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When we left West Palm Beach the air was cold and windy, the seas were rough and visibility was low. By the time we arrived in the Bahamas, the weather was already turning in our favor.

The guests, coming from Germany, France and various parts of the US, were more than happy to be in the warm Bohemian air. One group was on the boat filming our lemon sharks in 3D for a show we hope to see on National Geographic in the near future.

We started diving on one of our shallow reefs. Everyone was able to get comfortable with just reef sharks and a few lemons before any large sharks showed up to play. We knew it wouldn’t last long though. By day two we were seeing numerous different tiger sharks. Throughout the week we were greeted by up to 12 tigers on a single dive. Most of our diving was done at Tiger Beach, where regulars like Emma and Pat stole the show. We chose sites with beautiful backdrops for our photographers including, turtle grass, the corn field, purple place, crystal tiger and classic tiger beach. We mixed in a little night diving, and in our down time we did lemon snaps.

Later in the week the weather had completely changed for the better and at one of our deeper reefs the action was the best of the week, allowing some beautiful pictures and a whole lot of excitement. Speaking of excitement, one of our crew, Matt, was able to remove his first hook from a lemon shark that seemed to be very uncomfortable. Good job Matt. Now the crew is back and resting up so we can head right back out and do it all again.

This trip the guests came from all over, including France, Germany, Canada and the US. We welcomed back Sean Havas who couldn’t even make it a full year before getting back on the boat. We were also more than happy to see George Schellenger back for his 8th trip with us. We knew that it was going to be a good week. Everything was in our favor. The wind had died down to almost nothing, making the seas flat calm and the air a perfect temperature. After clearing Bohemian Customs we headed to shark paradise, a shallow reef about 35 feet at the deepest. Within 40 minutes of getting in, we had already encountered 5 species of shark. There were the usual reef sharks, a handful of lemons, 2 nurse sharks, 3 tigers and one beautiful great hammerhead. If this was a sign for the rest of the week, we were in luck. Over the next few days we spent time at some of our deeper reefs, including Hammer-Time and Ginormous, but most of our time was spent at tiger beach. Crystal Tiger seemed to be our best bet, pulling in up to 12 tigers on one dive. The number of lemon sharks also grew to numbers that we hadn’t encountered in quite some time. A few of our regulars were willing to push through the lemons and give some great photo opportunities. Emma and TC seemed to steal the show on more than one occasion. Emma decided that when Jim wasn’t looking she would take his camera and play a game of keep away. And for the first time we were able to get a GoPro on Emma and allow her to video us for a change. At the end of the week we went to End of the Map where conditions were as amazing as you could ever hope a January day would be. With well over 150 feet of visibility and flat calm seas we were able to watch as a Great Hammerhead passed right under our boat. While in the water we dove with about 20 bull sharks, 4 tiger sharks and one very scared lemon. Overall, with an amazing group and even better conditions, everyone was sad to leave the sharks. Hopefully conditions will remain just as great for the majority of winter and all of our groups will provide us with just as many laughs and great stories.

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.