Wetpixel: Bahamas Sharks & Dolphins trip report. July 2008

[Alex_Mustard 0]

DAY 7 – Bottlenoses forever, rarely spotted, night drift in the Gulf Stream

 

The day after the night before, I think we were all quite glad to have a slow morning. We were keen to find the pod of Atlantic spotted dolphins, but they were hard to find. The conditions couldn’t have been better for seeing dolphins, but the species we were after just couldn’t be spotted.

 

Chris and Mike searching for dolphins in challenging sea conditions.

 

After lunch we ran into the bottlenose dolphins again and seduced them into another amazing encounter with the super-scooter. Once again they played with us for a couple of hours, the pod slowly growing in size the longer we stayed in the water. The bottlenoses were hunting razorfish in the sand. From the surface we could hear their sonar clicks and watch them digging in the sand for the wrasse with their snouts and then play and photograph them when they came up for a breath, their sonar clicks changing to whistles. I was surprised how regularly they needed to breathe. Maybe they just liked playing.

 

There was also a large, but thin looking bull shark following the pod. Another shark species for the tally, although only a couple of us spotted him. Paul pointed him out to me, and I only say him at a distance. Initially I thought he was a large dusky shark.

 

After this fantastic encounter we once again went hunting for the spotteds. Really this was a chance for everyone to download their bloated memory cards. Bess, Chris, Paul and Robin wracked up the hours looking for signs. I have to admit that many of the rest of us stayed inside with Lightroom running on our laptops and movies playing in the Shear Water’s saloon. Everyone had great shots of each other with the dolphins, so as is traditional on Wetpixel trips there was lots of exchanging of RAW files. It is so nice to have pictures of yourself with dolphins.

 

We did find a few spotteds, but they were not in the mood to play so we just did topside shooting. I should mention that it is really worth bringing a second body, land flash and telephoto (like a 70-200mm) on a JASA trip.

 

Glorious conditions, gosh, it was a tough trip. Me on the bow.

 

After dark we decided to head out into the Gulf Stream again. At least we were having luck with the spotted dolphins at night. We were also keen to try some macro with subjects like pelagic squid and octopus, juvenile porcupine fish, flying fish and various other creatures drifting in the current. Because the boat is drifting in the current too you don’t have any sensation of being in a flow in the darkness. It is nice to be part of the plankton for once.

 

Pedro and I stayed on snorkel, while Mark, John, Robin and Jim strapped on tanks. We were more manoeuvrable, they were more stable. Both approaches have advantages. The spotted dolphins turned up again and it was another post mid-night finish. There was much snoring on board, that night.

[Alex_Mustard 0]

DAY 8 – Reef sharks and plankton photography

 

For our final day we decided to revisit reef sharks. As we had done them on the first day, while everyone was getting up to speed, going again would allow us to improve our shots. We also hoped that we might attract a tiger in to the reef at Carcharias Cut and get the chance to photograph one in deeper water than at Tiger Beach.

 

I was in group two, so I spend the first hour of the morning improving Jim’s plankton net, which was made from a lady’s stocking (well I hope it was a lady’s). I used to work on plankton so with help from Paul I added a nose-cone, fins and a drogue to the net – made from discarded milk and bleach cartons! Much to my surprise the net work brilliantly. It hung perfectly in the current filtering out copepods, radiolarians, amphipods, euphausiids and cyanobacterial colonies.

 

 

For plankton photography we used Jim’s setup with a pair of lens, the shorter focal length lens reversed to give extra magnification. We didn’t actually have the correct double filter thread to screw them together, so we just used back gaffer tape. (As I am sure you know, gaffer tape is like The Force: it have a light side and a dark side and it binds the universe together). Jim was most upset I put my Nikon flash on his Canon body – but it worked perfectly. I think he disinfected it afterwards. Despite the rather Heath Robinson setup the images were pretty decent. I’ll post some at some point – I think the best shots were of a cyclopoid copepod – probably Oithona species.

 

This is a radiolarian, I think:

 

The main mistake I made was nearly putting the jar of plankton in the fridge – a hang up from my years working in the cold waters of the Iceland Basin! Fortunately I remembered these were tropical species.

 

Laz Ruda has been producing some stunning plankton images using a similar system. Not that our shots reached his quality, but the potential was there. I definitely plan to try this again at home.

 

Ok, back to the sharks. The reef is very pretty at Carcharias Cut and is an ideal location for shooting reef + shark images. We had a nice bit of current running, which made it much easier to line up the sharks and really nail the shots. We just went in an out all day.

