SWIMMING WITH SHARKS ONLY A CAGE STANDS BETWEEN DIVERS AND THE GREAT WHITES LOOKING FOR A MEAL.

Byline: Bill Becher Correspondent

GUADALUPE ISLAND, Mexico - Man-eating animals keep us aware of our place in the natural world, said author David Quammen. ``To them, we're just another flavor of meat.''

While diving with great white sharks at Guadalupe Island, I wondered if I was the flavor of the month.

I was on a five-day cage diving expedition with Great White Adventures to observe and photograph sharks. Sixteen shark enthusiasts, some of them repeat customers, came from as far away as Sussex, England, to make the 23-hour run from San Diego in the sport-fishing boat Searcher.

Comfortable accommodations, good food and trolling for tuna helped the time pass until we could dive.

Guadalupe, a volcanic island 160 miles off the Pacific coast of Mexico, rises out of the sea like a mini-Hawaiian island - at least the dry side. The water is a comfortable 72 degrees, perfect for diving.

The water around Guadalupe is a favorite hangout for the great whites we hoped to see. As it turned out, we were going to get a closer look than we could possibly imagine.

Lawrence Groth, president of Great White Adventures, ladled a batch of ``secret sauce'' - a blend of ground fish, fish oil and beef blood - into the ocean to attract the sharks.

Two of the crew members were shark wranglers. They manned lines attached to the hang baits - small skipjack tuna attached to floats - to bring the sharks within viewing distance.

Two cages, each holding four divers, were suspended from a swim step at the back of the boat. Hoses from a hookah supplied air so we didn't need bulky tanks. On this excursion, no previous scuba training is required.

On my first dive - a short orientation session to practice getting in and out of the cage - I saw a sudden plume of bubbles exhaled by the diver next to me. I turned my head and was face-to-jaws with a 16-foot-long great white shark.

This was enough to send a jolt of flight-or-fight body chemicals through the most jaded nervous system. After that experience, I pivoted my head like a bobble-head doll when I was in the cage.

Before the trip was over we saw many great whites, ranging in length from 11 to 16 feet - some close enough that we could floss their teeth with our air hoses.

The huge sharks swim slowly, more like battle cruisers than fish. Most show signs that life in the ocean is hard, even for alpha predators. One shark was missing a chunk of its dorsal fin. Another had a semicircular bite mark, probably from another shark, on its head.

Groth told us that the only thing a great white shark fears is another great white shark.

Great whites are cannibals - and may even start eating each other before birth. Fetal sharks in the family that includes great whites are known to devour their siblings in utero.

The sharks' mouths sprout big triangular teeth, framed by garish red lips. ``Sharks are always smiling at you,'' said one diver.

The sharks eye the hang bait, then wheel and swim toward the bait, mouths open. But they're a bit slow and clumsy, and the shark wranglers usually manage to yank the bait away from the sharks. If they don't, they always lose the tug of war.

After some time in the cages, we got more comfortable. I leaned out to get a photo of a shark when I sensed a movement out of the corner of my eye. It was a second shark swimming toward me. I yanked my head back into the cage.

On the next day, a small sea lion swam around the boat. A shark appeared and the sea lion swam past it, either unaware or unconcerned. This went on for an hour, as we watched with a sort of queasy anticipation, wondering if we would see a ``predation.''

That's the bland term shark scientists use to describe what happens when a great white shark snaps a sea lion in half and eats it, leaving a bloody streak of foam in the water. On Great White Adventures' Farallon Islands trips out of San Francisco, patrons often see this. It's not for the squeamish.

Finally, the small sea lion swam away, unscathed for now.

Sharks are ambush predators. They lurk in the depths and attack prey from underneath.

From the cage, I watched a great white shoot straight up next to our boat like a Poseidon missile and break the surface. Those on deck were treated to the sight of the shark breeching, its head and jaws at the level of the boat's railing. After that, several passengers avoided walking near the railing.

Between dives, we fished for tuna (fresh sashimi!) and talked about Deborah Franzman, the swimmer who was killed this summer by a great white shark at Avila Beach near San Luis Obispo. She was swimming among sea lions - not a good idea.

Scott Davis, a marine biologist and one of Great White Adventure's dive masters, explained that shark attacks on humans are likely a case of mistaken identity by young, inexperienced sharks targeting what they think is a sea lion or seal.

Despite their fearsome reputation, many shark species are threatened, their numbers decimated by the shark-fin soup market or from incidental catches by commercial fisherman pursuing other fish. This means trouble for the oceans because sharks fill a vital role as apex predators, keeping other populations in check.

On the third day, three great white sharks circled the boat. The group christened them Itchy, Scratchy and Night Rider.

Steve Russ, who was an underwater bomb disposal diver for the Navy, told of a particular dive.

``Night Rider came at the hang bait,'' he said. ``He kept coming and got his snout stuck in the opening of the cage. The snout was a foot from our faces. It was unbelievable. The shark threw the cage around like it was a plastic cup.''

Later, Russ was holding onto the cage bare-handed when another shark swam past, rubbing his hand. ``He was smooth, like bumpy Teflon,'' Russ said.

As we all said goodbye at the end of the trip, Groth had one final piece of advice: ``You've been diving in bio-attractant. Be sure to wash off your dive gear carefully when you get home before your next dive.''

Done. It's bad enough being meat in the ocean - no need to add secret sauce.

IF YOU GO

Great White Adventures' one-day trips to view great white sharks at the Farallon Islands are priced at $775 per person. The five-day trips to Guadalupe Island on board the Searcher out of San Diego cost $2,250, which includes accommodations, meals, drinks, dives and fishing permits. No previous scuba training is required. The season is August through November. Information: [phone]; www.greatwhiteadventures.com.

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Photo:

(1 -- 2 -- color) Divers off the coast of Guadalupe Island, Mexico, can get umcomfortably close to great white sharks, top, but do so from the confines of a steel cage, above. The photos were shot with a Canon PowerShot S40 in a Canon waterproof case.

(3 -- color) Specialized scuba training isn't necessary to get into Great White Adventures' cages because a surface-supplied air system is used.

Bill Becher/Special to the Daily News

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IF YOU GO (see text)