After a three-hour van ride up into the Fiordland foothills, an hour ferry across Lake Manapouri, and a one-hour bus ride over Wilmot pass, our point of departure, Doubtful sound, finally came into view.

There we loaded our NZ Dept. of Conservation research vessel, the Southern Winds, with all the supplies and fishing gear we would need for our pursuit of the elusive porbeagle shark.

We left the kitchen sink home, but did bring a freezer for the hundreds of pounds of bait. In the photo on the left, (left to right) that's Chris Perle (grad student in the Block lab at Stanford's Hopkins Marine Station), Warren (a local shark fisherman), Tim Sippel (University of Aukland shark researcher), Harry (the first mate) and Michael Manning (New Zealand's National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research).

Before settling in for the night in Doubtful Sound Chris, Michael, Tim and Malcom Francis (also from New Zeland's NIWA) assembled the cradle needed to lift sharks on board for tagging. Also working hard, but not pictured in these expedition photos, are Capt. Bob, researcher John Holdsworth, Clinton Duffy (N.Z. Dept. of Conservation) and me.