AMONG SHARKS

Feedback wanted!

2011-04-28T11:46:00.001+02:00

Read this blog? Viewed the slideshow? Saw the videos? If so, I'd really appreciate some feedback in any language I understand :o)

Nina Salerosa

2011-03-26T15:40:00.008+01:00

While reluctant to promote shark feeding practices, this fascinating video by Joe Romeiro featuring Cristina Zenato is so well made that I can't help but watch it again and again.

→ " Nina Salerosa " full-window high-definition video on YouTube

Feeding time

2010-11-09T13:46:00.011+01:00

Every day, at 5pm, Roland strolls to the end of his jetty, a bag full of irresistible bait in his hand. Awaiting him eagerly, besides his guests and resident small fish, are some local big girls and cool guys, a.k.a. nurse and blacktip reef sharks. I of course couldn't resist getting into the water for a closer look below the waves...

→ Among Sharks, clip #5: Nurse & Blacktip Reef Sharks (resp. about 2.5m & 1.0-1.5m)

You can see & read more about whale watching and shark diving in French Polynesia on my other virtual dive site.

Action packed nights

2009-08-12T16:59:00.016+02:00

While night diving around Cocos Island, Costa Rica, I got to mingle with prowling whitetip reef sharks, literally finding myself in the middle of the pack on several occasions, thereby capturing some up close and personal moments...

→ Among Sharks, clip #4: Whitetip Reef Sharks (1.0-1.5m)

For a full account of my dive trip, please refer to my other blog.

WSPA

2009-06-26T11:35:00.000+02:00

→ World Society for the Protection of Animals
→ WSPA blog entry about shark fin soup

Videoclips: Among Sharks

2008-12-03T22:09:00.015+01:00

Here they are! Three short videos to give you an impression of what it looks & feels like to dive among sharks...

→ Among Sharks, clip #1 : Caribbean Reef Sharks (1.5-2.0m)
→ Among Sharks, clip #2 : Lemon Sharks (2.0-2.5m)
→ Among Sharks, clip #3 : Tiger Sharks (2.5-4.0m)

These videos were cut together on an iMac, using iMovie 08, from about 200 source clips (5.6GB), recorded with a housed Panasonic Lumix DMC-FS5, without use of any artificial lighting.

Slideshow: Caribbean, lemon & tiger sharks

2008-11-27T10:26:00.012+01:00

Some snapshots to look at while you wait for more...

⊕ enlarged view

This is a selection from more than 800 photos (1.5GB) taken with a Sea&Sea DX8000G, often with 17mm WAL, without using any strobes (meaning some post-processing with Photoshop was indeed necessary).

Camera performance

2008-11-26T11:33:00.003+01:00

Sea&Sea DX8000G

⊕ I'm quite happy with how my three year old Sea&Sea DX8000G (Ricoh Caplio GX8) performed on this trip, taking plenty of pretty snappy shots. Of course, conditions were rather favorable for natural light underwater photography: mostly sunny weather, shallow water, relatively good visibility and plenty of fascinating supermodels. Actually, my subjects cooperated so well, i.e. got so close, my 17mm equivalent WAL often could not frame them.

⊗ If it wasn't for its sub-standard, not to say useless, 320x240 pixel video-clip resolution, I would have no real need to look out for another multi-purpose compact camera.

⊕ Also worth mentioning, is that this camera uses two available-everywhere AA batteries. In my case that means two Ansmann 1.2V 2100mAh max-e NiMH rechargeable batteries. They provided enough power for my camera to be almost always on, even on 2h long dives! Remarkably better than my supposedly more powerful, but unreliable, Sanyo 2500mAh NiMH batteries, which suffer from self-draining, even though not in use.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FS5

⊗ I was surprised to see this otherwise nice little camera suffered from shutter-lag, a problem I had not anticipated in a camera this new (Feb.2008), making it useless for action photography.

⊕ Luckily I'd taken it along for its video mode (848x480 pixel @ 30fps) and here it performed as hoped for, that is, not too bad. Except for a rather distracting dust spot in the middle of the sensor/lens, that I was not able to get rid of. Note though that Panasonic did pick-up, fix and return the camera free of charge (it being still within warranty) after we mentioned this annoying issue.

