Alas, I had neither Jeff’s camera nor Jeff’s photographic skills on my last trip to Hawaii, and so this is the best I can do:

It’s hard to tell since the fish swimming with the shark are also enormous, but that’s a 14′ long tiger shark. (And pretty darned wide, too!)

Here’s another one; sharkie taking a gulp of something near the bottom of the ocean:

She was not a small shark. She didn’t get closer than about 25 feet (if that), which is another reason I got such lousy shots. In the short time she was remotely within video distance, the autofocus on my camera had a hard time getting a lock on her not-too-contrasty figure. Hopefully it’ll look marginally cooler edited into video and shown on a TV screen (where the low resolution isn’t as obvious). Maybe next time I see a shark the size of Jaws, Jeff will be there to get a real photo and really scare the pants off our moms.

Why do we dive California? Here’s my fave from Jeff’s Saturday photos:

I was in Hawaii at the time. I love getting the chance to dive someplace warm with amazing visibility – but I’m constantly having to tell people that yes, California has diving, and yes, it’s really beautiful here. We’ve had at least as many memorable critter encounters here as in the tropics.

While Jeff was playing with this cutie, I was trying to get footage of a 14′ tiger shark at 100 fsw outside Honokohau Harbor. Though it was a cool experience for the 30 seconds it took her to cruise by, I think I would have had more fun goofing off with seals for half a dive!