Sharks vs Squid...

[pablovi]

pablovi, would you feel better if it were some affeminate, currently-enlisted
marines doing the trips?

i'm sure that happens, you know

Do you know that by personal expirience, or is this an invitation of some sort? I mean with your Oscar Wilde quote and everything.

 

[pablovi]

Maybe the alternative type of interaction that is provided by the Panga fishing fleet is more acceptable to you.

For the record, members of Sea Wolves Unlimited are from various branches of military service, from many countries. Some are current operators. One happens to be an ex-marine special forces member from "Your country". For various reasons, not all members of the team are listed on the "world wide web". I do feel that bashing someone for their previous military affiliation Is neither relevant nor........well I wont get started about that. I would also like to disagree about the "Macho" stereotype. All members of our team are highly trained and confident and have no need to "act" a certain way to gain attention. In our world actions speak louder than words.

For many years people have sat by and watched as productive fisheries that could have lasted forever were over exploited and finaly closed down. This has happend to the shark fishery in particular in this region of Baja.

As far as the interaction with the animals thing......it is my firm belief that all humans on the world can be blamed for its destruction. If you want to break it down, even walkin down a dirt trail can result in the death of several species of insects or plants that may have been at a critcal growth stage. The minute we wear our SCUBA gear and fall in the water we are initiating contact with the animals of the ocean. The key is to protect and learn with as little damage to the area and its animals as possible.

Adstaa,

I like your comparison of 60 dives with the DM program. There will need to be some type of a dive number that is reachable by the rec. diver. those are the types of opinions that I really need.

Spaceman,

In my experience so far the tentacles have been used to grab on and hold. I dont think that a squid could strangle a person especialy one thats struggling. Its the bite you need to worry about if they hang on for too long. Most squid encounters are like what is seen on the video clip. A squid comes in full speed, tentacles first. They flair the arms and hit full speed and grab on and "taste" you with the suction cups. If you dont taste like something good and move at the same time they usualy let you go with nothing but the marks from the teeth on the suckers. Sometimes they hang on and try to take a bite, thats what the armor is for...."just in case"

Pablovi,

When you drive out of the harbor in Santa Rosalia you can see the bottom. Its covered with thousands of cartilage peices left over from the harvest every night of thousands of these animals. The people who fish the squid must work all night in a Panga in the sea, a very dangerous job. They are paid very little for the kilos of squid they pull in. The fishery resource is then sent all over the world where people pay top dollar for Calimari Fillet. One day the resouce will be fished out or depleted so low that they wont make any money. Then the families of the area will be even more poor. Problems that are not confronted are never solved.

Where is the outrage for that?:06:

GTB
www.sea-wolves.com

I'm sorry if I sounded offensive, but I was really trying not to be. It's hard for me to express somethign in another language. But I do find your video and the way you attract people to your bussiness kind of disturbing. And kind of a "macho" attitude towards diving with this demons. I may have the wrong Idea, but that's what it seemed to me when I surf your web page.

It would be a nice thing that all those fishermen make their living out of a diving bussiness just like yours and stopped overfishing the squid and other species, something like that happened in Holbox, it was a fishermens village and now many of them have bussineses to dvie or snorkel with the Whale sharks in the area, and they take a Marine biologist in every trip, so that people wont hurt or even touch the whale sharks in a inproper manner.

If you're really making something fro the enviorement and really studying the squid, then I apologize, but from the look of your video and your web site I got a different picture.

BTW. How's the diving bussines in Santa Rosalia? It's a lovely town, or at least it was, my in laws are form Guaymas, just infrot of SAnta Rosalia Crossing the Cortez sea. I' have only dive in Loreto and Some islands near La Paz

 

[gonetobaja]

The diving business in Santa Rosalia is non-existant. There are no places to fill a tank and the only boats available are Pangas. We have been diving the area for several years now and have deals worked out with the hotel owners and such.

Santa Rosalia is a great town.

hey everyone,

Im still looking for opinions....how about

Cage vs armor?

and I need more info on opinions about diver experience.

GTB
www.sea-wolves.com

 

[neophyte]

Personally, I'd be much more interested in a dive involving armor than one inside a cage. I'm just basing that on the videos and your descriptions, but it sounds like so much of the fun/excitement comes from being right in the water with them, where they can grab you, try to drag you around, etc...

As far as experience, numbers can tell you something, but only so much. I think your best bet would be a checkout dive of some sort. For example getting in the water with the prospective diver and an assistant or two who grab them around the legs, yank their mask/reg off, etc... Even if it was done safely and they basically knew what to expect, you could probably learn something about their ability to stay calm and handle problems without bolting for the surface, or something equally dangerous.

Of course, that might not be feasible if you have to let people know whether or not they can dive with the squid when they book their trip, long before they ever show up.

You asked for opinions, those're some of mine.

