The Research Vessel SEWARD JOHNSON sits anchored in fleeting light, a mile off the coast of Atol das Rocas. Even the massive 204-foot ship can disappear behind the ocean swells common around the atoll.

9:00am, March 15, stern deck of the Research Vessel SEWARD JOHNSON (RVSJ)-- In the already hot morning sun, a fleet of dinghies set out from the mothership, armed with the weapons of marine biology: hooks, nets, knives. Teams moved into positions around the island. On the north side, baited longline hooks dangled from the ocean's surface. Another team, anchored on a shipwreck to the west, rained bloody chum into the water while radios relayed garbled news of any progress in the field. Science or war? A bit of both -- complete with media coverage. The arrival of a Brazilian television crew added several more bodies to an already crowded mission. But, after hitching a ride on the crew's boat, I concluded that they were just nice people.

11:04am, north side of Atol das Rocas -- The 'media' boat took on an additional videographer, and a writer for Scuba Diving magazine, then we all motored to our own corner of the atoll to dive on a wreck and look for some larger sharks. Success came in many forms.

As we sat on the surface after our first dive, a voice over the radio announced that baby lemon sharks had begun arriving at Atol das Rocas as predicted (to the minute)! In all, 58 of them swam into the protective waters of the lagoon. In the coming days, these animals will be corralled, sampled, and tagged. Everyone seems to be happy to know that they are here. The bigger sharks, however, continue to elude us...well, at least the bigger lemon sharks.

Underwater, one of the members of the Brazilian television crew signaled with a vertical hand across his forehead that a shark was in the water. It was the first thing a Brazilian had said that I understood without translation. Unfortunately, with his other hand, he was pointing into the mouth of a dark cave. I approached the opening half-expecting to see nothing, half-expecting to be killed. As if cued by some unseen director of an underwater thriller, a 5-foot nurse shark suddenly darted from the darkened entrance, past my wide-eyes and into the cover of the surrounding sea. Note to self: ask for a raise.

2:10am, March 16, onboard the RVSJ -- Upon returning to the ship this evening, a fellow photographer and I slipped into the pre-dusk waters with a massive manta ray, 10 feet across, maybe more. It provided a peaceful balance to my earlier shark encounter. The manta circled several times, flying through the water with powerful strokes from its wing-like fins. Despite our best efforts to court its company, the creature soon left us floating alone in the ocean, dazed from the experience with grins across our faces.

This morning's longlining attack, designed to capture larger sharks, met with only moderate success. So, tomorrow the crews will redouble their efforts, laying twice the number of longlines in hopes of capturing the first of the large sharks.

In all of my 35 years of fishing for sharks with multi-hook long lines, I have never experienced what happened today. We set a 30 hook longline to the south of the island in 45 feet of water. By the time we finished setting the line -- about 15 min -- all the bait on the first 15 hooks had been stripped clean by trigger fish in their millions! So we dropped a whole bait as an experiment and before it hit the bottom -- I mean in 35 seconds -- the triggers had completely eaten it! A 1 pound barracuda steak!!!