Photographer Ben Lowy goes diving with great white sharks off of Mexico’s Guadalupe Island—and brings along his sons, 8-year-old Mateo and 7-year-old Kaleb, for the adventure. Cue the Jaws theme.
Mateo in the cage. “They had no fear,” Lowy says of his sons. “To me, a dangerous situation is them hanging off the monkey bars, because they think they can fly.”
A hungry great white. The sharks are baited with frozen fish rather than bloody chum. “You don’t want to start a frenzy,” Lowy explains.
Mateo watches as a great white grabs a bite. “We, as adults, get programmed by the media and things we’ve seen to fear great whites and think of them as these monsters,” Lowy says. “But little kids don’t necessarily see them as that. They were just amazed to see them.”
We, as adults, get programmed to fear great whites and think of them as monsters, but little kids don’t necessarily see them as that. They were just amazed to see them.
Kaleb and Mateo on the boat, between dives. “After the dive,
they were like, ‘Oh, that’s great—can we go in and have some lunch and watch something on YouTube?’” Lowy recalls. “And then they were annoyed that there was no cell phone reception—so no YouTube.
“There’s always someone on these trips who’s like, ‘I’m gonna try this without a wetsuit,’” Lowy says, noting that the water was about 65 degrees. “It’s cold!”
Take the dive: Nautilus Liveaboards offers six-day trips with great white shark dives off Guadalupe Island, including charter bus transfers from San Diego. From $2,800, nautilusliveaboards.com