Today we’d like to introduce you to Martin Graf.
Martin, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I grew up in Switzerland and came to the US to race bicycles. After retiring from cycling I started a dive school and worked as a Divemaster on a dive boat that was doing trips to Guadalupe Island. While diving and spear fishing there, we discovered the Great White Sharks that seasonally frequent the island.
In 2001 Shark Diver started cage diving with these sharks and I was responsible for the diver’s safety. After 12 years of working in that capacity, I bought the company in January 2013. Since buying the company, we have expanded from our Great White Shark expeditions to Guadalupe, the Tiger and Hammerhead Sharks in the Bahamas to diving with Bull Sharks in Fiji.
Because of my expertise gained from observing Great White Sharks and their behavior, Princess Cruises has asked me to do presentations to their guests. For the last 3 years, I’ve had the privilege to educate their guests on what the sharks are really like.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
There have been some ups and downs along the way. Rising charter fees with no change in the retail price have presented a big challenge. Luckily we were able to overcome that obstacle. Not only have we been able to keep our prices the same, we actually found a vastly upgraded vessel to offer an even better experience to our guests.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Shark Diver story. Tell us more about the business.
We have two goals. First, we deeply care about the sharks and are heavily involved in conservation. Shark Diver started the Shark-Free Marinas, an initiative now run by the humane society and we support the ongoing research at Guadalupe Island by donating a portion of our proceeds to the Marine Conservation Science Institute. We also run special expeditions with the researcher who maintains the photo ID database at Guadalupe.
Second, we care about our guests and want to make sure that everyone has a great experience. We were the first company to offer a shark sighting guarantee. Every diver gets a copy of the photo ID database, so they can identify the sharks they saw during their expedition. We also make a complimentary movie for all our guests and give em any pictures and videos we take.
Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
We’ve been fortunate that the weather has been good to us. I’m 17 years of going to Guadalupe, we only had a couple of times where it became an issue.
Pricing:
- 5 days liveaboard trip
- 3 full days of shark diving
- Price starting at $2995
Contact Info:
- Website: www.sharkdiver.com
- Phone: 619.887.4275 or 800.987.4275
- Email: crew@sharkdiver.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/shark_diver_LLC
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/sharkdivers
- Twitter: www.twitter.com/whitesharkdiver
- Other: https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g60750-d8638013-Reviews-Shark_Diver-San_Diego_California.html
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