Thanks for reading,

Adam

Also, I'm hoping to get to join you for some squid diving at some point. I've already begun discussing logistics with the wife. I've enjoyed the hell out of both shark and manta ray "encounter" dives.

 

[H2Andy]

I mean with your Oscar Wilde quote and everything.

but.... but.... you know about Oscar... so.... that means... er... you....


lol

:14:

 

[spacemanspiff1974]

Have another question regarding the dangers of squid.

If they do bite, what kind of pressure do those beaks exert? I know that macaws can crack brazil nuts with their beaks. Heck, I even had an african grey break my skin from a bite when I was wearing gloves - too much concentrated pressure. Granted a squid is a vastly different species, but how strong are we talking about?

Certainly mesh or chain mail could protect against piercing, but if your hand or arm is broken by the pressure....

Not trying to be paranoid or cause any sort of arguement here, I just don't know much about the strength of larger cephs.

 

[gonetobaja]

Now thats what Im talking about!

Those are the kinds of opinions I need to know to make this thing last the test of time.

Neophyte,

I like your idea of a check out dive and the examples you use for tests. I suppose we could develop a list of skills and scenarios you would be able to pass to qualify.

I got it. Are there any instructors out there that could develop a wild animal encounter class? I mean it seems possible to get all other types of diving certs.

Neophyte thats a great idea!

Spaceman,

You have a valid and very real concern about the beaks. Here is the reality of the actual dive. We started diving with panel armor, just like a stormtrooper costume. We found that the squid would do a hit on you with full speed sometimes, not always. Some encounters where eire. The squid would just hover around you for 5 or 6 minutes flashing colors, truly I cant descibe it so I wont even try. We started to use the chain mail because we only have 3 sets of custom panel armor. Making armor is very hard and it took along time. We became sponsored by Neptunic Shark Suits. www.neptunic.com They let us use some of the suits to try and see how the squid would react. We found that when the squid grabbed the steel mesh they knew almost immediatly that you where not edible. The taste of the stainless steel mesh is not exactly what they are used to . Combine this with your natural reaction that you will have. Imagine waking up from a nap with a big ugly spider crawling up your arm. Of course if you are prepared then its easier to handle. A shove of your camera or elbow shot gives them just another reason. They let go and then leave you alone. But another one might take a taste just to be sure, then his friend. So far we have not been bitten with the chain mail on. That being said we are currently developing prototype combo panel/mail suits that will help prevent from beak bites on 90% and shark bites as well. They should be finished by may/june. That is why I have all of the questions. A custome designed panel/chain hybrid dive armor set runs about 7,000 to make. You can do the math for 4 customers and 2 guides. For now we are using the chain mail and it seems to be very effective. As far as the squid bite pressure, I dont think it has ever been tested. We have seen a squid bite through a tuna head, bone and all. I calculate it kinda like you said....Imagine a 120lb Mackaw.....The beak on one of average size is about the size of a kids fist. It can take out a chunk the size of a lime. The big ones are....well....bigger.

Remember that these are very smart animals. How smart I dont know. We have put cages in the water with them with no mesh. Wide spacing about 9inches. The bars where painted yellow. The squid would come up to the cage and touch it but would not go in. It must have seemed too uncomfortable for the squid to put itself in an enclosed area inside the cage. They like the open water. The smartness of the squid can work against them in this case, also in the case of the chain mail armor.

Im actually leaving on a two day job right now so I will talk to you guys when I get back.

Please keep the ideas for some sort of a wild animal encounter cert, and cage vs armor.

Thanks to everyone.

GTB
www.sea-wolves.com

 

[archman]

Cephalopod bite-pressure is pretty high. if you ever dissect a squid, you'll find that the jaws are deeply imbedded in a round ball of pure muscle; the buccal bulb.

The jaws themselves are made of chitin, and razor sharp. Sharper than parrot's beaks, and harder too.

If you ever watch pelagic squid feeding, you're in for a gruesome time. Many species like to zero in on the heads of fishes (they use the eyeball as a target). They'll grab the fish by the head if they can, and deliver a powerful chomp to sever it from the rest of the body.

Fortunately squids and their kin tend to be very picky about what they chomp. They're not arbitrary biters like a lot of sharks and fishes. They'll usually evaluate mystery items with their arms and tentacles first. They almost never bite defensively, either.

Squid jaws are small too. A foot-long generic squid might have a beak that's 1/3 inch long. Big scale squids in the Gulf of Mexico (roughly the same size as Humboldt's) have something that's about parakeet-sized. So unless you come across some bus-sized animal, there shouldn't be any concerns about limbs being severed. Fingers maybe...

 

[Benthos]

I'd rather watch a white cruse by from down in the rocks then try and detach myself, friends or gear from a large PNW Cephalopod. You can poke around my gallery for pics of diving with humboldts.

Are you trying to decide on an adventure?

Scott's your man.

 

[tehkraken]

much rather body armor with sharks around me.....hate squid....so much. I'll take sharks any day!!
Cheers, Josh