Sharks feeding on chumsicle
Walker's Cay, Abaco, Bahamas, June 1997
The innovative use of the "chumsicle" - a rubbish bin size slab of frozen fish waste hung on hooks - makes the shark feed dive at Walker's Cay probably one of the best and safest around.
The sharks (mainly black tip, caribbean reef, bull and nurse sharks) basically attach themselves to the frozen blob and suck to their hearts content. Thus, while maintaining continuous action, the containment of the attractive morcel means that there is less of a problem of multiple stray pieces finding their way into the laps of nearby hapless divers.
Walker's Cay, situated a 45 min flight from Ft. Lauderdale, is definitely one of the best places for really close up experiences with sharks.
This image was taken with a 20 mm lens which provides some idea of just how close one can get without actually coming into contact with the prey (unlike diving with hammerheads at Cocos and Galapagos where its a problem to get within 5 feet of your subject).
Lone white tip in the blue
Dirty Rock, Cocos, January 97.
White tips were everywhere at Cocos. Under every ledge, resting in every crevice or cave and in large groups where the current would surge around rocks and headlands. It was actually rare to find one like this one alone.
White tips, jacks and leather bass would hunt in groups. The white tips would follow the blue jacks around waiting for a chance to pounce on a fish injured by the much faster jacks.
Here they got their chance when an injured fish made for a crevice in the reef. The white tips bullied the blue jacks away and crammed themselves into the crevice in an attempt to reach the cowering and injured prey.
Eventually one of the white tips made a successful grab, emerged backwards with the struggling fish and made off quickly into the blue to devour the prize, with several other sharks in hot pursuit hoping for a scrap to fall their way.
White tips caught napping in crevice
Cocos, January 97.
One of the most common places to find white tips was napping on the bottom. They'd be on the sand or in groups like these ones cuddled up together. Here they've just been disturbed and are trying to escape from their crevice.
Sand Tigers inside the Papoose
North Carolina, August 96.
Kathy and I were first ones off the deck of the Midnight Express and down the anchor rope. One hundred and twenty feet down we entered the up-side down wreck of the Papoose through the entrance in the collapsed hull amidships. As our eyes became accustomed to the gloom, it was apparent that we were sharing the blackness with a number of Sand Tigers. As we gingerly backed out, one of the sharks exited with us, passing inches over our heads.
We made our way along the side of the wreck to the stern and came across more and more Sand Tigers. These sharks are often quite timid of divers. On the Papoose, where they now congregate year around, they appear to have become quite used to divers and will let you come within a few feet.
On this particular dive we came across about 30-40 Sand Tigers. Of course these sharks are not always that prolific and some times it pays to be first in.
The thing that keeps making Kathy and I return to the wrecks off North Carolina is that we've learned that you never know what you might run across.
While inspecting the boiler of the Schurz (a German battleship) on one dive, a large manta ray swept down and hovered directly over me, one of its saucer size eyes staring directly into my mask. We shared about 30 seconds together; it seemed to enjoy being touched along the underside of its wing. On another occasion our dive boat was surrounded by a pod of dolphins. Most previous times that I've dived with dolphins they seemed indifferent. This time was different. We snorkeled with them for at least 10 minutes. They allowed us to get close, but never close enough to touch. As the pod departed Kathy was approached by a large Atlantic Hammerhead Shark and immediately made her way back to the boat.
Scalloped hammerhead
The best place Kathy and I have dove to date, and undoubtedly the best place for shark action, has been the Galapagos Archipelago. Here you get the chance to dive with scalloped hammerheads, which congregate in vast numbers at specific sites around the Archipelego. The north-west islands of Wolf and Darwin are the best sites for hammerhead action. However, these sharks are actually quite timid. Divers must learn to hide in crevices and among boulders and to hold their breath so that bubbles from regulators do not scare the sharks away.
Caribbean reef shark
This photo was taken during a shark-feed dive in the Bahamas. The water was not that clear (less than 40 foot visibility) and the shark-feed stirred it up even more. This image of a Caribbean Reef shark is one of the few that came out. There were also Bull sharks and large nurse sharks participating in the feed.
Grey reef shark
One of our favorite faraway places for diving is the Maldives. There Kathy and I dove at a location famous for its congregation of Grey Reef sharks. These sharks are sleek, fast and well known to be quite dangerous. During our encounter with these particular beasts we took cover amongst the coral heads along the side of the drop-off.
Klingerhead shark
Southern Sea, Klingon homeworld.
The Klingerhead shark is much more dangerous and grows to four times the size of any hammerhead shark on Earth. The specimen here is a small one for Kathy.
Some professional images of terrestrial sharks can be found here and for a really extensive set of shark links (including more of the strange and less than serious) try Fiona's shark mania pages.
(195965)
Blacktip at close quarters
White tips feeding
Another Sand Tiger