Remarks
• I basically shot in full-automatic mode with both cameras, without use of any strobes or underwater lights.
• I used Sandisk Ultra & Extreme SD(HC) memory cards of various capacities (512KB-8GB) and so far have been satisfied with them.

Captain's blog

2008-11-17T17:21:00.006+01:00

Jim Abernethy has posted his own account together with some great photos of our memorable shark diving trip on his website.

quote: The last dive was completely off the scale, even as far as I am concerned. We wound up with a total of 9 tigers, which we have had many times, but 8 of them were in the 14 to 16 foot range which really made this special. A perfect way to end a perfect trip.

thin air - Sonthofen

2008-11-11T12:30:00.001+01:00

Uncomfortable & sleepless nine hour flight, with a choice of tasteless food and on-demand movies to pass away time. Except for a bit of a jam at immigration, no hassles getting through, pick up my luggage and step onto a train (19€) to Sonthofen via München and Buchloe, all in all another 3½h ride.

Palm Beach - thin air

2008-11-10T18:00:00.004+01:00

Taxi (32$) from my Super 8 Riviera Beach motel to West Palm Beach's international airport, an uneventful 20' ride. Check-in's surprisingly fast & easy. At security however, I'm told I've been selected by the airline for a special security search (as indicated by a 'ssss' note on my boarding pass), meaning I get air blown all over me in a sniffing cabin, get to walk shoe- & beltless through a metal detector and am allowed to watch & answer any questions while my backpack, after being x-rayed, also gets thoroughly hand searched & machine analyzed for explosives. I guess from their point of view, anybody voluntarily diving with sharks must be suicidal?

One and a half hour Delta flight from Palm Beach to Atlanta, in time for a five hour long wait until my connecting flight towards Munich.

Dry day

2008-11-09T22:00:00.023+01:00

After yesterday's ultimate dive, we smoothly sailed away from Grand Bahama back to Palm Beach. Awakening in time to get cleared by US immigration, before disembarking at JASA's new dock in the Lake Park Marina. From there it's just a short taxi ride (15$) to the Super 8 motel in Riviera Beach. Lazy off-gas afternoon waiting for my gear to dry before packing it all up for tomorrow's voyage home.

Plenty of time for some reflections:

∅ The M/V Shear Water is a relatively small live-aboard, with very limited space & rather cramped sleeping quarters. But then, you're not supposed to be on board that much...

⊗ Due to its size & construction, the ship's prone to some rock & roll. Four of us, out of nine, got sea-sick during the crossing over from Palm Beach to Grand Bahama, even though the sea wasn't that rough. Of these four, three had a berth in the ship's bow.

⊗ The ship's AC is freezing cold, as in 19°C down in the cabins. Too cold for the thin blanket to be of any comfort.

⊗ 100$ for 7 nitrox fills is at least twice too much, meaning you actually get penalized for playing safe.

⊗ Nobody had told us of a possible fuel surcharge, in our case: 175$.

⊕ Jim's a very engaging & entertaining man, his crew friendly & ever helpful. Hard working professionals I would trust again.

⊕ The dives require a high degree of awareness, but certainly are exciting, as you can hopefully tell from my previous blog entries.

In short, yes, I'd love to be among sharks again as soon as possible :o) and with nobody else but Jim Abernethy, on board his Shear Water.

Tigers!

2008-11-08T20:00:00.012+01:00

Dive #13 [ 09:22 | EAN34 | 61' | max.17m, avg.15m | viz<10m | 25°C ]
Dive #14 [ 11:47 | EAN34 | 75' | max.15m, avg.14m | viz<10m | 26°C ]
Dive #15 [ 15:38 | EAN36 | 54' | max.15m, avg.13m | viz<10m | 26°C ]

This being the final dip of the trip, with only three of us in the water beside Jim, he just dropped the bait crates to the bottom, cut them open and laid out the morsels... At first only a few caribbean reef sharks zoomed in to gorge on the free pieces of fish, soon followed by a lone lemon shark. That is, until the tiger sharks came in en masse!

Jim actually counted nine of them, including Emma, who with her 4m was the smaller one of the party. Personally, I saw up to five tiger sharks within my eyes-wide-open field of vision. Whow!!!

Dolphins?

2008-11-07T20:00:00.009+01:00

Dive #12 [ 08:15 | AIR | 120' | avg.4m | viz>10m | 25°C ]

First in, last out, for another two watchful hours in the company of lemons, tigers and a bull.

