USD Magazine, Summer 2000

fts heen light for ahouf half an hour, hut the sun pierces the horizon of Angel de la 6uarda Island around 6 am. The flies hegin their morning ritual of singing in my ear and I pull the sheet over my head. only to instantly toss if off from the heat hearing down on my cot. The sound of a whale's hlow hreaks the early morning silence. Shorebirds create an orchestra of song as they nght over a large Humboldt squid washed ashore, struggling for life after an exhausting and fatal night of mating. Hundreds of I stingrays frantically -flee as I shuffle through the sand -flats fo my small aluminum hoof. It's a six-mile Journey fo the south end of the hay from camp. and the hoof glides across the glassy wafer ofBahia de Los Angeles, some 1./50 miles south ofSan Diego. I arrive of a spot where my gut fells me there will he action. I am the only hoof on the hay. Schools of haitnsh are actively feeding nearhy. creating sounds similar fo falling rain as they hreak the wafer's calm. I move closer fo the nsh. scanning the surface for any signs. and then I see if. The large dorsal nn of a shark hreaks the wafer, creaftng a small wake. I move in for a heffer look. It's a 30-foof whale shark. twice the size ofmy hoof andjust as wide. In my effort fo frock the feeding hahifs of this mas– sive species, I must insert a radio fag in ifs hody. This requires some skill and a lot of luck - making sure I don't pierce my hody with the razor-sharp spear. or worse. get fangled up in the 20 feet of ltne, whic;h could drag me down fo the ocean depths when the shark dives. Intimidated. yet exhilarated. I fu,sn off the engine. throw on my snorkelgear and enter the wafer. With the Hawaiian Sling {pole spear/gripped fight in my right hand and a radio fag 1n the left. I swim within a few feet of the giant nsh. just he/ow the dorsal nn. and let the spear go. The shark harely fltnches. The spear tip and radio fag anchor disappear info the shark's e1ghhnch-fhick sktn, and I pull the spear free. Unperfurhed. the shark continues fo feed

ONE STUDENT'S DIARY Of HIS WHALE SHARK RESEARCH, WHICH SOMEDAY MAY LEAD TO THE THREATENED FISH'S PROTECTION • BY JON NELSON

Swimming with the

U S D M AGAZ I NE

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