On Saturday, November 7, a team of dive guides and guests aboard the 112-foot luxury dive vessel went for their first dip of the day near Socorro Island, Mexico, when they spotted a whale shark tangled in a rope. On their second dive, they saw the giant fish again and resolved to cut it free. You can watch the rescue in the video above, and read a brief account of their plan of attack below.
It must have been there for some time, as the rope was encrusted with
barnacles, and was cutting deeply into the flesh of the shark. On the
second dive of the morning, we located the same whale shark once again,
and with Eddy (dive guest) on the scene with his GoPro camera, we
were able to memorialize the rescue. In the video you will see Dave
(dive guide) approach the shark from the front, and Dani (dive guide)
swim to the shark from above. You will see Dani successfully cut the
rope loose, freeing the shark, which slowly swims away. At the end, you
will see Eddy's wife, Gina, knuckle-bump Dani, as we all celebrate
together. We brought the rope back to the boat, and found it was about 2in in diameter, so perhaps an anchor or mooring line? How it got
wrapped around the shark is a mystery. 鈥搀颈补
鈥擩oe Spring