Sharks can be fun!

Information and pictures of our experiences with sharks

Welcome to our shark page. I guess you are wondering what a British Dive School has got to do with sharks. Please read on to find out!

The main emphasis is not on scary gory details but the very real and important issue of Shark conservation. We as humans have taken an ancient and important species to the edge of extinction because of unfounded fears, machismo hunting and a desire for a soup. At the end of this section I outline the ways that I am trying to do my bit and ask that you give consideration to doing a bit yourself.

Like many people my age, I saw the film Jaws at a young and impressionable age and it scared me to death! It took months before I could even get into an indoor swimming pool! I asked my biology teacher at school to teach us a bit about sharks and after finding that he knew nothing decided to do a bit of research myself. What did stick in my mind was his comment “ignorance breeds fear” and I believe that this is definitely the case with the shark.

My first encounter with a shark was whilst diving off St David’s head in Pembrokeshire in 1982. It looked enormous to me, but was probably a Porbeagle measuring only four or five feet. What did impress me was the way it smoothly swam past without any concerns, whilst my dive buddy and myself were doing a good impression of a statue.

Life and a career then stepped in and I had little chance to find out more until 2004, when I completed a dive with the Sand Tigers, Nurse and Lemon Sharks at the Blue Planet Aquarium at Ellesmere Port. Even though it was an aquarium environment it was a thrilling experience. I would recommend the Shark dives to anybody. They also run try dives non-divers. They can be found at www.blueplanetaquarium.com. However, it was just a taster and was purely a dive with little education, which wetted my appetite  to find out more.

Diving with sharks at the Blue Planet Aquarium

My first experience in the Red Sea (2004) was disappointing with regards to sharks (but not, I must add, to the other fish life. It is fantastic). Other groups reported large numbers of Hammerheads but we saw nothing. They were there but not letting me see them! However, my second Red Sea trip in 2005 was more productive. We had hung around Jackson Reef looking for the Hammerheads, but they were playing hard to get. So we went up to Ras Mohamed and Shark Reef. First dive there I glanced down to see the unmistakable stripes of a Tiger Shark about 40 feet below me. The experience was even better the next day when we had a 9ft and 12 ft shark visit us, swimming slowly along the line of divers. I must admit that I was surprised that I did not feel any fear, just admiration for the creature.  Things were also interesting on the surface, where an Oceanic Blacktip was giving the surfacing divers something to think about.

In September 2005 I returned to the Blue Planet with my son Matthew to do the unique PADI Shark Awareness Speciality. This involves a day in the classroom learning about the biology of the sharks, followed by a dive in the tank - again, highly recommended and a very good way of starting to dive with sharks.

However, 2006 has been the year of the shark! It started with a trip to the South Pacific and the island of Bora Bora. The island is of course an amazing experience in itself but the diving is out of this world! For the first dive we went to the outside of the reef at a site called Miri Miri.  As soon as the boat stopped the Blacktip Reef Sharks were there on the surface! The dive was fantastic, with the normal array of colourful reef fish, a large Napoleon Fish and a large number of Blacktip and Grey Reef Sharks. On day two we went to another site just outside the reef called Tapu, where we encountered three beautiful Lemon Sharks in addition to the reef sharks. Another strange addition to the dive was the Yellow Submarine used to take the non-diving reef explorers around.

However, nearly all of the dive centres feed the sharks to get the experience for the tourists. The issue of shark feeding is an emotional one, with good evidence and opinions on both sides, but the one thing that is very clear is that it does condition the sharks. On the first dive the boat crew threw the fish in at the surface whilst we were on the 5 metre safety stop. It was very impressive but you could tell well before the feeding what was going on as the sharks were all gathering very close.

A shark approaches the surface feeding bait

The Lemon Sharks were also fed, by the guide hiding the fish under a rock, not in itself a dangerous activity except for the guide sticking the fish in his BC pocket on the way down!

The icing on the cake was the PADI Great White Shark Speciality. This was not just a dunk in a cage, but a 3-day course involving lectures and cage dives with the emphasis on conservation and interaction. The course is unique, with only one person, Mike Rutzen, being able to offer it worldwide. It is eye opening and thought provoking, and well worth the long trip to Gansbaii, which is two hours South of Cape Town.

Mike’s boat is the Barracuda, a 12m twin hulled vessel specifically designed for the job. It is based at the small port of Kleinbaii. The day starts at 08:30 with a breakfast and a cup of tea (very civilised) whilst the day visitors arrive and complete their paperwork. The boat departs for the famous Dyer and Geyser Islands at about 09:30, and during the 20 minute trip you get a good feel for the rough coastline.

Mike Rutzen is one of only a handful of people licensed by the South African government to swim free of the cage with the Great White Shark. To be able to do this he has built up a fantastic knowledge of the creatures and how they interactive with humans. He applies this knowledge to attracting the sharks, and varies his site every day according to his experience. And his experience shows. Rather than using just fish guts, he blends his own chum using a secret recipe and every day we had ten to fifteen different sharks whilst the nearby boats were struggling to get a couple.

The course involves at least two cage dives observing the sharks and an optional Scuba dive in Shark Alley with the Cape Fur Seals. The cage dives are without Scuba, as the noise of the bubbles can scare the sharks away. The divers float in the water, and when a shark is near enough for an encounter you breath hold and duck down. If you can snorkel properly then take your own as this does help. The sharks will come in close to see what we are all about, so be prepared to see their tonsils!

A Great White Shark viewed from the cage. The great white knuckles can also be seen clearly!

Words cannot describe the feelings the first time you see the shark in the water. The creatures are awesome and magnificent. The hard bit is trying to remember to take photographs if you have your camera with you!

A Great White Shark approaches the bait. The photo was taken from the cage.

Mike and Shark Diving Unlimited can be found at www.sharkdivingunlimited.com , and if you do nothing else in your life you should do this! However, be prepared to take on the conservation issue, as Mike is very passionate about saving the Great Whites and in fact all sharks, and this rubs off on everyone.

In the UK the Shark Trust is one of the major agencies that looks after the conservation issue for UK sharks and the world. They produce a magazine, Shark Focus, which is published three times a year and keeps you in touch with all of the shark conservation issues. The Shark Trust can be found at www.sharktrust.org.

I hope that it has given you an insight into the beauty and importance of these creatures, and that you will explore some of the possibilities that I have told you about.

Guy Story
August 2006

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