Featured Image Credit: Daniel Botelho
By Alice Morris
It takes guts to hop into the water with a great white shark.
But, imagine swimming with these giant predators at night. NO THANKS.
That’s what Brazilian photographer Daniel Botelho did to capture some stunning images of great whites off Guadalupe Island, a remote island west of the Mexican port of Ensenada.
Divers come from around the world to swim with sharks in this remote spot, although most do so from the safety of shark cages during the daylight hours.
“My first time in the water was a mix of feelings,” said Botelho, who dived with only dive lights and strobes to aid him. “First I was thrilled, really happy to have a dream coming true. I was also very curious to see how would they react to my dive torches and light, and in a matter of seconds all that feeling was dominated by a huge surprise of how the great whites were behaving differently compared to daylight.”
Botelho got the idea for his midnight dive from an unlikely source.
The photographer writes a monthly column for a Disney magazine about a shark named Bruce and one day a child asked him what Bruce does at night.
Since Botelho didn’t have an answer, he decided to go in search of one and, after obtaining a permit from Mexico, his plan was in motion to find out how these fascinating creatures behave at night.
“We knew that we could have three options to the questions,” said Botelho. “First and more obvious is will they be the same during the day? Second answer could be they will be more relaxed and sleepy at night, or third answer, they can be the real predators, hunting at night. Looking into nature, most carnivores are night hunters, such as the lions of Africa, very slow at day but active at night, so this gave me a good clue of what could I expect.”
Conditions were rough for Botelho and his assistant during their dives, which made finding the sharks difficult at times.
“They were performing quick approaches and sometimes bumping my camera. As the dive light cannot reach distances through the water, I was only able to see the shark when he was really close, and sometimes the fast approach freaked me out.”
Botelho knew the sharks weren’t a threat to him, despite their behavior. “They were not aggressive,” he said “but much more inquisitive, territorial, and moving faster than I have seen before. They were giving good evidences that they are nighttime hunters.”
Overall, he felt enlightened by the experience and left with a better understanding of these deeply misunderstood creatures.
“Being at night with these magnificent animals was without a doubt a huge challenge, since the concept, planning, papers, and during the dive trying to not make any mistakes on my interaction. I was going to have to try to read the sharks, and be ready to respect them and leave the water if they wanted me to.”
Despite these challenges, Botelho left Guadalupe Island with remarkable photos, some incredible memories and undoubtedly a few new ideas for the continuing adventures of Bruce the shark.