Growing up on the tropical island of Jamaica, it’s not surprising that Guy Harvey developed a love for the sea and fishes early on or that he would choose a career based on their study. However, his passions led him down a decidedly unorthodox path for a fisheries biologist.
Harvey built a marine art empire that has put shirts depicting marlins, sharks, and other open water dwellers on countless backs. In the process, he reveals glimpses of what is, to most, an unseen world, and raises millions of dollars for conservation and research efforts.
Harvey discovered his skill for scientific illustration as an undergraduate before beginning a PhD in fisheries ecology at the University of the West Indies. He formally studied herrings, but volunteer work cataloging data about contestants’ catches at local fishing tournaments would prove to be the more life-transforming experience.
A tournament friend introduced Harvey to a Florida apparel company owner who thought some of Harvey’s drawings depicting Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea, would look good on T-shirts. Thus, in 1986, the Guy Harvey brand was born, which was the same year he received his PhD.
Harvey left a University of the West Indies fisheries faculty position in 1988 to build a marine art company that now includes a full range of clothing, as well as restaurants and other projects, although T-shirts are still the most popular displays of his work. “The art has been useful in portraying aspects of the natural history of fish such as billfish, tunas, and large sharks that traditionally have been hard to access,” he says.
Harvey never lost interest in formal research and donates a percentage of his profits to conservation and science. Funding supports the Guy Harvey Research Institute at Nova Southeastern University in Florida, and Harvey also partners with more than a dozen other institutions through the Guy Harvey Ocean Foundation.
In some cases, Harvey assists with fieldwork, for instance, satellite tagging billfish off the coast of Mexico, and working on marine life documentaries. “There’s so much to learn about these animals,” he says, “I feel like we’ve just dented the really interesting stuff.”
AFTCO is a proud supporter of the Mexico Beach Artificial Reef Association. The MBARA was formed in January of 1997 and has since deployed over 200 artificial reefs. The mission of the MBARA is the conservation and environmental improvement of natural and artificial marine reef systems in the Gulf of Mexico near Mexico Beach, Florida.
Reef Building
The MBARA works hard to construct artificial reef habitat to enhance sustainable fisheries in the waters of the Gulf of Mexico. The MBARA set a milestone of establishing 1000 patch reefs, or small artificial reef habitats in the waters off Mexico Beach, Florida. The MBARA works closely with the City of Mexico Beach, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commision, and the United States Army Corps of Engineers to achieve this goal.
Constructing Reef Habitat
Artificial Reef Deployment
Reef Education
Since its inception, the MBARA has worked hard to conduct and promote scientific research and evaluation of reef designs, biomass development, and fish productions. A focus for the MBARA has been the education of the public about the values of sustainable artificial reef fisheries in the Gulf of Mexico, and the impact they have on the ecosystems and coastal communities where they are built. School children, members of the organization, and the general public need to know all about reefs and reef building in order to help promote conservation and environmental improvement of the marine reef systems.
Below is a summary of the Mega Limpieza in Puerto Rico. Proudly sponsored by the Guy Harvey Ocean Foundation, 500 volunteers managed to clean up over 28,000 pounds of litter and waste that has collected in the lagoons and estuaries of San Juan Bay Puerto Rico. These mangrove lined lagoons are home to some of the richest inland fisheries on the island. This clean up effort was the result of a blog written by our good friend Doug Olander, editor of Sport Fishing Magazine.
—Bill Shedd
Mega Limpieza – San Juan Bay, Puerto Rico
The “Mega Limpieza” (translated Mega Clean Up) , took place March 16, 2013 in the lagoons and estuaries of San Juan Bay in Puerto Rico. San Juan Bay offers up world class fishing, especially those looking to chase trophy Tarpon. Also home to the lagoons and estuaries are beautiful herons and ospreys that constantly fly overhead to make a bird watcher’s paradise.
However, amidst the prime fishery and lush environment lies ugly scenes of littered trash tucked into the mangroves. Some of the trash was dumped by locals, but much of it is estimated to drift in from the rivers that flow into the estuary and lagoon from highlands to the South. Poor waste disposal and plain carelessness resulted in the creation of a mess that could deteriorate a unique and special estuary.
Volunteers display their catch, of a different sort.
Over 500 volunteers participated in the Mega Limpieza, picking up over 28,000 pounds of trash and debris from San Juan Bay this past Saturday. Volunteer campaigns were organized by Israel Umpierre’s Pesca, Playa, and Ambiente Group & Jose Aponte’s Kayakeros Association of Kayakers. Both Umpierre and Aponte decided to take action after reading a column by Doug Olander in Sport Fishing Magazine.
