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sance trip and put out baited setlines to see what we could catch. We
didn't plan to bring any sharks back on this first trip; we just wanted
to find out what was there.
Because of its long, narrow shape, the Gulf of California at its north-
ern end, near San Felipe, is noted for having the second highest tidal
change in the world after the Bay of Fundy in Nova Scotia. During
the time of the new and full moon spring tides, the water level rises
twenty-five feet from low to high tide in six hours. That's an incredi-
ble amount of surging water.
The local fishermen of San Felipe have learned to take advantage of
this tidal fluctuation. When a fishing boat needs work done below the
waterline, they simply drive the boat at high tide to a low spot near
the middle of town and wait for the tide to go out. The boat is then
high and dry and they have a few hours to do their work before the
water returns to refloat their boat.
Our team consisted of two Sea World aquarists, John Hart and Jerry
Kinmont, and myself. Together we loaded up John's truck and then
towed our eighteen-foot outboard collecting boat down to San Felipe.
Our plan was to use it to set out small, bottom-fishing setlines. We
had also made up a half-mile-long floating setline that we would set
from a bigger boat to see what larger sharks might be there. This line
was to be buoyed up by a series of truck inner tubes, with the baited
hooks hanging twenty or thirty feet below the surface. An anchor at
each end would keep the setline from drifting or being towed away by
the current— or by any creature that might get caught.
We chartered a small fishing boat and hired its owner to take us out
a couple of miles from shore to put out our gear. We'd brought boxes
of frozen mackerel to use as bait. The baiting and setting of the long-
line went without mishap, and we returned to San Felipe Harbor to
while away a few hours. When we headed back out to see what we'd
caught, there wasn't a trace of the half-mile-long line with its twenty
inflated inner tubes. We circled around for some time looking, but even-
tually gave up. We decided to return in the morning and search again
before writing the line o¤ as lost.
This was the first day, and it wasn't looking like a good start to our
trip. We were totally ba›ed as to how the line could have disappeared
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