This week we are once again blessed with guests from Europe, this time from Sweden. Everyone seems very excited to see the big sharks. The crossing was rough and although everyone was tired we went straight to Ginormous where within 30 minutes we had a beautiful tiger shark as well as a great Hammerhead. Only a few of the guests saw the hammerhead as it hung out on the outside of the main group of Caribbean reef sharks and tiger sharks.  The reef was beautiful providing a set up full of color for some stunning shark images.

This morning we woke up with three tigers swimming under the boat, which is very strange because we had no bait in the water at all. I have known that the sharks have been trained to associate this boat with what they want (fish) for many years. I did not leave bait in the water because I knew that our competition, which is anchored here as well would be here one more day and did not want to take their sharks from them. We left our evening anchorage and headed to Shark Tooth Ridge. All three of the tigers followed us. This was the group’s first real experience with a super model. Relentless was one of the tigers that followed us. For the first time a tiger shark that I have been observing for a few weeks with a tag on it came close enough for me to actually clean the algae off the tag and take images of it that were readable. The tag numbers were 309353. I will be sending this off to some shark scientists friends of mine to hopefully find out where it was tagged and how far it has traveled.

On my way back to the boat I witnessed something I have never seen before. I saw a male tiger shark trying to mate with Relentless. It was an awesome sight! I saw Relentless heading towards me but deeper than I was with another tiger turned on its side trying to bite her. I could clearly see it’s claspers as he repeatedly tried to bite her in order to hold her. They swam out of sight before I could see any mating etc. I can’t wait till tomorrow to see this male tiger again as well as Relentless to see if she has any scars. I certainly hope that he was successful.

We were also blessed by a short visit from Dr. Gruber, the world famous shark scientist that I have been able to call my friend for many years now. He told me that they have been observing a great hammerhead while they were parked very close to us. We are all very hopeful to see it.  At the end of the day we moved to Classic Tiger Beach which is the area with just beautiful white sand and did a very peaceful night dive with the lemon sharks. Although several of the guests were nervous before entering the water for their first night shark dive, their fears were quickly calmed by this tranquil experience.

We started out this morning with a fantastic dive at tiger beach with many of the super models including our favorite, Emma. Others were Kimberly, Begonia, and Relentless, of course. Relentless had two mating bite marks from yesterday. One of the bite marks was on her dorsal fin and another on her left side. See the images! The dive was spectacular. It is such a pleasure to dive with a group that actually listens to the briefing and followed he instructions to the letter. It makes our job so much easier and enjoyable.

During the day we were up to at least six tigers at once, but I would guess there were more too afraid to come in. Later this was confirmed when the male reappeared for the second time. I saw him twice but was un able to get an image, yet. This is the first time in all these years of finding a male tiger shark at Tiger Beach. Late that night we moved way inshore to try to get out of the high winds and rough seas. The weather stations predicted bad weather for tomorrow.

Today the weather prevented us from leaving our anchorage. We did play with the sharks from the boat, but did not get in the water because visibility was too low making it unsafe for diving with large sharks.

This morning’s sunrise was spectacular as we headed to a part of Tiger Beach called “The Chain”. The Chain is all that remains from a ship wreck many years ago. It is now covered with beautiful corals that provide a nice backdrop for the sharks. Visibility was excellent and the Tiger Sharks and Lemons were constantly providing photographic opportunities for our guests. Several of the guests saw a lemon shark with a transmitter on it. A total of 6 different tiger sharks showed up during the day including Emma, Relentless, Begonia and several new ones. Seven of the guests did another night dive as well.

The final day produced somewhat rough seas again. We moved off to a site named Hammer Time where we immediately had tigers, lemons, caribbean reef sharks, and one great hammerhead roughly 3 meters in length. Unfortunately, it was still very shy, although one of the guests did watch it. At this site, which has beautiful bright colored sponges and corals, we watched six different tigers swim amongst us almost the entire time we were there. It was a perfect ending to a spectacular trip!