We spent the afternoon looking for dolphins, but either they weren't anywhere near their usual hang out, or they didn't feel like showing up for some mingling with shark loving humans.

Action!

2008-11-06T20:00:00.014+01:00

Dive #10 [ 09:39 | AIR | 122' | avg.4m | viz.10m | 27°C ]
Dive #11 [ 13:26 | AIR | 126' | avg.5m | viz>10m | 27°C ]

The usual suspects: Twenty something lemon sharks and at least three fairly large & one relatively small tiger shark sniffing around in the sand. Special guest today, is a rather suspicious looking bull shark (2–2½m), keeping a safe distance.

According to Jim though, there were likely nine tiger sharks in our neighborhood and three different bull sharks! As usual, Jim stood in the middle of the action, shaking bait crates to stir up a bit more attention from sharks and tourists.

Emma

2008-11-05T20:00:00.011+01:00

Dive #7 [ 09:12 | AIR | 77' | avg.5m | viz.10m | 27°C ]

Fantastic dive with plenty of lemon sharks swimming by real close! And at least three tiger sharks paid us a courtesy visit, one of them 4m Emma. She's a real big-eyed beauty :o) Can't let her out of your sight though, unless of course you like being bumped into.

Dive #8 [ 11:33 | AIR | 79' | avg.5m | viz.5m | 26°C ]
Dive #9 [ 15:55 | AIR | 50' | avg.5m | viz.5m | 24°C ]

Lemonade

2008-11-04T20:00:00.004+01:00

Dive #6 [ 08:23 | AIR | 99' | avg.6m | viz<15m | 27°C | ☼ ]

Double shift with more than a dozen lemon sharks (2–2½m) slowly cruising around & between us.

Lazy sharkless afternoon due to unfavorable weather conditions.

Sharks!

2008-11-03T20:00:00.025+01:00

Dive #2 [ 08:34 | EAN32 | 51' | max.18m, avg.15m | viz>15m | 26°C ]
Dive #3 [ 10:41 | EAN34 | 44' | max.18m, avg.14m | 27°C ]
Dive #4 [ 13:34 | EAN35 | 63' | max.16m, avg.14m | 27°C ]

Three thrilling dives with a gang of caribbean reef sharks (1½–2m) and two tiger sharks (3–3½m) passing by fairly close several times. Pretty cool beasts indeed!

Dive #5 [ 16:24 | AIR | 45' | avg.5m | 26°C ]

Late afternoon dive on a shallow sandy bottom together with about twenty lemon sharks (2–2½m). What a wonderful experience!

Note that whereas the sharks here are still doing relatively fine, despite plenty of sport-fishing wounds, the same can not be said from their relatives in other parts of the world, as documented by Rob Stewart in his disturbing movie "Sharkwater", a revolting must see :o(

Grand Bahama

2008-11-02T20:00:00.003+01:00

Sometime after midnight we rock & roll from Palm Beach to Grand Bahama, arriving there around 9:30 am. Having watched the sunrise from the aft deck, I can't say the sea was particularly rough, but the M/V Shear Water sure made it feel like it, robbing several of us from a good night's sleep.

Bahamian immigration formalities handled for us by the crew, we get on our way again while Jim thoroughly briefs us about diving with sharks: what to expect, how to behave, etc. Several hours later, we're all pretty anxious to get in the water.

Dive #1 [ 14:45 | EAN33 | 45' | max.21m, avg.14m | viz<10m | 29°C ]

Check-out dive with a dozen caribbean reef sharks (1½–2m), cruising around the bait crates, often swimming by pretty close :o) For our well-being, we're all equipped with a sturdy 1m length of PVC tubing, to prevent them from getting too personal on our first encounter.

This being the initial dive of the trip, I did not bring any camera yet, just the empty new housing, to test its waterproofness, concentrating in stead on getting myself & my scuba gear tuned as necessary.

Despite 29°C warm water, a 7mm wetsuit and 2mm hooded vest, I got cold after only 30' due to lack of sleep and undernourishment in the last 24h. Reason enough to skip the second dive of the day.

