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This evening we met our guests for the next week long shark expedition. The only way I can think of describing it would be to call it an “EPIC Shark Expedition,” not because of the sharks as you might think, but because of the guests on board! For quite some time now Stan Waterman has been trying to join us and this week he finally did. Although I had met Stan before, I was quite excited to actually get to know him. His reputation of being a real gentleman with a heart of gold is worldwide and everyone is very excited to get to know him on a more personal level.

Valerie and Ron Taylor are also on board for their 3rd trip with us. Stan, Ron, and Valerie were all in the film they started working on in 1969 called “Blue Water, White Death”. This was the film with the night dive with oceanic white tip sharks while being tied to a dead whale in the shark cages that inspired me to take up diving and pursue a life of adventure with sharks. The film actually was finished by Peter Gimbal in 1971.

The world-renowned professional photographer Douglas Seifert who has a column in DIVE magazine, which I believe is Europe’s largest diving magazine, is also on board. I am not sure how many trips Douglas has been with us, but I am sure it is a lot! Douglas is a very close friend of Ron, Valerie and Stan and has done many trips all over the world with all of them.

Another professional photographer we are very happy to have aboard is David Fleetham (davidfleetham.com) from Hawaii. David’s work has graced the cover of more magazines than I can count, including the only shark image to make the cover of Life magazine. This is Davids second trip with us and we are very pleased to have him aboard. His work clearly ranks him as well as Douglas at the top of underwater photographers worldwide.

Kaz Maris is here as well. Kaz has made a life long commitment to photographing sharks as well as collecting the history of many of the firsts (in the diving community) in the world, so this is a perfect trip for him as Ron, Valerie, and Stan have made many of the firsts in the shark world. Kaz showed us all his excellent greenland sharks images that he has been studying for the last few years.

We also are absolutely blessed to have Mary and Lupo O’Malley aboard! In addition to being extremely talented photographers/videographers and I must say the best shark divers I have ever met. By the way that last statement is not something you here me saying very often, even about some of my best friends, as I only give credit where credit is due. I am not saying that because they are two of my closest friends, they deserve it! Being an excellent shark diver is a lot more than just diving with sharks as anyone that has been aboard my boat knows.

These very intelligent friends are the most devoted shark conservationist I have ever met. Mary has refused countless offers of mine to dive with sharks, so that she can finish assorted projects to save sharks. She is without question the driving force behind sharksafenetwork.com. Countless shark conservation organizations are striving to include her in projects because of how much she accomplishes, constantly. She is proof that one person can make a huge difference in the world! I am absolutely honored to have them as very close friends as well as aboard this EPIC trip.

Last and certainly not least we have Gina and Frederic who I just met for the first time. They are obviously both brilliant and delightful to have with us. Gina is a hard core ocean and shark conservationist that volunteers at the Marine Mammal Center in San Francisco. Frederic took up scuba on their honeymoon and was so enthused by what he experienced, he retired so they could both spend more time diving together. These brilliant shark enthusiasts seem to be very technical and kind in so many ways. Although I just met them, I am confidant and hopeful that we will be spending allot of time together in the future. Gina is a volunteer at the “Sea aquarium of the Bay” in San Francisco.

Before leaving, I prayed that our super star tiger shark Emma would show up allowing my guests the privilege of getting to know her. My prayers were answered as Emma spent the first four days with us. Emma has turned into the best ambassador for sharks worldwide, for so many reasons. First she is a large tiger shark, which most of the world believes eats everything in their site including people. Second, she has been filmed by at least 8 different film crews from all over the world and depicted by them as the gentile giant she truly is. Third, she is without question the most photographed shark in the world. Fourth, her ability to capture the hearts of all that meet her, have inspired many others to make her famous. Fifth, she has her own facebook, my space, twitter and web page (Emmatheshark.com) She is also featured on Itunes at SharkTaskForce as well as iDiveSharks. Her image graces the brochures of many shark conservation brochures including Shark Savers, Sea Shepard and Shark Safe Network just to name a few