 

A medium sized tiger made a few passes mid afternoon, but it was not until 16:45, 15 minutes before we were due to leave, that a large tiger showed up. Only Mark was in the water at the time and certainly got a close encounter as a result. He was particularly relieved to see Jim appear. Maybe Mark will elaborate on this one for us.

 

Then we set sail for home. The end of a fabulous trip.

 

That's the end of the report, but I have some amusing images of the group on board to post.

[Pedro Carrillo 2]

Hi, guys

 

not many more to be added to this comprehensive report. An incredible experience highly advisable for others!!!

 

Thumbs up for Jim and his amazing crew too. Without them nothing would have been possible!

 

And thank you too to Alex for his advice and patiente with me while together

 

Most important of all, the opportunity to meet such a group of photo freaks!!!: Marc, John, Paul, Chris, Bess & Robin. Ya´ miss you, guys...

 

 

I am still working in my web page, but in the meantime you can see some of my keepers in the spanish forum I do participate in:

 

Cover Shot: http://www.forobuceo.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=46709

 

Lemmon Sharks in Tiger Beach: http://www.forobuceo.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=46718

 

Dolphins: http://www.forobuceo.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=46749

 

Night dives in the Golf current: http://www.forobuceo.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=46751

 

Regards.

[loftus 42]

Alex, Pedro, it's like WOW, WOW, WOW.

I'm short of breath just reading this stuff and looking at the pictures and the conditions, remembering what it's like chasing those dolphins. I swallowed so much salt water in those two hour stints I threw up a couple of times. I already have one JASA trip booked next year, I might have to make it at least two.

[MatthewAddison 0]

Alex. Thanks for the wonderful trip report. I'm so happy to hear Emma is alive and well. I was at UNEXSO a week after the Tiger slaying and everybody was quite worried it might be her. Hopefully she will stay too smart for the sport fishermen.

[bb12 0]

I'm still downloading images and doing laundry, but I wanted to take a moment to thank Jim and the crew for the most amazing week of my life. The incredible macro dive at Blue Heron bridge, the beautiful reef settings, hours spent playing with dolphins, the shower of phosphorescence coming from the dolphins riding the bow below us and a view of the Milky Way above (a rare treat for us city dwellers), and of course Emma, who stole everyone's heart! Jim's enthusiasm and energy really are contagious. Thanks to him and all the other great photographers on the trip who were always willing to share their knowledge and their extra gear.

 

I can't wait to do this trip again!

[markprior 0]

It was the last day of the trip and I had timed everything perfectly to get my last dive in and over before the cutoff of 5pm when we had to leave. This left me in the water on my own for most of the dive.

 

After about 20 minutes I noticed a Tiger shark at the edges of viz just patrolling up and down and over the course of the dive she came closer and closer until (at this seems to be always the way) I was almost out of No-Deco time and then -

 

 

 

She munched the bait crate and then turned her attentions to me:

 

 

After a short spell mouthing my camera and slightly scaring the wetsuit off me, Jim arrived like a night in shining armour (well a yellow rash vest anyway) and she made a bee line for him.

 

Of course she wasn't really trying to hurt me and was just curious but I can tell you my hands were shaking on my deco stop !

 

It is worth of course pointing out that these beautiful sharks are not the man eaters everyone thinks they are but you must never forget that they are wild animals and they need to be afforded an immense amount of respect.

 

Jim later told me that I was in the wrong place on the reef so it was all my own fault but I have learnt when you are on your own and within feet of a 13 foot tiger shark that cool logical thinking is quite difficutl !

 

Anyway what an experience and I can't wait to do another trip with Jim and I hope to see Denise (the tiger in the pictures) again.

 

Mark

[DavidScubadiver 0]

Wow. So what does it mean to be in the wrong place on the reef? Too close to the chum?

After reading some of the above, I asked my girlfriend, "Would you want to do a night dive with tiger sharks that are 12-15 feet long?"

 

Her response?

 

"Yes, they will be easier to see at night if they are big!"

 

Diving at night with sharks has no allure for me. Seems harder to get a picture and I don't know that I could shake that feeling of being watched by something I can't see, which is bigger and hungrier than me.

[PRC 2]

Diving at night with sharks has no allure for me. Seems harder to get a picture and I don't know that I could shake that feeling of being watched by something I can't see, which is bigger and hungrier than me.

 

 

 

 

Sorry David but you need to do the trip - there was no drama at night and nor should there be if all play the game properly - and to be honest that is the only way Jim knows how to play ( that and with the throttle at 100% ).

 

Paul C

[PRC 2]

By the way Mark - I hadn't seen the last shot - nice - think you might have waited a little longer before pushing the shutter release though

 

Paul C ( still pissed cos I was in the water and missed Denise... )

[Graham Abbott 0]

Alex, great to see your still pushing boundaries out there. can't wait to get ya to some of my fave spots in Irian Jaya next year!

