world's most feared and
dangerous sharks. It patrols
the shallows of tropical oceans looking for
a meal. But what would it be like to
dive with a Tiger shark? How
will it react to a diver? I'm
going to investigate Tiger sharksand
I'm going to do it without a
cage! Hi, I'm Jonathan Bird, and
welcome to my world! My adventure begins when I
board the Dolphin Dream in West
Palm Beach, Florida. This boat will be my home away from home
for a week.
We begin our journey by
crossing the Gulf Stream on a
course to the Bahamas. It's an 8- hour journey across some
very rough water. It's 55 miles of open Atlantic
Ocean between Florida and the
Bahamas and it can get pretty rough out here! Captain Andy drives the boat
through the swells all day to
reach West End, Grand Bahama,
where we go through customs and then
continue to a secret spot
called Tiger Wreck. We anchor the boat securely.
We
will sit here for the whole
week, looking for sharks. Next we begin chumming. The
boat's freezers are full of
bait because we need a lot of fish to bring Tiger sharks to
the boat. Within only an hour, sharks
start coming to the boat.
( Captain Andy counting ) This is incredible. We've only
been chumming for about an
hour, and there's already more than 20 lemon sharks around the
back of the boat. And I've got
to go in! Now it's time to suit up and
get into the water. I'm wearing a black wetsuit,
black gloves, and even a black
hood because underwater, skin looks like fish, and the
last thing that I want is for
the sharks to think my hands are pieces of fish that they
can eat, so I have to go this
length to make sure that I.
Have no skin showing. I guess this is the part where
I have to go in the water. Oh well, this is what I came
here for! Geronimo! I grab my camera and head down
to the sandy bottom, only 20
feet below. Lemon Sharks are everywhere.
You can tell that these are
lemon sharks by their two
dorsal fins which are nearly the same size. You might be wondering why they
call them Lemon sharks....I
mean...They don't really look like lemons. They call them lemon sharks
actually because they have
yellowy skin and it really has
nothing to do with lemons. There are also many fish around
the boat that are also
attracted to the chum.
With so many sharks and fish
around, the sharks even get a
few live ones. Although there are no Tiger
sharks, I had a fantastic dive
full of excitement. I head back to the surface for a rest. Whoa! That's a lot of sharks!
Wow! I think that's the most
sharks that I've ever been in with at the same time.
The
ladder probably is not a great
place to hang out. Woo hoo! That was incredible! I can only
imagine what it's going to be
like when the Tiger shark shows up! We will continue chumming and
hope the Tigers pick up the
scent. Meanwhile, the Lemon sharks
just keep coming and the water
around the boat is starting to look downright frightening! Later, after sunset I start
suiting up again. Tiger sharks are nocturnal,
which means they are more
active at night.
So it makes
sense that if I want to find tiger
sharks I should go diving at
night. There's really only one small problem with thatit's
dark!! Oh well...Here goes.
(Jumps into water) I descend towards the bottom
and switch on my video lights. On the ocean floor, gorgonian
sea fans sway in the current.
Then, out of the darkness comes a shark! It's not a Tigerit's another
Lemon shark. But it still
provides a thrill as it swims by and takes a look at my
camera.
The Lemons seem just as active
at night as they are during the
day. I wonder if they ever rest. They find my video lights
worthy of inspection. After an hour underwater in the
dark, I surface without finding
a Tiger shark.
I guess we just need to chum and wait.
Tiger sharks can be elusive. Whoa! That was amazing! I have
to tell you - no tiger sharks,
but the lemons are pretty spooky at night. The next day I head back to the
bottom once again. There are still plenty of lemon
sharks around.
But then, a shape in the
distance catches my eye. It's a
Tiger shark! At last, a Tiger shark has appeared. It takes her a while to get
comfortable with divers in the
water, but eventually she
approaches closer to investigate me! She comes up and makes a few
passes by the bait, cautiously
keeping an eye on me. For such large animals, Tiger
sharks seem a lot less
aggressive than you might
expect.
It's as if they carefully consider
each step, trying to decide if
it is safe. Finally she comes right up to a
huge piece of bait and takes it
away! In one bite The shark is also interested in
the chunks of fish that have
fallen to the sand. As the sharks go by, I take the
opportunity to compare the two
species. There are several differences
between the Tiger shark and the
Lemon shark.
Besides the different type of dorsal fins,
the Tiger shark also has a
broader, flatter head, and the distinctive "tiger stripes" for
which they are named. The sharks seem interested in
my video lights. Even though
they are not being used during the day, the white housing of
the lights probably looks like
a piece of fish to the sharks, and they often come up to
closely investigate them.
Occasionally a shark takes a
test bite out of the light, and if I
don't see it coming, takes me
by surprise. I'm not prepared for a large
Tiger shark to come in after my
video light though.
She keeps coming, closer and
closer, then as she tries to
bite it and I try to keep it
away from her, we spin around on the
sandy bottom, like two dancers.
She eventually pushes me into the bottom and gets a hold
of my light. There is nothing I
can do about it except use my camera as a shield and
hope she doesn't eat the whole
thing! When she is satisfied that the light isn't food, she
turns and swims off...And I'm
glad she does! That was a little bit too close for
comfort, and that's the reason
we wear dark clothing and gloves when we swim with
sharks. If that had been my
hand, I would be in serious
trouble right now. I head to the surface,
impressed by the strength of
the large Tiger shark, and
ready to escape the sea for a while.
I have
enjoyed many adventures in the
ocean, and many exciting
encounters with sharks, but this one will
stick with me for a long time! ( Music ).
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