Featured Item

After our last trip with Dr. Neil Hammerschlag and his amazing team from the University of Miami in 2010, there was still one big question on our minds about the tiger sharks of Tiger Beach, Bahamas. We had talked on the last trip about why there are so many tiger sharks at this location and a large point of focus pushed us in one direction. We decided there is a chance that Tiger Beach is used as a gestation area for pregnant female sharks. It does make sense, after seeing so many large, possibly pregnant sharks that this observation could be true. Emma, for instance, was seen one trip looking as pregnant as we have ever seen her. Then the next trip, she seemed to be half the size. So our question became, how many of these sharks are actually pregnant and where are they giving birth. With Dr. Hammerschlag and the RJ Dunlap team back on board, we set out to get more answers.

The trip started off strong. It didn’t take long before we had a large tiger at the back of the boat. To our surprise it was a male tiger that we brought in first. It is very rare to see a male in the Tiger Beach area, but he was not what we were looking for, so after a few samples we sent him on his way and quickly reset hoping to get another tiger immediately. It wasn’t long after that we had a very large female tiger fighting us from the back of the boat. Once we had her under control it was time to get to work.

The group came together very quickly working as one efficient team. All 14 people on the boat had a job to do which was to safely and quickly keep the beautiful tiger comfortable while gathering information. We started by placing a sea water pump in the sharks mouth. This allows oxygenated water to pass over the gills, keeping her breathing and much calmer. At the same time others were working quickly to get blood samples, measurements, muscle biopsies and tissue samples. Some of the blood will be used before the shark is even released to analyze stress levels. The next step is what we were all most excited about. An ultrasound machine was used on each shark to confirm if the shark was pregnant or not; we believe this to be the first time ultrasound has be used on a large living sharks in the wild. To our luck, this tiger shark was pregnant. With this knowledge, combined with the new state of the art Satellite Tag, this may have become one of the most important sharks in the world for conservation.

After we removed any hooks she gathered in the past from fisherman or stray lines, she was set free to be an ambassador for her species. Throughout the trip we were lucky enough to get 9 more mature female tiger sharks to the back of the boat. Much to our surprise, all of these tigers were pregnant as well. It was more than we could have hoped for and an amazing finding for Neil and his team. With the samples and the tagging, we will now be able to see how pregnant these sharks are and possibly time the month and location they will be giving birth. Hopefully this information can be used to make a strong case for protecting many areas outside of the Bahamas.

Once the team was happy with the amount of research they collected, we decided to show them how we get to interact with these beautiful animals. We quickly geared up and slipped into the water. It was clear and the sharks were plentiful. We had at least half a dozen to admire in the water, including Emma, who always gives an amazing show. Even one of the recently tagged tigers showed up on one of our dives, she seemed unaffected from our previously encounter with her.

This was an amazing trip, and these divers and ocean advocates worked so well together to pull off some successful research for sharks. Thank you to Dr. Hammerschlag and his team, the University of Miami, the RJ Dunlap Marine Conservation Program and the great group of guests who joined us for this memorable, groundbreaking trip.

We boarded guests mostly from Argentina and 1 from Switzerland! We also had about 15 small sea turtles. All equally eager to get into the clear waters of the Bahamas as soon as possible. By 1pm the next day we were diving the beautiful deep reef El Dorado. We had 2 wild tigers show up along with a couple dozen reef sharks. It was a great first dive and the groups comfort level grew immediately. The next day was at Tiger Beach, and we weren’t let down. We had 7 tigers, with Emma being her usual supermodel self. By the end of day 2, everyone had already gotten some amazing photo and video opportunities. The weather picked up a little, which allowed us a few different options. Throughout the week we took advantage of breaching tiger sharks, dives in at a blue hole, a night dive on an unexplored reef, and a beautiful reef dive further away than we normally travel. Later in the week we headed back to Tiger Beach for a few last dives with Emma and some other regulars. Finally, at the group’s request, we left the sharks behind and decided to do one last drift dive on one of our deep reefs. Luckily, the sharks loyalty showed and we spent our drift on Mt. Mokaran with a handful of lemon and reef sharks following along the entire way. Thankfully we had a wonderful group on board that made it easy for us to have a great time even with a bit of rough weather. Hopefully we will see all of them back again soon.

This week we hosted an all Brazilian group at Tiger Beach. We started the week by releasing young green sea turtles into the Gulf Stream. The guests were more than happy to jump in and test their cameras before seeing any sharks. Our first dive started at a shallow reef we call Shark Paradise. 3 tiger sharks showed up during this first dive. We stayed at the reef all day enjoying the tigers, lemons and reef sharks. We spent the next few days moving around tiger beach. We averaged around 7 tigers on most dives, with our best day bringing in 9 at once. Mixed in were a handful of reef sharks and around 25 lemon sharks. Some of our favorite sharks were spotted throughout the week. Emma was on quite a few dives along with TC. Jamin Shark also came around for a few short appearances, but seemed to be a bit shy. For the last few days of the trip, with great weather and a very capable group, we headed for End of the Map. Throughout the last 2 days, we spent time getting the bull sharks comfortable enough to give great photo opportunities. We ended up with around 15 bulls and 3 tigers mixed in. With the weather and the group equally easy to enjoy, we shared some amazing dives and laughs together.