At 12 feet and over 1300lbs, Hilton is not “new” and has probably made that trip quite a few times in his life. He actually has spent a good deal of this year down along the southern beaches and is making a yearly migration northward to go find some nookie.
Still small compared to the females. A 12-ft male is still a pretty agile shark and able to chase down it’s prey. The big female hunt in the vertical, ambushing their prey.
A diving acquaintance of mine went down to Guadalupe Island and did some cage dives with the GW’s. That’s where Paul Walker filmed, BTW. He said that in clear water the seals would not worry about the female GW’s. They couldn’t catch the seals. When the males showed up (as a group) the seals got scarce. The males almost hunted cooperatively, cutting off the seals. Of course if the clouds moved in, or the water visibilty declined, the seals would tuck up under the boat so as not to silhouette themselves against the surface.