Boarding day

2008-11-01T22:00:00.009+01:00

Overcast & rainy morning, spent preparing my cameras. After a quick hamburger lunch (14$) at Denny's, a road side restaurant right next to my Super 8 motel, and a slow afternoon spent in the motel's lobby, I take a taxi (15$) to Jim Abernethy's Scuba Adventures, located in the New Port Cove Marine Center, just a 10' ride away.

Once there, I immediately unpack and set up my dive gear, as space on the ship is so limited that non-foldable bags can't be stowed anywhere on board. Some more paperwork & money business later (Bahamas tourist tax: 60$, Fuel surcharge: 175$, Nitrox: 100$), I get assigned one of the six bunk beds in the ship's bow. Besides these, there are also three small cabins with two berths each.

Soon, everybody's there: four American crew members and eight German divers, besides my Belgian self. Shark diving trips are always led by Jim himself. Assisting him this week are Ed, second captain & dive master, Zach, third captain & dive master, and Wade, the cook. After an extended boat briefing by Wade, most of us call it a day. Tonight we'll be crossing over to the Bahamas!

Halloween

2008-10-31T20:00:00.008+01:00

After a cream-cheese bagel & muffin breakfast I ask the motel's Indian manager for a cab. In the USA, without a car, you're stuck.

Having a free, trick or treat, day, I decide to check out The Gardens Mall, a 15' minute ride (20$) from the motel. Unfortunately there's not much there to catch my interest, except for an Apple Store, where I do not dare hang around too long so as to avoid any temptation, and a Radio Shack, where I do treat myself to an extra SanDisk Video HD SDHC 8GB memory card (42.60$).

Somewhere across one of the surrounding streets, there's supposed to be a Barnes & Noble bookstore and a Best Buy. However, when I ask some Hispanic workers, they look at me strangely and say it's a six miles stroll. No way I'm going to walk that far along a motor way!

Back at my motel, the manager tells me the Best Buy's indeed just across the street from the Gardens Mall, that is, maximum half a mile, when you know which tricky street to cross.

Sonthofen - Palm Beach

2008-10-30T22:30:00.002+01:00

Around 18:30 yesterday evening I took a train (19€) from Sonthofen to Munich's airport, a 3h ride via München Hbf, and spent a restless night trying out various airport benches.

Despite being there early, check-in was inquisitively slow, everybody having to pass a friendly interrogation & passport control first, before being allowed to get a boarding pass. As usual, I also had to open up my backpack, airport security always being suspicious about my WAL. The flight itself was cramped & uncomfortable but otherwise nondescript, landing in Atlanta, Georgia, USA almost an hour early.

The waiting lines at the US immigration control in Atlanta are rather long but at least pass-through is fairly steady. Passport check, fingerprint scan and webcam photo are standard procedure here. By the time I get through, my check-in bag's already there, ready to be hand carried through customs. Here again I get picked out for a more thorough inspection of all my stuff and some more friendly questions before being allowed to find my way towards my connecting flight. Getting from the arrival gate to the next boarding gate only took two hours. Well within the five hours transit time I've got.

From Atlanta, Georgia to Palm Beach, Florida is only a short 1h30 hop, and at 21:00 local time I truly find myself on US bottom without anymore hassles, except for the fact that my check-in bag got obviously searched one more time somewhere on the way. Fifteen minutes later, a shuttle bus (20$) brings me to my Super 8 motel in Riviera Beach, West Palm Beach, a 15' minute ride from the airport.

As they haven't changed to winter time yet, there's currently only a five hour difference: Florida summer time = Bayern winter time - 5h. Till sunday that is, then it will be officially winter time here too.

Currency: 1 Euro = 1.25 USD , 1 USD = 0.80 Euro

Gear packing day

2008-10-28T18:00:00.004+01:00

Got all my dive gear packed in one check-in trolley-style bag, together with some clothing and a small pharmacy pouch. Good for about 21kg, well within the 2x 22.5kg limit as allowed by Delta Air Lines on flights to the USA.

Sunglasses, logbook, dive computer, cameras, accessories & housings are all safely stowed in my hand-luggage sized backpack, together with a few spare clothes. Another 6kg.

Gear gathering day

2008-10-27T18:00:00.005+01:00

Got all my dive gear out of the closet, storage boxes & cellar, ready to be sorted out, selected as necessary and configured for single-tank shark diving.

