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I posted this earlier in the solo forum, but since most folks who read this forum don't go there, I'll repost it here as well.
For those of you who are interested, there are at least three different sixgill sharks hanging out in the depths at Redondo lately ... ranging in size from 3-4 feet to about 7 feet. Prior to last week's sighting, it had been six years since I'd seen one at all ... now I've seen one on each of my last two dives down to where they're known to hang out ...
So I went down to Redondo last night for a solo dive … thinking to head out to see if I could find this little sixgill shark I found a week ago. I took my sidemount doubles and an O2 bottle for deco, got in the water and swam down to about 100 fsw. Thinking that I should probably take a test shot to make sure my strobes were set up right (they weren’t last week which cost me what should've been some nice shots) I found a clump of orange plumose to use as a test subject, set up, hit the shutter … and nothing happened. Thinking about it for a minute I realized what was wrong … when I put the camera in the housing, I forgot to pop up the flash … and without it, no strobes. I knew that was going to happen sooner or later. Here I am at 100 feet, in shark country, and carrying a useless camera. So I turned around and headed back.
A few seconds later it occurred to me to put the camera in video mode … just in case I stumbled across the little sixgill on my way in. Problem is, I’ve only used the video once, and that was on land. I had to remember how to do it. So I stopped where I was and started pushing buttons, hoping I could figure it out. It took a couple minutes, but I finally got it. With this camera, when you get the video working you know it because the image displays on the LCD … regardless of what mode you had the camera in previously (I don’t normally use the LCD for photos … I use the eyepiece). So, success … raising the camera I realized something was moving in the frame … a SIXGILL! This one wasn’t no baby either … it was bigger than me. It slowly approached, and as I watched … video running … it swam up and literally nosed the camera!
I got almost seven minutes of video … mostly of a tail as I was chasing the thing. As soon as it realized I wasn’t food … or a potential sex partner … it slowly swam away .. but slow to a sixgill is about all I can do to keep up with.
About a minute into the video I noticed lights heading my way … two divers swimming by, perhaps 15-20 feet away. I shined my light on the shark, thinking they’d surely see it. No change of course. OK, so I flashed my light at them … the emergency signal, thinking they'd surely swim toward me then. Still no response (good thing it wasn't a real emergency). After a few seconds they turned and swam away … never realizing there was a seven-foot shark within just a few feet of where they had just been. I later showed them the video in the parking lot … they told me they noticed me flashing, but they were busy looking for a shark.
Oh well … anyway, here's the video. Not too bad, considering all I had for lighting was my focus light ...
... Bob (Grateful Diver)
For those of you who are interested, there are at least three different sixgill sharks hanging out in the depths at Redondo lately ... ranging in size from 3-4 feet to about 7 feet. Prior to last week's sighting, it had been six years since I'd seen one at all ... now I've seen one on each of my last two dives down to where they're known to hang out ...
So I went down to Redondo last night for a solo dive … thinking to head out to see if I could find this little sixgill shark I found a week ago. I took my sidemount doubles and an O2 bottle for deco, got in the water and swam down to about 100 fsw. Thinking that I should probably take a test shot to make sure my strobes were set up right (they weren’t last week which cost me what should've been some nice shots) I found a clump of orange plumose to use as a test subject, set up, hit the shutter … and nothing happened. Thinking about it for a minute I realized what was wrong … when I put the camera in the housing, I forgot to pop up the flash … and without it, no strobes. I knew that was going to happen sooner or later. Here I am at 100 feet, in shark country, and carrying a useless camera. So I turned around and headed back.
A few seconds later it occurred to me to put the camera in video mode … just in case I stumbled across the little sixgill on my way in. Problem is, I’ve only used the video once, and that was on land. I had to remember how to do it. So I stopped where I was and started pushing buttons, hoping I could figure it out. It took a couple minutes, but I finally got it. With this camera, when you get the video working you know it because the image displays on the LCD … regardless of what mode you had the camera in previously (I don’t normally use the LCD for photos … I use the eyepiece). So, success … raising the camera I realized something was moving in the frame … a SIXGILL! This one wasn’t no baby either … it was bigger than me. It slowly approached, and as I watched … video running … it swam up and literally nosed the camera!
I got almost seven minutes of video … mostly of a tail as I was chasing the thing. As soon as it realized I wasn’t food … or a potential sex partner … it slowly swam away .. but slow to a sixgill is about all I can do to keep up with.
About a minute into the video I noticed lights heading my way … two divers swimming by, perhaps 15-20 feet away. I shined my light on the shark, thinking they’d surely see it. No change of course. OK, so I flashed my light at them … the emergency signal, thinking they'd surely swim toward me then. Still no response (good thing it wasn't a real emergency). After a few seconds they turned and swam away … never realizing there was a seven-foot shark within just a few feet of where they had just been. I later showed them the video in the parking lot … they told me they noticed me flashing, but they were busy looking for a shark.
Oh well … anyway, here's the video. Not too bad, considering all I had for lighting was my focus light ...
... Bob (Grateful Diver)
. Any shark is great!
