May 3 -11, 2006
Hi folks! I went back to the Bahamas last month to take shark images for the third time in three years with the same dive operator, and while all these trips have been very good (hence my repeat visits), this one was the best trip yet! The weather was great (the best they had experienced up to that point in ‘06), the “usual suspects” showed up (lemon, cribbean reef, bull and tiger sharks), the visibility underwater was excellent, and we also had photo opportunities with several other subjects, including dolphins.

Yup, that’s Jim’s housed camera in the mouth of a tiger shark they named Notcho. I’m grateful to Paul Krupela (pkrupela@earthlink.net; 949-492-1136) who took photo #4 above on a trip prior to ours and allowed me to use it in this blog post. Jim was able to retrieve his camera rig and actually has an image taken by Notcho when it bit down on his camera housing’s shutter release, but I didn’t include it here because–frankly–it’s not very good. It’s a vertical shot of sand & water, but there’s no central subject, the line dividing the sand & water is not straight, and….oh, I could go on, but since Notcho is a novice photographer, it’s probably not fair to offer too much criticism at this point…..

Photo #7 shows a “day at the office” for the location called Tiger Beach. You can see a half dozen or so 8-9 foot lemon sharks in the foreground and on the left, a tiger shark just to the right of the crewperson holding the bait basket, and there are two more tigers in the background on the right, though they may be hard to see in this blog image. The point is–this is a REALLY hot spot for shark photography! Three changes I noticed about this location from my prior visits are: (1) the visibility was MUCH improved–we had about 10 feet of viz two years ago; (2) the sharks seemed to come around much sooner and in greater numbers (and yes, we consider this a good thing…..); and (3) Jim has found some spots here that are not just sand bottom–there are also small gorgonians, corals and so forth, which improve the photo opportunities.

These are lemon sharks (Negaprion brevirostris) at Tiger Beach. Note how the growth on the bottom keeps the sharks elevated off the sand, allowing underwater photographers to follow the Golden Rule for positioning of the camera lens vs. the subject: “get LOW, get CLOSE, shoot UP!” Lemons have scary-looking teeth, and my fish ID book says they are “considered dangerous” and “can be aggressive” but we tended not to worry much about them, due to the number of tiger sharks that were there at the same time. You know, like when Butch told Sundance not to worry about drowning because the fall was probably going to kill him…..

I noticed the above behavior in #12 on the part of lemon sharks about 4-5 times during this trip. The shark would move away from the main group (which generally would stay close to the bait baskets), settle down in the sand and open its mouth, allowing the sharksuckers (Echeneis naucrates–Remora family) which are usually attached to the shark to swim into its mouth and clean it. The shark becomes its own “cleaning station!” I only got one “grab shot” of this behavior, but you can make out one of the smaller sharksuckers exiting the mouth of the host shark.

#’s 13, 14, and 15

These are Caribbean reef sharks, at a place Jim calls the Mother Lode. Jim provided invaluable help in positioning me to get the shots of these sharks with the eel in #13 and the sponge in #14.

These are also Caribbean reef sharks, but at a different location we visited–Walker’s Key. As you can see, the water was green and the viz therefore limited. I included these images because in #16 the shark looks like it has either recently eaten very well or is very pregnant, and #17 shows the shark acting in a way that usually means you should exercise some caution–the pectoral fins are down, which we call “hunched for lunch” behavior.

#18

We did some dives with bull sharks (Carcharhinus leucas), but like last year, they tended to be cautious and keep their distance, which made for limited photo opportunities.

#’s 19, 20, 21, 22 and 23

We had some excellent tiger shark (Galeocerdo cuvier) encounters at Tiger Beach–I spotted five tigers at one time, and that means there were more, since you never see them all at once. Jim & the crew kept cautioning us to stay near the stern of the boat on the bottom (only about 15 feet deep) and face outward, keeping the sharks in front of us and in sight. This proved nearly impossible, however, as the boat was often swinging in a long arc, and there were just too many sharks to always be aware of what might be coming up behind you. This had not been a problem on my prior trips because we had never encountered this many tiger sharks at one time. That’s Jim in #21 above (probably trying to tell me I’m not where I’m supposed to be). This was a literal “got your back” situation, and we eventually became pretty good at signaling fellow divers when a tiger was approaching from behind.

I used to have fun playing “peek-a-boo” with my daughters–I of course would get bored before they would. We haven’t played it recently though, since one is now 27 and the other turns 23 this month…… Anyway, playing this with a tiger shark was maybe not quite as much fun–but it definitely kept me from getting bored!

In addition to the sharks, large groupers were attracted to the bait baskets placed on the reef at the Mother Lode dive site. I THINK #’s 27 & 28 show a yellowmouth grouper (Mycteroperca interstitialis), #29 is a black grouper (Mycteroperca bonaci), and #30 is a nassau grouper (Epinephelus striatus).

#31

We dove a site called the Sugar Wreck, which had many nice schools of colorful fish swimming over the remains of this boat. These are french grunts (Haemulon flavolineatum).

#’s 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, and 40

We spent our morning on the last day of the trip snorkeling with Atlantic spotted dolphins (Stenella frontalis). My prior trips were both in February, which is not the right time of year to look for dolphins in the Bahamas. The month of May not only offers the probability of better weather (after winter, before hurricane season), but the opportunity to have encounters with these loveable marine mammals as well.

At left is a shot of several members of our group taken by Jim Abernethy. We saw many nice sunsets such as #42 above. The swim step at the stern of the boat was a bit hectic during sunsets like this, as several folks who were more adventurous than I attempted to get this shot with a tiger shark biting the bait line in the foreground. Oh well, that’s something to “shoot” for on my “4th Annual” in ‘07……..

That’s it folks! My next trip (June 19-July 10) is to try and shoot the sardine run on the east coast of South Africa. This one is a real roll of the photographic dice, but if I get something you’ll see it on my next blog!

Best to all,

Ken
www.seaimages.org