Northwest Dive Club

dphershman wrote:the marks on the top of its snout suggest that its the same one that we saw on Saturday morning. We saw the little guy in the same place you've described. It appeared to be following us as we searched for it--- we found it when we turned around.

What time of day was your siting? Have there been other reports of daytime sitings as well?

As Bob said, we had a stellar encounter with a juvenile sixgill at Redondo last night. After a 2 hr fight with traffic, I finally arrived at the dive site and quickly geared up. We chose to dive twin cylinders and an O2 bottle to maximize our bottom time searching for the elusive sixgill. After descending, we headed west lazily and kept our eyes peeled for any movement. It took nearly half an hour of bottom time at 100ft before we finally spotted something on Bob's flank. This particular sixgill was still quite small -- maybe 3' or so -- and seemed very interested in examining us. He would swim towards us, then away, then back towards, etc... I like to think he got scared after realizing how big we were compared to him, and then as he was swimming away he realized "hey wait a sec i'm a M-Fing sixgill!" and came back with a menacing face

This continued for about 10 mins until he finally had enough and headed off into the blackness. It took us almost 10 minutes to reach the steep portion of the Redondo slope to begin our ascent and deco -- we were literally in the middle of nowhere! Our deco was uneventful and full of macro critters and checking the LCD screen for any sixgill photo keepers.

Dan -- I actually think based upon the photos I took that this is a different sixgill than the one you saw. I'm not sure how many are down there, but it seems like there may be 2-3 (or even more).

Without further ado, here are the photos. For a full gallery, visit:

http://www.raptureofthedeep.net/sixgill/slideshow

Great shots, Scott!

+1

Great stuff Scott and Bob, That last shot is a nice one for counting to 6!
They sure look allot different when your looking at them head on versus the side shots. Those head on shots were what I remember about my one and only sighting. I kept looking at all the profile shots and saying that maybe that wasn't a 6 gill I saw. Now I know it was.

Sooo freaking awesome. Great shots, as per usual.

Grateful Diver wrote:

Dusty2 wrote:Wow 10 min to the Carousel boat? that's a pretty good distance into the great unknown. He's just a baby out there all by himself. It's no wonder he follows people around.

Thanks Bob

We were on doubles and brought O2 for deco afterward ... which I would recommend if you're planning to spend any time out there ... by the time we hit our 20-foot stop our average depth for the entire dive was 88 feet.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

No worries Bob, I ain't planning to go out there on a single 120, I can only manage about 10 minutes in the bottle field on one of my tanks and then it's watch for the no deco time left. I'm allergic to Deco. Three minutes of watching the seconds count down seems like forever.

lundysd wrote:

]

Some really great shots , #3 is my favorite! I am still a six gill virgin. 6 gills are kind of like Bigfoot, UFOs, or Nessie with me. I really want to believe, but I am still not sure that they really exist.

lundysd wrote:

Went down to the 'dond today. No sixgills :'(

Tangfish wrote:Went down to the 'dond today. No sixgills :'(

I think the viz was too good, making it too bright for them.

It was beautiful at 110', but way too much ambient light for sixgills. People should go tonight, the viz was terrific.

So I went down to Redondo last night for a solo dive … thinking to head out to see the sixgill. I took my sidemount doubles and an O2 bottle for deco, got in the water, swam down to the bottle field, and kept heading out for a bit. Thinking that I should probably take a test shot to make sure my strobes were set up right (they weren’t last week when I went out with Lundy and it cost me some otherwise nice shots) I found a nice clump of orange plumose to use as a test subject, set up, hit the shutter … and nothing happened. Thinking about it for a minute I realized what was wrong … when I put the camera in the housing, I forgot to pop up the flash … and without it, no strobes. I knew that was going to happen sooner or later. Here I am at 100 feet, in shark country, and carrying a useless camera. So I turned around and headed back.

