Sharks!

In the Bahamas we see sharks on nearly every scuba dive.  Most of the time you can bet that sharks see us even when we don’t see them.  Often we will see a shark in the distance, which never approaches. But in San Salvador, Conception Island and Crooked Island, the Reef Sharks tend to pass repeatedly, sometimes within about 12 feet of us, then veer away, and come back to do it again.

 We do not know if they are just patrolling their regular territory, or if they are hoping that we are a big predator who might injure some fish they can grab. In fact, that is how most shark bites occur: a diver has speared a fish and the sharks sense the wounded animal and goes for it.  Reef Sharks are in the family of Requiem Sharks and are considered dangerous.

So even though we see them frequently, we remain wary and keep an eye on any sharks that approach. Easier said than done! They and we are moving in three dimensions so we have to be looking up, and looking down, as well as side-to-side! And then when you have two or three sharks to keep track of, well….it can get exciting!

When we see a shark, what we normally do is stay close to each other, low to the corals or back to the wall and watch until we discern the pattern to their cruising. Then as long as they are behaving normally we go on with our dive, still keeping one eye on them. What you should never do is frantically swim away from an approaching shark. Instead, you should face the shark head on and portray confidence to give the shark the idea that if it approaches you it will get hurt! If you feel like you want to get out of there, stick together and return to the boat calmly. With the Reef Sharks we have never felt like we needed to cut short our dive.

On some of these dives Don got some nice photos with the Canon 5D Mark III, and Denise shot some great video with the GoPro Hero4. This video clip (below) includes a shark eating a little fish!  Enjoy!