Shark Diving in Bahamas

My husband, Ron, and I have been diving since 1986, the year he presented me with dive gear as a wedding gift, opening the door to an exciting shared passion. In the intervening years, we dove whenever we could. Now we’ve taken it one step further by having our own boat, Equinox, a 58-foot Kadey-Krogen trawler, outfitted with a Nitrox dive compressor. While we live aboard on the Chesapeake Bay in the summer, Equinox’s winter berth is at Old Bahama Bay Marina on Grand Bahama Island, and it’s been ideal for our diving hobby.

Diving in
The Bahamas

• With a subtropical climate, you won’t need more than a three-millimeter wet suit.
• Both easy and challenging dives can be found at each island, for instance, the Andros Barrier Reef offers shallow diving on one side, then a steep drop off wall on the other where on a clear day you can see down 250 feet.
• Reputable dive operators can be found on all but the furthest of the Out Islands, such as Acklins and Crooked, though plans are in the work for a dive center in Mayaguana. Nassau, Grand Bahama, Long Island, and Staniel Cay are home to dive centers offering the latest equipment, nitrox diving and certification courses.
• Power and sailboat liveaboard dive boats are available for those who want make multiple dives daily. Leaving from Nassau and Grand Bahamas, some routes wind through the Exumas and even travel as far as the Cay Sal Banks.
• Beach diving isn’t recommended for the Bahamas because shallow beaches could have you walking far with heavy gear.
• There are 360 blue holes in the islands, and Dean’s Blue Hole on Long Island is the deepest in the world at a stunning 663 feet. If you like drift diving, Current Cut in Eleuthera is the place to go–with a seven mph current through a narrow cut, divers relate it to the thrill of being on a roller coaster. Also off Eleuthera is a sort of underwater Grand Canyon called the Plateau, (45’ to 80’) adorned with the some of the largest brain coral you’ll ever see. Bimini is home to Tuna Alley–head there around noon, and you’ll find yourself surrounded by an unbelievably large school of tuna reflecting the light of the mid-day sun.

In a unique turn of events, while vacationing aboard with our 15-year-old daughter Ally and her friend, Claire, during their spring break, we happened to meet Greg Barron of the sports company, Incredible-Adventures.com. Greg usually runs shark dive trips to California’s Farallon Islands, but was in the Bahamas with the company’s charter boat, R/V Tiburon. Seeing him tinkering with a tender and hoping he was mechanically inclined, we asked him for assistance with our dive compressor. After touring our boat and discovering that shark diving was a mutual passion, we learned that Tiburon was in the Bahamas for a shark dive!

After getting to know one another, Greg asked if we could host VIPs aboard Equinox and follow Tiburon to a shark encounter dive site a few hours north on the Little Bahamas Bank. Needless to say, we jumped at the chance since it meant we could go on the dive. We were more than delighted to find out that Greg’s VIPs were none other than award-wining underwater photographers Douglas Siefert and Ron and Valerie Taylor.
Both Doug and Greg were impressed with our boat’s layout and set-up, saying they weren’t used to traveling in such style. Their main concern was the comfort of the Taylors, who are now in their 70s. Our being avid divers may have provided the impetus for our meeting, but the fact that Equinox was set up so comfortably was probably key to our invitation.
Hosting the professionals created an opportunity to compare notes on dive equipment, photography techniques and pick up some tips. Ron Taylor was very minimalist in his approach, using a small underwater video camera inside a metal housing he crafted himself while Doug Seifert had a larger set-up comprising a digital camera inside a housing with twin strobe lights.
Weather conditions were less than optimal with periodic rain squalls strafing the area, but the seas remained flat. The dive site was tricky; a strong current was ripping through the fairly shallow depths, requiring divers to use more weight than usual. On the plus side, the shallow depths allowed for extensive bottom time without much worry about decompression sickness. Besides their meticulous preparations, what was so impressive to us was how long the photographers stayed under water. One can get very chilled in 75 degree water after 30-45 minutes, yet Ron Taylor and Doug stayed down for well over an hour at a time, dressed in layers and hoods. Their focus and intensity were inspiring.
The girls and I were curious about the Taylors’ experiences and full of questions, which Valerie graciously answered. She told us of amazing shark encounters around Fiji and the South Pacific. This segued into stories about how things have changed regarding conservation of the oceans. Back in the late 1960s, they were breath-holding spearfishing champions in Australia. By the 1970s, they were using scuba and truly saw the damage wrought by spearfishing. They worked to bring about a ban on spearfishing while using breathing apparatus. It was quite controversial at the time, but their background and expertise gave them credence, ultimately ensuring a successful campaign. They are responsible for getting several marine reserves established, along with several species of marine life protected.
Sharks hold the Taylors’ focus and fascination. As a result of their personal observations and experiences with sharks of all kinds, they believe that sharks are not a threat to humans. Because of their films and Valerie’s many letters to Australian fisheries officials, the Taylors were largely responsible for grey nurse sharks becoming the first protected shark species in the world in 1984, followed by efforts for great white sharks, which received protection in Australia in 1997.
This shark dive experience was unique; precisely what we’d dared to dream Equinox could provide when we were outfitting her! Unlike commercial shark dives using frozen chum balls, Tiburon supplied “bait bones” on a shallow site with an open, white sandy bottom. This allowed for calmer, better photographic opportunities, and ,because the sharks couldn’t get at the chum inside the bones, they stayed around much longer, circling about as we dove and photographed among them. My Ron absolutely loves to see sharks; having such choice subjects circling around for so long was nirvana. We’re now very vocal in promoting ecologically aware scuba practices. The Taylors have proved through their many years of diving and documentaries that no conservation effort is wasted.

Copied from Southern Boating   By Karyn Rothstein   Photos by Ron Rothstein