Kayakers on the shore after their work was done -- see their work behind them.
The clean up efforts were sponsored in part by the Guy Harvey Ocean Foundation to support the good cause. Once backed by the GHOF the Mega Limpieza took own a movement of more sponsors, volunteers and government officials signed up to help.
The Mega Limpieza drew big attention. Two members of Puerto Rico’s executive branch were on hand for the entire clean up. The clean up efforts were also televised by Univision, Telemundo, and Pescando en Los Cayos, the only spanish language fishing show in the U.S.
After kayakers in the mangroves filled up bags, these were picked up by motorboats operated by tarpon fishing captains.
It was a rough day with wind driven spray. Even at trolling speed the tower leg was coated with a film of salt water and my hands became wet while climbing back into the tower after fighting a marlin from the bridge control station. As I picked up the VHF radio’s microphone to call in the tag and release to the committee boat the radio jumped back to channel 16. I spun the dial back to the tournament channel and tried again with the same result. Not until the third failed attempt to contact the committee boat did I realize what was going wrong.
The new radio I had recently had installed had a feature that seemed logical to some electronic tech-head but was a major hassle to me in the real world. The radio was designed to automatically switch back to emergency and stand-by channel #16 when placed into its metal holder. Unfortunately, I could not hold the radio in one wet hand without changing away from the channel I was supposed to use for tournament communications. We cut the wire which activated the unwanted feature and the radio worked just fine on whatever channel I chose. I do the same thing for microphones with key pads and buttons that switch channels up or down. They may work well on big yachts, but in rough water on fishing boats they are a nuisance.
That night over an evening cocktail we had a discussion of several ideas which had looked good on paper but were an inconvenience or even a real nuisance to boatmen who actually went to sea in less than perfect conditions. Here are a few…
I really dislike modern towers where form has interfered with function. (I almost always STAY in the tower to get the enhanced vision the extra height gives me.) To create a stylish look many towers have back legs/ladders so close to vertical it is dangerous to attempt to climb them in a choppy sea or at cruising speed.
Equally bad is the tendency to have supports for the Bimini top/sun shade that angle fashionably inboard to follow the line of the front tower leg supports. It is impossible to get comfortably wedged into a corner of the padded belly rail in rough weather without being beaten to a pulp by the un-padded aluminum of the sun shade supports (and the majority of new towers won’t allow you to get wedged in a corner and still reach both reach the steering wheel and the control levers.)
The seats with back rests that are common in today’s towers are a great spot for the owner’s kids to sit looking ahead and drinking a coke in calm water, but make watching trolling baits or seeing what is going on in the cockpit when fighting a fish almost impossible. I rarely see a tower these days I would allow on any boat that I had to run and fish competitively!
Badly designed flying bridges are also far too common on new boats. I was on a “sport fishing” boat that cost several million dollars, from a highly respected custom builder, with a helm station that did not only NOT allow me to see the angler in the fighting chair, I could not see any part of the fore deck while attempting to dock the boat. (When the mate stood as far forward as possible on the bow I could barely see the belt buckle at his waist!)
Yacht captains may be used to running back and forth across their flying bridge as they carefully approach dock but I find that unacceptable in a sport fishing boat. (“Wait a minute and hold still Mr. Marlin while I run over here and see where my angler is right now!” -Fat chance!)
I need to at least be able to see down to the angler’s waist to see what the spool of the reel is doing so I can properly maneuver the boat to help, rather than hinder, my angler.
Cockpit controls can help but should not be placed where an off balance guest can inadvertently pull or push them. (One big advantage of the new electronic controls is that they only function after being activated and assuming command at the designated station, thereby eliminating sudden changes when a control lever is used as a grab rail!)
The new fashionable look in modern sport fishing circles of vessels without a bow rail is also just plain dumb! You may not plan on anchoring (no bottom fishing?) but if you ever have to (especially in rough weather) the owner or designer or builder is ASKING for a law suit if the passenger or crew setting the anchor falls overboard or gets hurt -and every boat that doesn’t spend ALL its time in dry dock or a marina will at some time have a problem requiring that an anchor be set!
Also, if you are ever going to live aboard or spend a weekend offshore forget about having all the towels exactly the same. Monograms are fine but let’s have several colors so everyone can know which towel is theirs and hang it up to dry and allow at least a couple of days use. (More towel racks please!!!)
