o
matter if sharks give you the heebie-jeebies
or fill you with fascination, a Bahamas shark
dive may offer the most thrilling 45 minutes
you'll ever spend underwater. In The Bahamas
you have the unique opportunity to observe sharks
at close range, in their natural environment.
You can find a shark dive in almost every part
of The Bahamas, and each one is different. Some
are shark feeds and some are not. So, how do
you pick one? Here's an overview of what's available
that may help you choose your thrill.
Long
Island
Stella
Maris Inn started it all 25 years ago, bringing
wild-eyed divers on the first shark feeding dives.
You can still experience the same thrill at Shark
Reef, off Long Island. Divers line up on the
sandy bottom, backs to a coral bluff, while the
divemaster floats a bucket of bait across from
the boat and dumps it into the water. The assembled
Caribbean Reef Sharks, Carcharhinus perezi, scoop
up the offering right before your eyes.
SHARK
OPTIONS
(While
other Bahamas dive operators offer shark encounters,
the operations listed here are specialists in this area.)
Various
Bahamas Liveaboard dive boats offer shark dives as part
of their itineraries. See the Exploring The Bahamas by
Livaboard article for
contact information.
New
Providence
You
can pick from a whole range of shark
dives off the south coast of New Providence,
where Stuart Cove's Dive Bahamas, Nassau
Scuba Centre and Dive Dive Dive have
all developed their own brand of shark
encounters. Shark feeding takes place
at two sandy flats adjacent to the
New Providence wall, called the Runway
and Shark Arena. The shark experience
is organized as a two tank dive, with
the first dive on the wall. Plenty
of sharks are always on hand, cruising
the reef in anticipation of the upcoming
feed, but they tend to stay farther
away from the divers until the second
dive, when the food comes out. Feeders
don a full suit of chainmail to hand
feed the sharks during the Nassau Scuba
Centre shark encounter at the Arena.
Twenty or more Caribbean Reef Sharks
normally show up. The Stuart Cove's
feeders present the bait on the end
of a short stainless steel hand spear,
a technique that keeps the sharks a
bit farther away at the crucial moment.
This style of feeding also permits
them to position the shark perfectly
in the frame for underwater photography-and
to wear only a pair of shoulder- length
chainmail gloves. Either way, you get
a superb, up-close view of the action.
The popularity of the shark dives has
generated a PADI Shark Awareness Course
that is offered in many locations in
The Bahamas. Divers who want to get
even more involved can try one of the
assistant shark feeder courses, which
allow recreational divers to don the
chainmail and feed the sharks themselves!
Shark
Buoy
About
an hour boat ride from New Providence, out in the middle of the
deepest, bluest water you've ever seen, is a large yellow buoy
known as the Shark Buoy. Since it is the only structure for miles,
it naturally attracts a lot of fish life. The main attraction,
though, is the slender, graceful Silky Shark, Carcharhinus falciformis.
Smaller than Caribbean Reef Sharks, Silkies are open water sharks
that can be whip-quick when necessary. Shark buoy dives are always
an adventure.
Grand
Bahama Hand
feeding in full suits is the name of the game off the
south coast of Grand Bahama, where the Underwater Explorers
Society (UNEXSO) and Xanadu Undersea Adventures conduct
their feedings at a site alternately called Shark Junction
or Shark Alley. The feedings take place in about 40 feet
of water, with an old recompression chamber as the backdrop,
and the dive is nonstop shark action from start to finish.
Watching the sharks eat is amazing, but even seeing them
cruise by at arm's length is incredible. While a handful
of the sharks are jockeying for position when the bait
comes out, the rest are swimming slow circles around
the area, including around the line-up of divers watching
the show.
Walker's
Cay Shark
Rodeo at Walker's Cay is an incredible experience. Picture
this: a 35-foot deep sandy area about the size of a couple
of Olympic pools, surrounded by coral reefs. Add more
than 100 Reef and Blacktip Sharks, then dip a frozen
confection of fish parts, called a chumsicle,' into the
water and let the fun begin. But, like all of The Bahamas
shark dives, this is still a controlled event.
Liveaboards You
can expect at least one organized shark dive during a
week of liveaboard diving in The Bahamas. Blackbeard's
Cruises, for instance, feeds the sharks at a site south
of Bimini called Bull Run, and Nekton Pilot heightens
the drama by staging theirs in a Cay Sal blue hole appropriately
called Shark Hole.
Sharks
at Large Of
course, not all shark dives in The Bahamas involve feeding.
For instance, divers at San Salvador are often treated
to encounters with Scalloped Hammerheads. Nassau's Lost
Blue Hole frequently hosts Whitetip Reef Sharks. Whale
Shark encounters have occurred in the Exumas and Cay
Sal. In the Abacos, Brendals Dive Center brings divers
and sharks together at many of its favorite sites. The
live-aboard Sea Fever has been providing shark dives
throughout The Bahamas for 15 years. Wherever you find
them, there is nothing like a shark encounter to liven
up a dive. If the silhouette of a lone shark in the distance
can set your heart hammering, imagine the excitement
of swimming with dozens at once!