In the bridge on the way home while crossing the gulf stream current the crew was talking about our guests in such a wonderful light. Here are our thoughts. Because we limit the trip to just ten guests the atmosphere is very intimate and we all get to know everyone on board. It is such a wonderful pleasure to have a group on board that listened to the briefing and is following the directions and rules that I have given them, perfectly! My staff has so much more fun when they see everything going just the way we want it to. This group is by far the best one we have ever had so far in that regard! I really hope they will return, because it is such a pleasure to dive with them. Although the sharks are spectacular, one of the greatest gifts on these expeditions is the opportunity to meet some really outstanding individuals that hopefully will be life long friends of ours.

The following blog entry is by our Shear Water passengers: Hans-Jürgen, Julia and Rene

Nach einer sehr welligen Überfahrt von West Palm Beach auf die Bahamas hatten wir dann eine sensationelle Woche auf der Shear Water.Unsere Crew – Jim, Ed, Zach und  Wade – waren ein super nettes eingespieltes Team, welches jederzeit für seine Gäste da war.

Ein Highlight an Bord war ohne Zweifel das Essen. Es gab von Burger, über Pizza bis Schnitzel und viele frische Salate einfach nur leckere Sachen. Kaffee, viele Sorten Tee, Cola, Cola Light, Sprite, Soda, Wasser, Obst und jede Menge Süßigkeiten standen uns rund um die Uhr zur Verfügung.
Das Tauchen war total easy. Einmal alles an den Tank gebaut, das war’s auch schon. Volle Tanks standen jederzeit zur Verfügung. Es gab für jeden Divespot ein sehr ausführliches, detailliertes Briefing von Jim. Darin enthalten war auch unter anderem der richtige Umgang mit „Seinen“ Haien. Er erklärte uns welche Haie zu den „Supermodels“ und welche zu den „Playern“ gehörten. Viele hatten sogar einen Namen. Natürlich gab es auch einige sehr wichtige Regeln, die strengstens eingehalten werden mussten. Getaucht wurde in möglichst dunklen Anzügen. Ebenso obligatorisch waren dunkle Flossen, Handschuhe, Kopfhaube und ein ca. 1m langer Stick.

Wenn die Shear Water vor Anker lag, war es jeder Zeit möglich zu Tauchen, also so oft man wollte oder konnte. Es gab absolut keine Zeit- oder Tiefenbeschränkungen. Auch Nachttauchgänge wurden angeboten und durchgeführt. Die Sichtweiten waren fast immer sehr gut und ermöglichten super Aufnahmen.

Unter Wasser erlebten wir im wahrsten Sinne des Wortes ein HAI-Light nach dem anderen. Wir betauchten Divespots wie “Tiger Beach Classic”, “The Chain”, “Hammer Time”, “Corn Field” und sogar einige, die so neu waren, dass sie noch nicht einmal einen Namen hatten. Begegnungen mit Zitronenhaien, Bullenhaien, Karibischen Riffhaien und Tigerhaien waren an der Tagesordnung und bescherten uns unvergessliche Momente. Bis zu 30 Zitronen- oder Riffhaie waren je nach Tauchplatz permanent anwesend. Zeitweise waren gleichzeitig bis zu 5 Tigerhaien unter ihnen. Es ist einfach unbeschreiblich „Supermodels“ wie die Tigerhai Damen Emma und Baby Cake hautnah Unterwasser zu erleben. Sie sind sehr, sehr neugierig und kommen verdammt dicht an die Taucher heran, wobei es nicht selten zu absolut ungefährlichen Körperkontakten kam.

An dieser Stelle noch einmal herzlichen Dank an das gesamte Team für die vielen unvergesslichen Momente und wunderschönen Tage auf der Shearwater. Wir erlebten in unserem Urlaub eine zu 100 Prozent gelungene Tauchkreuzfahrt.
Ganz besonderer Dank an Dich Jim, für Deine super klasse „Slide Show“ ……Wow.

Hans-Jürgen, Julia und René aus Dortmund                                                           Germany

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