Three tags deployed by members of the Atlantic Tuna Project in yellowfin tuna have been re-captured in the Pacific ocean. The yellowfin tuna were tagged with conventional tags from The Billfish Foundation on dedicated catch, tag and release trips from the Panama Sportfishing Lodge in Chiriqui Panama. The first recapture was originally tagged on April 9th, 2011 and recaptured on September 3rd, 2011 by a purse seiner off the coast of Costa Rica. The second recapture was originally tagged on March 1st 2012 near Hannibal Bank and was recaptured in Southern Panama offshore of Los Santos on September 4th, 2012 by a recreational charter boat. The third re-capture was originally tagged near Hannibal Bank in Panama on March 1st, 2012 and re-captured on May 18th, 2012 some 700 miles South off the coast of Equador by a private angler. All three yellowfin were school size in the 40 inch range.
John LoGioco, founder of the Atlantic Tuna Project says “This is very exciting. This represents a ~4% return rate for our efforts. Personally I thought it would take a lot more tags to be deployed before we would see a return in this part of the Pacific ocean. The benefits here are two fold, first it’s wonderful to see anglers enjoying a great fishing adventure on a catch, tag and release format, second the data retrieved from these returns is incredibly valuable to further understanding the habits of yellowfin tuna in this region.
Sportfishing is an important activity for Panama as a country, and yellowfin tuna are a main attraction. This is one of largest directed efforts for recreational anglers directed at tagging yellowfin tuna in this region and it’s wonderful to see tags being returned. The catch, tag and release culture for both billfish and tuna is critical for the long-term sustainability of the fishery. The Billfish Foundation works with the Panamanian government as well as on the water efforts like the Atlantic Tuna Project to further protect this valuable fishery.
The anglers, who originally tag the tuna, also get notification of the re-capture and a certificate of their achievement. An Atlantic Tuna Project member who had one of his yellowfin recaptured says; “It’s incredibly rewarding to see a tag that I deployed come back. It’s a great feeling to catch and release these tuna and to also know that my efforts could help better understand these great fish is amazing. It’s a highlight of my angling career.”
Founded in 2009, The Atlantic Tuna Project is a community dedicated to facilitating catch, tag and release of offshore species such as Atlantic and Pacific tunas, billfish and sharks. The web site, www.savethebluefin.com serves as the center of the project where captains and anglers can join and contribute to the conversation about catch, tag and release.
Measuring & Tagging Yellowfin Tuna
For a complete list of our other featured blog posts and to see the full line of Guy Harvey Sportswear, please visit:www.guyharveysportswear.com
Below is a summary of the 2012 Dolphin Research Program. Both Guy Harvey and AFTCO are proud to be official sponsors of the program. It is privately run by Don Hammond of Cooperative Science Services, LLC., and is very important for a better understanding of the dolphin population in the Atlantic, Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico. If you would like more information on the program please contact Don Hammond at cssllc@bellsouth.net or go to their website at www.dolphintagging.com
—Bill Shedd
February 2013
Dolphin Tagging in 2012
The 2012 study of dolphin movements and migrations was assisted by 102 different sports fishing vessels fishing the Gulf of Mexico, U.S. Atlantic Coast northward to New Jersey, the Bahamas and Caribbean Sea. The crews of these vessels tagged a total of 1,147 dolphin. While 193 anglers were reported participating in the tagging, the number is significantly higher because most of the participating charter boats do not report the anglers.
A record number of 173 new anglers/boats were signed up to tag dolphin in 2012. Tagging reports showed that of the 102 participating boats, 51 tagged their first dolphin in 2012. Making up half of the fleet tagging dolphin in 2012, these boats accounted for 211 fish or 18 percent of the dolphin tagged and released in 2012.
Similar to fishing where ten percent of the anglers catch 90 percent of the fish, a small portion of the participating boats, 18 percent, tagged the majority of the fish. Eighteen boats reported tagging ten or more dolphin in 2012. The crews of these boats tagged 78 percent, 896 fish, of all fish tagged and released during the year.
Most of these top contributing boats have been tagging for several years. Only four of these top boats entered the program for the first time in 2012. Typically, these boat crews have built an increased interest in the program from recaptures of their fish. They have learned that with a little diligence and effort, they can find out where their fish go. Other motivating factors are a desire to contribute to science and the future well-being of the dolphin stock, a fish they love to catch.
