The Bahamas Shark Dive

After twelve days rafting through the Grand Canyon our bags were filled with dirty clothes and sand. Awful sand sticking to everything!

So it was no surprise that we had to spend two hours in Las Vegas  before our flight doing laundry, revising our thoughts on the trip, and feeling a bit disoriented after having such a wonderful group guiding us everyday.

After laundry, we headed for the exotic Bahamas islands to experience sharks in their natural element.  We scheduled a dive that Riggs loves and really wanted me to see it.

The weather was not great.  In fact, when our dive boat reached the place there was thunder, rain, and lighting all around us.  Big waves crashed on the surface, so we had to be quick getting in.

Of course, I panicked. Waves were breaking in my face while soap detergent (de-fogger) was burning my eyes and my mask wouldn't adjust correctly to my face.  At the same time, I had people screaming from the boat to check if I had enough weight on me to go down. I felt like a cat in despair and grabbed tightly the rope to claw myself out of the water and into the boat. I didn't even look down. I was so desperate. 

Once on the boat I let Riggs know I was not doing the first dive and that he should get another buddy. He quickly did, as a lot of people actually had a very similar reaction to mine. 

I took a look at my air gage to realize I had been hyperventilating while on the surface, so I immediately decide it was a good choice not going and I better take the time to relax and adjust my mask and get that freaking soap out of it and prepare for the second dive.

While in the boat I met the other hyperventilating people who -as me- were happy to wait for the next dive. We got a chance to see sharks swimming around the boat and gave the weather time to get better, so it was fine.

Thirty minutes later, divers were waiting to switch tanks and get ready for the feeding dive.

Our feeding dive consisted in sitting around a circle in the bottom of the ocean (40ft 15mts) to wait for our guide, dressed in chainmail, to feed a bunch of hungry sharks that gather at this location. They've been doing this for quite some time, so there is no danger from these magnificent creatures. They just look at you with their cat eyes and swim close to you to get a piece of fish from the guide at the center.

It was as impressive at it sounds. Female sharks get to be big, around 6-10 feet or 2-3 mts, while male shark are smaller, around 5-6 feet or 1.5 mts. They can create their own current so they can be "just floating around almost standing still" and quickly gain speed in a split of a second. It was wonderful! Sharks are so beautiful and elegant, the way they move, the way they use their fins.  You can feel their power while they glide around you.  They mainly made me think of big cats.

Our guide would feed them from a spear and every now and then he would hypnotize one of the big female sharks by rubbing her chin (like a cat) and made her float straight up holding her by the nose. Just amazing.

So you are wondering was I scared of the sharks? Actually I was not! And I have to say I took the extreme test of fear here because I was actually on my period!  So yes! Five years working for the feminine category gives me the guts to say I trusted Tampax with that ultimate test and survived! Haha

Although I was not scared of the sharks I must say I was so tense and aware of my fragility inside the water that every picture and video you'll see of me is basically me holding tight to my regulator and checking my air constantly. By the end of the dive I had gone through an entire tank of air, while Riggs had more than half a tank left.

Lesson learned,  I need time to adjust to dives, I need a few test dives to feel comfortable under water specially with rented equipment.

Hope you enjoy the pictures and videos! 

Next stop New York for vaccinations and mothers day!