Sharks and Wreck… with a GoPro

Today's adventure is to go swimming with real live sharks in their natural habitat—the ocean! Heading out to Montauk, New York, the location that inspired the film Jaws​, we were hoping to see plenty of sharks in their own surf, though from the safety of a cage, as we were guided by an experienced captain out into the open waters.

The Gear:

GoPro HERO6 Black

How You Can Do It:

Sign up with Sea Turtle Dive Charters, in Montauk, NY, or a similar company, where they will take you out, supply the gear, guide you into the cage, and introduce you to the sharks. Cost: $$$

Welcome to Shark Week at B&H!

Wait a minute… I'm being told that it is Adventure Week, which, to be honest, makes a lot more sense. But there is some good news for shark fans like me, because the first trip we took for Adventure Week was to Montauk, New York, where we hopped on a boat, jumped into a cage, and came face to face with some real live sharks in the Atlantic Ocean. Luckily for us, B&H carries the obvious tools for capturing this thrilling adventure: action cameras.

When we talk about action cams, one name automatically springs to mind: GoPro. As a brand, GoPro is synonymous with action and adventure. The company makes some of the most rugged, reliable, take-anywhere action cameras on the planet, with superior shooting specs to match. Consider the HERO6 Black, GoPro's flagship camera, which we took out on the boat and into the cage. The HERO6 can record 4K at 60p, go underwater without any fancy housings, and the rubberized shell and large buttons make it easy to operate, something I found absolutely crucial as the choppy waters tossed the boat and cage about mercilessly.

Choppy is almost an understatement for what we experienced that day—just ask Brett's stomach, and although I had my Sony a7R III and a beautiful Ikelite 200DL Underwater Housing, I couldn't use it safely while I was being tossed around the cage and on the boat. That, and fiddling with the controls and making sure everything was sealed, was putting my normal resistance to motion sickness to the test. Luckily, the GoPro captured some incredible footage, and was super easy to use, even when it was attached to a selfie stick.

We began the journey by speeding out toward the open water on a trip that took more than an hour and brought us almost completely out of sight of the shore. These deeper and cooler waters (about 65°F, per the captain) are the home of a variety of sharks. At this time of year, we were expecting mostly blue sharks, though later in the season it is possible to see makos, threshers, and even a great white (if you are lucky). One important thing to point out is that these species aren't the usual aquarium fare, so the only way to see them swimming around is to go into the ocean.

Once we reached our destination—directly above an old shipwreck, where sharks are known to congregate—our captain began to chum the water. Chum is a just a bunch of fish parts in a bucket, along with some whole fish to keep the sharks interested. It was then that we hopped into our wetsuits and got the cage into the water. Our first test in the cage proved how rough the sea can be and so we came out and waited for the sharks to arrive. It was not long before we had our first bite and a fin slowly poked out of the water. It was go time.

Jumping into the cage and grabbing the GoPro, neatly attached to a selfie stick for support, we were in the water and with the sharks. This was a thrilling experience, and with the screen on the back of the GoPro I could capture some great footage of the sharks easily, snacking mere feet from the cage. I was really impressed with how the GoPro handled, button presses to start/stop recording felt great, and the lights and screen reassured me that I wasn't going to miss a shot. Also, when the waves picked up, I could hold onto the GoPro and the cage without worry, keeping me safe while I was underwater.

The sharks we saw were exactly what we expected, a few blues came over and hung out for the better part of an hour. They brushed up against the cage, vanished into the blue water, and then snuck back around to snag a bite of the fish being strung off the boat. It was so exciting and, even though I knew we were safe in the cage, seeing an eight-foot shark swimming directly at me made me ask myself, "Why am I doing this?"

Even without the cage, we would've been fine. The sharks were never aggressive and, besides a bump or two of the cage, never seemed particularly interested in us. It also made it easy to stick the GoPro out of the cage and get some shots even closer to the sharks without worrying about nibbles taking it out of action. Eventually, it was time to exit the cage—and somehow with a miraculous 45 minutes of film from the single battery in the GoPro.

Once we were safely back on the boat and quickly drying off in the sun, it was time to relax and hope that all the footage we captured was usable. Another hour-long trip back to shore and, with everyone very happy to be on solid ground, it was time to review the video. We shot in top quality with the HERO6 Black, opting for 4K 60p since we didn't know whether we might want to do some slow-mo effects later.

This tiny action cam delivered! The footage is sharp, clean (surprising, considering it gets dark quickly underwater), and handled the dynamic range very well.

Bringing it into DaVinci Resolve, it graded very well and I was able to pull plenty of stills from the shark-filled footage. All the underwater shots in this article and in the video are from the GoPro, and are a testament to its quality. Overall, this was an amazing adventure and experience, one that I would highly recommend. And if you are going to do it, you are definitely going to want an action cam to relive these experiences and to show your friends and family.

Do you want to go swimming with sharks now? Have any questions about picking up an action cam? Make it known that you aren't sleeping with the fishes by sounding off in the Comments section, below! Stay tuned for more adventures and helpful articles by following Adventure Week at B&H.