Those small dolphin can be worth as much as $25.00 each if they are tagged and released. Read the article about the top dolphin taggers to learn more.
Tagging activity varied widely among the different zones. Six areas exceeded the average number of fish tagged there since the study began. These areas were south Florida, southern North Carolina below Hatteras, northern Mid-Atlantic Bight, Gulf of Mexico, tropical western North Atlantic, and Caribbean Sea. These areas had from 4 to 56 more fish tagged than their annual average, but their gains did not make up for the losses in other areas. Tagging in the Bahamas exhibited one of the worst declines, falling from its average 131 fish per year to only 13 fish tagged in 2012. Southern South Carolina also showed a similar decline with only 40 fish tagged compared to its annual average of 234 fish tagged. Tagging in the remaining five regions also fell below their annual average. Even though the number of fish tagged in 2012 was not as high as we would like to see, the number still exceeds the annual goal of 1,000 fish.
For a complete list of our other featured blog posts and to see the full line of Guy Harvey Sportswear, please visit:www.guyharveysportswear.com
When John Rafter asked me “Pete, if you knew tomorrow was going to be the last day you ever got to fish in your life, but you could be wherever you wanted to be, and in the prime time or season, where would you choose?” A thousand images flooded my brain. “That’s really tough. There are so many places.” I replied. “What about St. Thomas?” Rafter queried. “We were talking about this at Oden’s Dock in Hatteras and someone said that was the best blue marlin fishing ever.”
St. Thomas is a lovely island and the Virgin Islands have great diving and snorkeling in crystal clear bays over sand so white it hurts the eyes- and some of the best reefs in the Caribbean. With 5 to 10 bites a day on blue marlin not guaranteed, but also not unusual, it conjured up fond memories.
“I’d have to think about that and Cape Verde would probably win if I was going after blue marlin. There are even more fish there, and lots of action would probably win out over someplace like Madeira which is such a gorgeous place just to BE that the fishing is almost a bonus. In Madeira even though the action is not as red hot when you do get a bite it is likely to be a real monster -but the biggest blue I ever saw was off Mindelo in Cape Verde so that’s a tough one.” I mused.
I make my living fishing for monster marlin and tuna and love that kind of fishing even though it can be hard work and is often stressful when we’re under pressure to produce. When I fish for the sheer fun of it I’m often targeting smaller fish.
“I haven’t had a chance to take my daughter, Bimini, after bonefish yet.” I told Rafter. “I can remember wading the flats east of the island she’s named after at sunrise and that’s pretty darn gorgeous. With a rising tide and those schools of fish pushing up onto the flats trying to pick out tails and get a bite out of those spooky devils, if I could only fish one more day I’m not sure I wouldn’t like to share that with my little girl.”
Then I thought about tarpon. Its cooler and yuppier to fish with fly rods on the flats and that is also great fun, but Boca Grande won for that scene. I remembered the sun setting in the west just as a full moon was rising in the east. Calm water shimmering in the light that never really quit with the big full moon spring tides carrying all that LIFE. Weed and crabs and minnows all going with the current and then the tarpon- thousands upon thousands of them rolling in huge packs of prehistoric predators eating every bait we put out. No records, no pressure to perform, just fish after fish jumping, fighting, and being released-healthy. I’d hate to think I’d never see that again.
“What about those days we had in Hatteras when the bluefins were THICK?” Rafter interrupted my silent thoughts. Boy could I see that in my mind’s eye. Enormous shapes zooming through the water eating chum before it could get really wet. Giant tuna eating chicken wings and squashed Pepsi cans if they were thrown in the cadence of the cut up baitfish chum. The line crackling off the reel. Using 100 pounds of drag on custom Cal Sheets 130 reels with a top shot of 300 pound line or sunny days off Cat Cay and Bimini with even bigger tuna running before the sea. Harder there to get a bite but even bigger fish!
“It has to be Australia,” I told Rafter. “The Great Barrier Reef is the ultimate. Not just lots of marlin but monsters over 1000 pounds and if they aren’t cooperating, the reef is still some of the best fishing anywhere. Deep jigging, throwing poppers for huge jacks. We caught 16 species in an hour one morning just playing around. Even in the off season fishing for reef species is better than the Florida Keys or anywhere in the Caribbean.” “And the diving there is truly wonderful. The dive industry is WAY bigger than fishing down under. We get to snorkel and dive in the best spots, ones that even the dive boats don’t go to – in fact the fishing guys found most of the dive spots when we were the only boats out there and that was only during our short black marlin season.”
