SAN PEDRO , CALIFORNIA, USA - An eerie blue glow emanates from the inky dark ocean, making the water off the deck of the Great Escape seem like a large fish bowl. From the deck we look down to see silver gray Mako and Blue sharks stealthily gliding through the light in search of food. A sense of awe envelops us, but surprisingly, it is not inspired by fear, but rather by the extreme beauty of the majestic creatures swimming below us.

The shark encounter is the major highlight of a day trip aboard the Great Escape offered by Team Shark Inc, a Southern California company offering unique educational marine expeditions for tourists. Founded by marine biologists John Manley and Don Newman, an adventure with Team Shark allows tourists the opportunity to become marine biologists for a day.

Adventure For Everyone!

One of the best parts of a Team Shark trip is that it is open to just about anyone, young (they often take groups of school children), old or anyone in between. As no scuba is required, the floating shark cage is accessible to everyone. If you don't know how to snorkel, they'll show you how and all equipment is included. There's even lots to see for people who don't want to get in the water.

Our journey began began at San Pedro's 22nd Street Landing. We chugged out of the harbor past buoys draped in sunbathing sea lions out to an area well off the shore of Catalina. Along the way, guests were recruited to be "chum masters." If you're not familiar with chum, it's a delightfully bloody mixture of raw fish and fish parts, the more pungent the odor the better (at least from a shark's perspective). Despite the pungent olfactory aspects of the job, and the fact that chum masters are not allowed to wash their hands as soap is a natural shark repellant, Newman and Manley had no trouble attracting lots of volunteers to help out. The chum was let out in a steady stream or "odor corridor" about two miles long behind the moving boat in the hope of attracting the blue and mako sharks. We didn't have to wait long.

In The Cage

After shutting off the boat's engines, a large open topped cage, resembling a floating baby's playen, was lowered from the boat's side. This cage differs from the average shark cage in that only the bottom is submerged. Some of the more wary in the group expressed concern over the floating cage's potential strength, or lack thereof. John quickly assured us that the lightweight contraption, made from plastic pipes and netting, was in fact much safer than the aluminum shark cages most commonly seen in National Geographic TV specials. It seems aluminum emits electrical impulses in the water that tempt sharks to bite. While this is fortuitous for a director shooting a dramatic underwater documentary, it's not as desirable for the average tourist who wants to observe sharks, without becoming their dinner.

Imagine actually being in the water, sharks whizzing past mere feet (possibly even inches) from you. Again, the feeling here was not one of fear, but of awe. The sharks are incredibly beautiful. Their steel grey-blue color and smooth movements are almost hypnotic.

Even in a wet suit, the waters 15 miles off the coast of Catalina were chilly. The adults were good for about 10-15 minutes in the cage, but most of the kids were so captivated they didn't seem to notice or mind their chattering teeth and goose-pimpled flesh. In either case, the shark cage experience is one that will truly be remembered for a lifetime.

Tagging

The most exciting part of the trip took place not in the water, but on the deck of the Great Escape. More than tour operators, Newman and Manley are scientists involved in ongoing shark research. Whenever the opportunity arises, the team pulls sharks on board to be tagged. Not much is known about the sharks, so the tagging procedure allows researchers to track movement, growth rates and life expectancies. For instance, one blue shark that was tagged off the coast of Maine was found more than a year later off the western coast of Africa.

John Manley gives new meaning to the words "Macho Man." After donning scuba gear he jumped into the water outside the cage to hand feed some of the circling sharks. He's been known to catch some of the smaller animals with his gloved hands and haul them aboard for tagging. On this day the sharks in attendance were too large for such a studly display, so Newman and Manley opted for plan B: the fishing pole.

After hooking a five-foot Mako shark, the pair wrestled the animal to the deck. Don firmly held the shark while John removed the hook. The two held the animal so all aboard could get a closer look. We felt the scales, which are smooth in one direction and rougher than sandpaper in the other, and even got to "kiss the shark" for good luck. Something tells me this last bit of folklore was invented in Manley's twisted brain. Team members kept the shark hydrated with seawater so he could breathe throughout the demonstration.

Next came the tagging procedure. Guest volunteers recorded pertinent data and helped to measure the animal and check for sex and distinguishing characteristics. A tiny incision was made near the dorsal fin and Manley inserted a small identifying tag that offers a monetary reward for information if the animal is found. While only about 5% of the tags are ever reported, the system still provides important data for marine biologists to study. On this trip, two Makos and one Blue shark were pulled aboard for tagging, giving lots of excited guests the chance to participate. The entire tagging procedure took only a few minutes, but they were memorable ones.

Manley and Newman are so passionate about their work, it's easy to get caught up in their enthusiasm and forget that this is educational as well as fun. It's not until after the trip is over that you begin to reflect on how much you really learned. Perhaps the biggest lesson our boatload of amateur marine biologists came away with was a healthy respect for sharks and a heightened awareness of the predators that threaten their world. Over-fishing has resulted in dwindling shark populations the world over. One of the biggest culprits is the fact that shark's fins are prized in Asia for Shark's Fin soup. The barbaric practice of "finning," in which a shark's fins are cut off and the animal left to die is outlawed in the Untied States, but Manley explained that all an unscrupulous fisherman need do to avoid penalty is go more than 200 miles offshore.

A female shark takes 16 years to mature before she can begin an eleven to twelve month gestation period before giving birth to her first litter. With so much time needed for sharks to reproduce, it's easy to see why shark populations can't keep pace with the one hundred million plus animals that are caught and killed each year. Everyone on board came away with the realization that sharks have much more to fear from man than the other way around.

A Team Shark adventure is probably as close to a Jacques Cousteau type expedition that the average Joe can experience. If you ever had fantasies about being a marine biologist, then this is definitely a trip for you.

Practical Information

An excursion with Team Shark includes breakfast and lunch and the use of mask, snorkel and wetsuit.

If you go, don't forget to bring a towel, bathing suit, some warm dry clothes to change into, sunscreen, sunglasses and motion sickness medicine (if needed). The cost of a one-day shark expedition is $160.00 for adults, $140.00 for students with valid ID and $120.00 for children under 14. Group rates are available for gatherings of 10 or more.

Contact Team Shark at 520 S. Guadalupe Ave. #C Redondo Beach, CA 90277 Phone: (714) 267-9875 Fax: (310) 316-5056 Visit their website at www.teamshark.com or email them at sales@teamshark.com.