Haleiwa Harbor, we say, “We should do that.”
After decades of sailing and working throughout the tropical Pacific, we’ve done lots of snorkeling with sharks. But we were curious about Haleiwa’s shark boats. Where do they go and how do they attract sharks? Chumming, the practice of throwing chopped fish parts, or chum, overboard to attract sharks, is illegal in Hawaii.
Michelle chose a company called “One Ocean Diving,” recommended by a biologist friend because the company states its goals as conservation and education. And as we motored 3 miles offshore in their 24-foot-long boat, education is what we got.
Our driver slowed at Haleiwa’s red navigation buoy so we could admire 11 resting brown booby birds. For the rest of the trip, the two guides took turns driving and teaching. We learned, with photos, about this offshore area’s species, mostly Galapagos and sandbar sharks, although others, including hammerheads, sometimes show up.
The sharks come to this particular place, we were told, because an upwelling current there carries plankton toward the surface. The nutrients attract smaller fish, which attract larger fish, which attract sharks. Our guide also mentioned that since the 1960s crab fishermen have been throwing old bait from their traps overboard in the area, and that sharks have learned that a boat may mean free food.
Before the boat even fully stopped, several 5-to-7-foot-long Galapagos sharks greeted us. The species grows to 12 feet but most individuals in Hawaii are smaller. Despite their name, Galapagos sharks swim throughout the world’s tropical oceans. Stanford University scientists named the species Galapagos because they discovered it in those island waters in 1905.
Galapagos sharks aren’t aggressive, but they’re bold and curious and sometimes follow spear fishermen carrying a catch. A Galapagos shark once brushed past me under a pier at Midway Atoll, where the species is abundant. It was a bit close for comfort, but the shark was just going somewhere and ignored me.
We snorkeled quietly alongside the boat, while four or five Galapagos sharks and their rainbow runner, or kamanu, buddies, milled about below. Several smaller fish species also hung out, and the water was dotted with plankton.
We all agreed that the guides did a good job of advocating for sharks, proving that if you stay calm, and snorkel without splashing or thrashing, sharks keep their distance.
Swimming in Hawaii’s royal blue offshore waters was a pleasure in itself. Having sharks and jacks swim fearlessly below with no chumming or baiting made the trip a memorable experience. Now when we pass the shark boats we can say, “I’m glad we did that.”
To reach Susan Scott, visit www.susanscott.net and click on “Contact” at the top of her home page.