Then Rafter stopped me cold. “You know what? Ernie Foster was in the crowd at Hatteras and here’s what he said. ‘Boys, you never know which day IS going to be the last one you do get to go fishing. You better enjoy each one as if it WAS the last.’”
Thinking about this has made me appreciate my time on the water even more and I’ve resolved to concentrate even more than I already do on two aspects of my fishing.
Share it with kids. There is no better way to enjoy a day on the water than taking a kid fishing. Someday I’m going to finish a book I’ve started called “Mentors”, partly about men who took me fishing. In the meantime, I’m going to do more of what my grandmother called “Paying for my raising.”
I have always been a conservationist and I will continue to help out the fish populations. Only strong resources and good management can ensure that what I have loved will be here for future generations to enjoy.
For a complete list of our other featured blog posts and to see the full line of Guy Harvey Sportswear, please visit:www.guyharveysportswear.com
Nashville, TN — Multi-platinum artist and touring sensation Kenny Chesney is scheduled to be one of the headliners for Rock The Ocean’s inaugural TORTUGA MUSIC FESTIVAL, April 13-14, 2013, presented by Landshark Lager. The two-day music festival produced by HUKA Entertainment, will play host to twenty plus pop, rock and country artists who will perform on three stages, located directly on the beach. Artists to include: Grammy nominated The Avett Brothers, Gary Allan, Grammy nominated Eli Young Band, Gary Clark Jr, Michael Franti & Spearhead, G. Love and Special Sauce, Kip Moore and Sister Hazel. A second headliner and additional artists will be announced in the coming weeks. Tickets to go on-sale Saturday, Dec 15 at www.tortugamusicfestival.com .
The sands of Fort Lauderdale Beach will be turned into our oceanfront festival grounds, making Tortuga Fest, a music and ocean lover’s paradise. Fans will enjoy music performances with the sun and stars above, an ocean breeze in the air, and sand under their feet. Local culinary fair, sustainable seafood as well as traditional festival favorites will be served.
In partnership with Guy Harvey Ocean Foundation and Ocean Conservancy, a one-of-a-kind Conservation Village will be located on site to educate audience members and provide them with the information and tools they need to help conserve the world’s oceans.
Festival creators Rock The Ocean and HUKA Entertainment are thrilled to partner with the Guy Harvey Ocean Foundation. RTO founder, Chris Stacey said, “in addition to being a world renowned artist, Dr. Guy Harvey is a world-class conservationist. Our team is great at creating amazing concert experiences, and Guy and his team know how to help save the worlds oceans.”
“This is not your average music festival,” stated producer AJ Niland. “This festival will showcase world class talent, with world class amenities on a world class beachfront setting. More importantly, it is a festival with a purpose.”
“We are honored to partner with Rock the Oceans and HUKA Entertainment,” said Dr. Guy Harvey. “Rock the Oceans will raise awareness of marine conservation, while providing us with a memorable music experience.”
Join us April 13-14! Celebrate and conserve the ocean.
For a complete list of our other featured blog posts and to see the full line of Guy Harvey Sportswear, please visit:www.guyharveysportswear.com
It has been ten years since I went to Cocos Island, so when friends, Jim and Steve Valetta and friends from Phoenix, organized the expedition from last year, I was eager to go. When people ask me where is my favorite place to dive… I say, “Cocos Island”. I have been on six previous expeditions from the early 1990s to 2002. Most of these expeditions were on board the Madam/Hooker during which time we spent each day fishing for 7 hours and would squeeze in three dives per day. Very full days! The Harvey berets were going full blast!
Cocos is about 300 miles off the west coast of Costa Rica accessible by long range dive boats or sport fishing boats. The only residents are a number of rangers who try to protect the island and marine park from the constant barrage of illegal fishing vessels, mostly Costa Rican. Currently, the no fish zone is 12 miles out from the island.
In the 1990s, the no fish zone was 5 miles from the island; so much of the island shelf on the east and south side was still fishable. The main species was the striped marlin, which averaged 200#. There were also lots of blue marlin and sailfish, plus a few blacks, so every day you had a shot at a grand slam.
The last dedicated dive expedition was aboard the Aggressor Fleets’ “Okeanos Agressor” with owner Wayne Hasson together with Kent Ullberg and my daughter Jessica, then 12 years old. We had a full boat with friends and staff, and had a great time. Cocos is like a mini Galapagos with all the same species, except sea lions and penguins. Jim and Steve booked us on the Undersea Hunter flagship, the “Argo”, a very comfortable and spacious 130 foot vessel that also carried a submarine operated by Deepsee.