In order to reduce, if not avoid, any risk of possibly being mistaken for a piece of fish, any shark diver is required to wear dark colored gear. Dead fish looks ghostly white underwater and we would not want to be taken for a morsel of bait. Meaning any exposed light-colored skin should be covered as much as possible, that is, hood & gloves are a must.

Black hooded vest and dark grey gloves I have, but my trusted yellow fins are alas a no go. Luckily my feet also fit in Petra's dark blue Aeris Velocity Duo split fins. And, just to be safe, I'll also use her Aeris Reef Rider wing-style BCD (with its reflective straps taped beyond recognition), in stead of my own shiny metal backplate & wings.

UW videography

2008-10-11T18:00:00.002+02:00

Ordered a Panasonic Lumix DMW-MCFS5 UW housing (182€ + 13€ for shipping & handling) from Foto-Palme for Petra's Panasonic Lumix DMC-FS5, so as to be able to record underwater video clips in a higher resolution than just 320x240 as possible with my Sea&Sea DX8000G.

Camera

– 1/2.33" CCD
+ photo: 10MP JPEG
+ video: 848x480 pixel @ 30fps MOV
+ 30mm wide 4x zoom lens
– aperture: F3.3
+ Mega OIS
+ SDHC memory card slot
+ 2.5" 230'000px TFT LCD
+ Lithium-ion battery pack (3.6V, 1000mAh)

Underwater housing

+ access to all the camera's functions & settings
+ clear view of the camera's LCD
+ rated to -40m

UW photography

2008-10-09T18:00:00.005+02:00

I plan on using my good old Sea&Sea DX8000G compact camera for underwater photography. Fitted with a 0.6x WAL it allows 17mm wide angle shots... enough I hope for close-up portraits of big fish :o)

In shallow water, with some sunshine, it should be possible to get decent snapshots without using any strobes.

Paperwork

2008-08-29T18:00:00.003+02:00

Sent in the usual diving related paperwork: acknowledgement of risk, waiver & release of liability; plus a signed agreement to wear only dark colored gear. The good news being: the trip's still on!

Super 8

2008-05-07T18:00:00.006+02:00

Reserved a room for three nights in a Super 8 motel in Riviera Beach, West Palm Beach, Florida, USA (90$/night, incl. breakfast).

Trip confirmation

2008-03-17T09:55:00.001+01:00

Got an email from TaucherTraum confirming the shark diving trip!

Fatal shark bite

2008-02-24T18:00:00.007+01:00

Just read that an Austrian diver died after being bitten by a bull shark in the Bahamas. Except that he was diving from Jim Abernethy's M/V Shear Water, there's not much factual data to be found...

As usual, the media are hyping this tragic accident into a gruesome death by a fearsome man-eater. Worse, cage bound competitors in the dive industry are trying to use this incident to ban all uncaged shark diving in the Bahamas.

→ Wetpixel post about this first ever fatal shark bite in the Bahamas

UPDATE: I'm afraid it won't change anything, but I wrote an email to Neal Watson, President of the Bahamas Diving Association & dive shop owner, and signed a petition in favor of (uncaged) shark diving.

Boot 2008: TaucherTraum

2008-01-23T18:00:00.004+01:00

Short visit of TaucherTraum's stand at the BOOT 2008 fair.

Delta Air Lines

2008-01-16T18:00:00.006+01:00

Booked my Delta Air Lines flight from München, Bayern, Germany to Palm Beach, Florida, USA via TaucherTraum (480€ return).

Arriving two days prior to boarding the M/V Shear Water, in order to acclimatize & get over some of the jet-lag, and leaving one day after disembarkation, so as to be able to dive until the last day without restrictions prior to flying.

M/V Shear Water

2007-12-28T18:00:00.006+01:00

Shark diving being high on my wish list, I finally decided to book a berth onboard Jim Abernethy's world famous M/V Shear Water, via TaucherTraum, a German dive travel agent, who chartered the live-aboard from 01/11 to 09/11/2008.

Reserving a space well in advance is indeed recommended, as Jim's uncaged shark diving expeditions are quite popular!

Shark diving

2007-12-15T18:00:00.017+01:00

While researching the cave diving scene in the Bahamas, I got within just a few clicks of booking a sharks & dolphins trip with Shark Diver.

However, though arguably safer, I'd rather not be confined behind bars when there are uncaged alternatives. And, when caged, I'd prefer to be in it for a great encounter!