A few seconds later it occurred to me to at least put the camera in video mode … just in case I stumbled across that little sixgill we spotted last week on my way in. Problem is, I’ve only used the video once, and that was on land. I had to remember how to do it. So I stopped where I was and started pushing buttons, hoping for the best. It took a couple minutes, but I finally figured it out. With this camera, when you get the video working you know it because the image displays on the LCD … regardless of what mode you had the camera in previously (I don’t normally use the LCD for photos … I use the eyepiece). So, success … raising the camera I realized something was moving in the frame … a SIXGILL! This one wasn’t no baby either … it was bigger than me. It slowly approached, and as I watched … video running … it swam up and literally nosed the camera!

I got about six minutes of video … mostly of a tail as I was chasing the thing. As soon as it realized I wasn’t food … or a potential sex partner … it swam away … slowly, but slow to a sixgill is about all I can do to keep up.

About a minute into the video I noticed lights heading my way … two divers swimming by, perhaps 15-20 feet away. I shined my light on the shark, thinking they’d surely see it. No change of course. OK, so I flashed my light at them … the emergency signal. Still no response. After a few seconds they turned and swam away … never realizing there was a seven-foot shark within easy sight of where they had just been. I later showed them the video in the parking lot … they told me they noticed me flashing, but they were busy looking for a shark.

Oh well … anyway, I'm still figuring out this YouTube thing ... this is the first video I've posted there, and I can't seem to get it embedded here ... so click the link if you want to watch. Not too bad, considering all I had for lighting was my focus light ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gv55wSQKyQI&feature=plcp

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Wow!

Great shot Bob Looks like you got the hang of youtube just fine. The way you were flashing your light at the other divers... good thing you didn't have your foot stuck in a giant clam and need help getting out...

Great stuff Bob. Now that is a well documented sighting! Got pretty closeup and personal a couple of times there.

Bet those guys felt like idiots when you showed them the video! To busy looking to check on a fellow diver? They deserve not seeing one! :angry:

Holey Moley Mon!!

That is awesome Bob!!! Great video, and that was an impressive, healthy looking six gill! Thought I saw a clasper as well... Someone who knows what they are talking about (not me!) could give us the approximate age of that 'litl beauty.

Spread the word, six gills as thick as fleas at Redondo.

Now when will they start showing up elsewhere?

<- me green with envy.

Great video, Bob. I really need to kick this cold and get up there for some night dives.

WOA!! Nice one Bob!! I'm pretty jealous of not being able to get out to Redondo yet. Well done on an awesome encounter!!

Kathryn and Kees were out there at that same time, they saw a different baby one than what has been seen I think. Lundy's photos have those white spots on its head and Kathryn's dont.

Also sounds like the 6-7 footer BDub and them saw are also different than this one Bob saw.

HOORAY for a sixgill comeback!

Here is one the shots of the Baby sixer from Kathryn and Kees last night:

I figured they'd have success ... K & K were gearing up as I was breaking down ... they got in the water about the time I was heading home.

Nice pics ... I hope they stick around, and possibly spread out to other sites or divers are gonna be thick as fleas down there pretty soon ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Nice work Bob. Between Bob's shark last night, the juvenile we saw, and a different shark we saw Wed night, I can say with 90% certainty that there are at least 3 unique sixgills around Redondo right now. I'll post a few pics soon

Bob,
What time was this?
There seemed to be some ambiant light and viz was pretty good as you can see the other divers and there bubble column pretty well.
Kirsten

Scubak wrote:Bob,
What time was this?
There seemed to be some ambiant light and viz was pretty good as you can see the other divers and there bubble column pretty well.
Kirsten

Around six'ish ... gonna go back again tonight, I think ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

AWESOME video Bob! With said footage, you are hereby granted the title of "Da Man!" Thanks for sharing!

Much more dramatic than our long-ago six gill encounter together, Bob -- which Jan memorialized, but I can't find the thread!