Guy Harvey working on Galapagos shark painting. Time on the water like this Cocos Island Expedition are a major source of inspiration for Guy's artwork
Jessica and Alex were on board, plus George Schellenger who was going to shoot the expedition. This was Alex’ first time to Cocos, same for George. Jessica was going to host the TV production we planned and for the first time in 11 years of shooting my TV fishing shows and natural history documentaries, I was passing the baton to my very capable daughter.
It takes 30 hours to get from Puntarenas to Cocos and during the crossing, we enjoyed the beauty of the open ocean passing turtles, dolphins, a pseudo orca and we watched as red footed and nasca boobies dived on the flying fish pushed up by the bow of the Argo. We got to know the captain, officers and crew well during this time. Master divers Manuel and Pius briefed their teams, we fortunately were allocated to Manuel, whose sense of humour was hilarious. We were also briefed about the operation of the Deepsee submarine by Smulik Blum and team Ely, Felipe.
We anchored at a mooring next to the islet of Manuelita. With four stabilizers out the Argo was a stable base from which we were going to do four dives per day on 32% nitrox. The first couple of days diving were poor due to rough weather and low visibility at Manuelita and in Chatham Bay. The major change from ten years ago was that there were tiger sharks—yes tigers. In all the dives we had done in the nineties, no one ever saw a tiger shark or met someone who had. There were several individuals that cruised the channel between Manuelita and the island. They were hunting marbled rays and turtles. In fact, I did not see a single turtle at Cocos except for the last dive. The tigers had taken their toll. The silvertip sharks at Silverado were also gone, perhaps they had been driven out by the tigers or they had been caught. The reef fish were in abundance, but only a few hammerheads were seen. When we ventured out to iconic dive sites such as Dirty Rock and to Halcyon, the action picked up.
George had the brilliant idea to leave Go-Pro cameras on the various dive sites after we left and recover them on the following dive. Apart from our first dive at Halcyon with the current strong and lots of hammerheads, we saw relatively few hammerheads at the seamount, most were swimming well above the bottom where we hung in anticipation of close encounters. This worked well and showed just how the hammerhead sharks left the cleaning stations as the divers came down and then reappeared once we left. Amazing!
A change at Halcyon for me was to see a massive school of mullet snapper hanging high in the water column above the seamount. We would conduct our safety stops in amongst these vast schools. Their numbers and swirling motion were mesmerizing. There were often rainbow runners and bigeye jacks mixed in. This school rivaled the size of the mullet snapper school that lives at Pinas Reef in Panama.
At Dirty Rock there was a huge school of bigeye jacks hovering above the deep reef, again it provided an exciting way to spend your safety stop. The blue jacks prowled the reef occasionally taking a shot at the creole fish that sent them all surging towards the rocks for cover. A school of rare cottonmouth jacks also showed up at Dirty Rock. Often we saw big aggregations of hammerheads at the edge of visibility, but as we swam closer, they melted into the blue haze.
Before we went diving on our third day, I spotted a young whale shark about 18 feet long doing circles around the Argo. Just amazing! We all went in and snorkeled and dived with the beautiful shark before it headed back to the deep. The whale shark made another appearance later that day around the Argo.
Night dives in Chatham Bay were always exciting. I had the new Mangrove lights on my Gates housing as did George, so it was like having car headlights down there. We lit up the reef. The white tip reef sharks were active as usual, but I couldn’t get over the monster black jacks that followed us for the entire dive, all dives. They were so quick, had such good eyesight and gobbled up small goatfish, squirrelfish and cabrillas. Even in the day time at 90 feet with cloud cover the Mangroves lit up the fish and colourful substrate. They were worth their weight in gold on this expedition.
One of our best dives was consistently at Punta Maria on the west side, on the way towards Dos Amigos. Here a cleaning station catered largely to Galapagos sharks. These were a larger version of a reef shark, beautifully coloured, bronze and grey, big dorsal fin and tail, a slow swimming large animal, capable of great speed which I saw in the Galapagos when I witnessed one chasing young sea lions. At this site, we also saw a huge female marbled ray being escorted by several dozen ardent males, all piled on top of each other, like a bunch of huge spotted pancakes tossed from a basket.
Again George left the Go-Pro cameras on the site and this was very revealing. Not only did a lot of Galapagos sharks show up but several black tip sharks as well. We repeated this procedure a few times revealing cleaning behavior and returns by the same sharks several times.
