La Jolla Cove is a protected marine sanctuary where divers from all over the world come to explore its beauty. I previously posted on our Easter dive there this year and how amazing it was encountering 3 different species of sharks. Well this past weekend, I made it 4 species....
Dover from San Diego Scuba Dive (check out his Facebook page
here), after being impressed by mine and Marisa's gill-like breathing (we were underwater for over an hour), suggested we come back in late July-early August to experience the abundance of Leopard Sharks. He told us the secret place to go, also recommending not to pay for a snorkeling or kayaking tour, and it's been on my mind ever since.
This past weekend it happened. I decided it was time to greet these Leopard Sharks and invited my roommate to come along. We made the trek down to San Diego and after waiting for what seemed like a half an hour, finally found a parking spot. We made out way to the lifeguard station and I spoke with one of the dudes about the best spot to find sharks. He basically told us you just have to look and you will find them because they are everywhere! And so were the stingrays (yay)!
My roommate and I swam out a bit and I slowly began to teach her how to snorkel. We saw one shark, but only it's shadow on our way out. I got super excited! After she finally started getting comfortable and we were out for quite a while, my lips completely purple as the water was only 64 degrees and we only had our swimsuits on, we decided it was time to go in. I was pretty bummed having not seen any sharks but the shadow, but I thought it best to not get hypothermia.
We made our way in and that's when I overheard two young boys exclaim, "Look at all the sharks!" in very nervous voices. So what did I do? Well take a guess! Yup! I swam right to those boys! Man, I am so glad I did! The Leopard Sharks were literally everywhere! It was amazing! There were hundreds of them and I was in the middle of it all with my iPhone Watershot housing! I was so excited I didn't care how cold I was! Unfortunately, I didn't get the best pictures or video footage because I was just amazed, but you get the idea. Plus, the sharks loved being in the break of the waves.
I will be going back this weekend and can hopefully capture better pictures! But for now, enjoy! (By the way, I think this is shark species #12 that I've swam with! I'm checking them off one by one!)
Shark tails.
Poor girl had a hook in her mouth. :(
Watch for the Shovelnose Guitarfish! Oh, it's better of you don't make the video fullscreen.