Jessica and George returning at night from their 400 meter dive in the Deepsee sub
The highlight for those who went was to dive in the Deepsee sub to 400 meters. Jessica went with George piloted by Felipe on one dive and had an exciting experience looking at the geology and creatures of the deep sea. Loaded with camera gear and towed out to the drop off the sub took several minutes to reach that depth. On the way down they saw mobula rays and deep sea sharks. At the bottom they saw groupers, spider crabs, and scorpion fish. So much life…so deep.
Alex and I went on a shallow dive to 100 meters piloted by Smulik on the outside of Manuelita to a site called Everest. Here beneath the hazy thermocline there were still swarms of creole fish hunted by almaco jacks and yellowfin tuna, while above them scalloped hammerheads passed in silhouette. The acrylic dome of the sub allows you to see 360 degrees and you don’t feel hemmed in by the dome. It feels like you are actually in the water at that great depth.
During the end of the trip at a dive on Halcyon a humpback whale came by. Very cool! I had seen humpbacks there on previous expeditions in July. They are southern hemisphere whales that oscillate from Antarctica to have their calves in the warmth of Cocos’ protection. Similarly, when fishing out of Tropic Star Lodge, Pinas Bay, Panama in June, July and August, we see many of these southern hemisphere humpback whales close to shore, often frolicking.
Some of our dives were focused on the reef life. Most of the substrate at Cocos is volcanic rock covered in sharp barnacles. In certain places like Chatham Bay, there was a fair amount of healthy coral. One of my favourite dives was at Isla Pajara just around the corner from Chatham. Here, in the channel between the rock and the island was a large expanse on Montastrea-like coral and amongst it were schools of creole fish, yellow tailed goat fish, blue and gold snappers, Moorish idols, cabrillas, soldier fish, Mexican hogfish, trumpetfish, wrasses, damselfish, parrotfish, guineafowl puffers and boxfish. Frogfish were numerous. Several peacock flounders were seen courting females in amusing displays. While your head was in the coral, a Galapagos shark, squadron of yellowfin tuna or manta ray would pass close by. What a great dive!
Coming back from Halcyon on our last day, we saw that the Costa Rican Coast Guard vessel (that had been at anchor in Chatham Bay for a couple of days) finally stuck its nose outside and apprehended a Costa Rican commercial fishing boat caught fishing inside the 12 mile no fish zone. We wondered what would become of the crew, vessel and the fish they surely had on board.
The crossing back to Puntarenas was smooth and I made use of the time and calm conditions to complete an acrylic painting of a Galapagos shark being cleaned at Punta Maria. After thanking the excellent crew and leaving the ship we went into Jaco for the day to do some zip lining, check out some storks and macaws, see massive saltwater crocs sunning on a river bank and take a lovely mountain trail back to San Jose to round off the perfect Costa Rican experience.
I’ll be back!
—Guy Harvey
For a complete list of our other featured blog posts and to see the full line of Guy Harvey Sportswear, please visit:www.guyharveysportswear.com
A recent filming expedition to Isla Mujeres, Mexico was aimed at getting as much footage of the whale shark aggregations for which Isla Mujeres and the NE corner of the Yucatan is famous, during the calm balmy summer months. The predictable aggregation of large numbers of whale sharks was right on cue.
For the last couple of years Captain Anthony Mendillo, owner of Keen M Charters (http://www.islamujeressportfishing.com/) has been telling me to get to Isla over the whale shark period. As many as 400 animals can form the aggregations over a couple of square miles of sea surface, criss-crossing, this way and that, mouths open feeding on fish spawn and plankton.
Our big group was composed of film maker and producer George Schellenger, my daughter Jessica and GHI staffers Greg Jacoski and Michele Grey plus Andi Marcher and his son James from Grand Cayman.
We hit Ballyhoo’s Bar on arrival for some fish and shrimp tacos and cold Dos XX while we waited on the whale shark tour boats to return from sea. When they did, our good friend Jim Abernethy was with the group and recounted how exciting the day had been. The same afternoon, I met with Al Dove from the Georgia Aquarium who was conducting a photographic census and tagging of whale sharks.
Day one was slow, with lots of other pangas in the zone jockeying for position with only a dozen animals. It was amazing how the situation changed every day depending on current and food availability, but Anthony said the sharks will be in a general area and can pop up anywhere. His typical day started with an early departure, spend a couple hours with the whale shark group before the mosquito fleet got there, sit out while they were there and after they left around 12 p.m., you had another couple hours with the sharks if they stayed up at the surface.
That’s exactly what happened on day two. The captain of Anthony’s other boat, Rogelio, found the aggregation early and we enjoyed two hours with them on our own. It is hard to describe the sight. Jessica and I went up on the cabin roof, the boat bobbing on the calm swell, engines off. Everywhere we looked, great sharks were cutting the surface with snouts out, mouth wide open, spotted backs awash, dragging foaming water behind them, dorsal fins standing high and tails swishing back and forth as the sharks moved forward at a couple of knots. A third of the team went in, the rest waited and took shots topside.
A group of two dozen mobula rays came by winding their way through the whale sharks. The plankton was thick, reducing visibility to about 30 feet. The viz did not matter, having spent time with one shark and stopped to rest, the next was a few seconds behind. We quickly learned to put our heads up and look for a shark that was swimming towards us then, get in position for the shot. You could either let it go beside you or you could dive under it and get the silhouette shot. Often, you were beside one and another would sneak up on you. You spin around to find a four foot wide mouth agape just inches away! Jessica said if they did not have spots they would appear menacing. True. They would amble past, turn around and come back for another pass. I tried to shoot every one that came by, often ducking down to confirm the sex, the young males had stubby claspers. They came in all sizes from twenty feet up to forty feet long.
George, a veteran of these encounters said you had to view these long creatures in zip codes; mouth section, mid-section and tail section. Many whale sharks had their own entourage of shark suckers, remoras, jacks and the occasional cobia. Some had bits of fins or tail missing from encounters with boats and fishing gear.
Which reminds me about the rules of engagement. This area is now so popular and so many pangas visit the sharks daily during the season of June, July and August that there is a cooperative that administers licenses and regulations for both operators and clients. We have to wear a dive suit (we all did) or a life jacket. Only three people from a boat in the water, at once, with a guide. No SCUBA diving. No touching, hanging on for a ride, etc. We had to leave the site by 2 p.m. We did. What a great day. On the way in we enjoyed some ceviche and took the inside route behind Isla Contoy, home to thousands of frigate birds.
On the third day, the whale sharks were hard to find and the fleet spread out. It was local fisherman who found a group about five miles east of where we were yesterday out in the blue water. What a difference the water clarity made. There were still lots of plankton, but we were out in 200 feet instead of 90 feet. The whale sharks seemed to mill, going around and around, so were easy to follow, jump off one go to the next as they came by in a procession of twos and threes. We used Go-Pros on poles to get the shot from in front of their open mouths as they swam along at the surface filtering food. Every so often, a clump of sargassum weed would go in a mouth and the whale shark would just blow it back out.
I also learned what the large remoras did for food. Whenever a whale shark defecated the remoras bunched up around its cloaca and consumed the thick yellow offerings. Occasionally, we were engulfed in a cloud of yellow custard as we tailed the big sharks.
That ended our wonderful bucket list experience with the bucket mouths. Each evening when we returned dockside, we had some cervezas, fish tacos and checked our footage and watched the sun go down over the mainland to the west. The boats, people and hospitality in Isla Mujeres are the best! There are some great hotels nearby and lots of good restaurants plus a superb public beach if you just want to chill for the day. I can’t wait to get back.
I was excited about the prospect of returning next season and doing some collaborative work with the Georgia Aquarium staff, tagging whale sharks perhaps. I also wanted to bring more friends and family. This was an experience everyone would enjoy.
On our last day, we went deep dropping for swordfish. Jessica caught a huge swordfish over 600 pounds, the largest ever caught by a lady angler in the Atlantic Ocean.
—Guy Harvey
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I would like to welcome you to the Guy Harvey Sportswear web site. Here we will feature my blog where I will report on expeditions, adventures, and various marine conservation efforts. We will also include various guest bloggers, videos and photos that I believe you will find interesting, whether you are a serious fishing or diving enthusiast, or simply someone who cares about the marine resource, loves living the coastal lifestyle, or just wants to learn more about Guy Harvey sportswear.
I would like to welcome you to the Guy Harvey Sportswear web site. Here we will feature my blog where I will report on expeditions, adventures, and various marine conservation efforts. We will also include various guest bloggers, videos and photos that I believe you will find interesting, whether you are a serious fishing or diving enthusiast, or simply someone who cares about the marine resource, loves living the coastal lifestyle, or just wants to learn more about Guy Harvey sportswear.