[Pedro Carrillo 2]

Here you have more photos:

 

-General "diving with tigers" photos: http://www.forobuceo.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=46825

 

- Emma´s photos: http://www.forobuceo.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=46826

 

Hope you like them!!!

[davichin 18]

you guys are killing me with the pics/report! I have rechecked the holidays I have left, JASA´s schedule and airplane tickets several times now

 

keep the pictures coming!

 

Loftus: When are going next year?

[Drew 0]

Senor, you need to quit your job.... first you want to go for 3 weeks on the Ocean Safari then 1 week on JASA.

[Tom_Kline 143]

DAY 8 – Reef sharks and plankton photography

 

For our final day we decided to revisit reef sharks. As we had done them on the first day, while everyone was getting up to speed, going again would allow us to improve our shots. We also hoped that we might attract a tiger in to the reef at Carcharias Cut and get the chance to photograph one in deeper water than at Tiger Beach.

 

I was in group two, so I spend the first hour of the morning improving Jim’s plankton net, which was made from a lady’s stocking (well I hope it was a lady’s). I used to work on plankton so with help from Paul I added a nose-cone, fins and a drogue to the net – made from discarded milk and bleach cartons! Much to my surprise the net work brilliantly. It hung perfectly in the current filtering out copepods, radiolarians, amphipods, euphausiids and cyanobacterial colonies.

 

 

For plankton photography we used Jim’s setup with a pair of lens, the shorter focal length lens reversed to give extra magnification. We didn’t actually have the correct double filter thread to screw them together, so we just used back gaffer tape. (As I am sure you know, gaffer tape is like The Force: it have a light side and a dark side and it binds the universe together). Jim was most upset I put my Nikon flash on his Canon body – but it worked perfectly. I think he disinfected it afterwards. Despite the rather Heath Robinson setup the images were pretty decent. I’ll post some at some point – I think the best shots were of a cyclopoid copepod – probably Oithona species.

 

This is a radiolarian, I think:

 

 

The main mistake I made was nearly putting the jar of plankton in the fridge – a hang up from my years working in the cold waters of the Iceland Basin! Fortunately I remembered these were tropical species.

 

Laz Ruda has been producing some stunning plankton images using a similar system. Not that our shots reached his quality, but the potential was there. I definitely plan to try this again at home.

 

Ok, back to the sharks. The reef is very pretty at Carcharias Cut and is an ideal location for shooting reef + shark images. We had a nice bit of current running, which made it much easier to line up the sharks and really nail the shots. We just went in an out all day.

 

A medium sized tiger made a few passes mid afternoon, but it was not until 16:45, 15 minutes before we were due to leave, that a large tiger showed up. Only Mark was in the water at the time and certainly got a close encounter as a result. He was particularly relieved to see Jim appear. Maybe Mark will elaborate on this one for us.

 

Then we set sail for home. The end of a fabulous trip.

 

That's the end of the report, but I have some amusing images of the group on board to post.

 

 

Were these done in situ?

I'd like to see more!

Excellent!

[n@utilus 0]

Jim later told me that I was in the wrong place on the reef so it was all my own fault

 

 

would be nice if somebody could post some "rules" to avoid own faults :-)

[Alex_Mustard 0]

would be nice if somebody could post some "rules" to avoid own faults :-)

 

As I said in the report the JASA shark briefing is anything but brief. And much of the advice is specific to the various species. Plus the way that JASA conducts dives. So rules would not be that applicable for other areas and styles of shark dives. And if you go on JASA you will get the full briefing.

 

I would also imagine that the same shark species would have different behaviours and thus safety considerations in different places depending on their dominant prey items. In the Bahamas tigers feed a lot o turtles, ambushing them at the surface. Therefore one big no-no is never to be at the surface. In RSA people seem to regularly freedive with tigers without consequence Presumably because they hunt in different ways.

 

That said Mark's mistake was to get downstream of the bait (which would not be a good idea on any shark feed - although many make people form a circle around the feeder) - so he was in the bait slick between the food and the tiger. As the current shifts it is easy to be caught out. The lesson for being safe is to be mindful of the bigger picture when you are concentrating on the shark coming towards you. Of course, Mark suffered nothing more than a raised heart beat, so it was probably a good way to learn this lesson.

 

Alex

[Drew 0]

In RSA people seem to regularly freedive with tigers without consequence Presumably because they hunt in different ways.

 

Eh... depends on who you ask and know...

[arfy 0]

I've been on a JASA trip before (Tiger & Great Hammers trip) and am off again in December. Last time I had a little point & shoot but I'm now looking to upgrade to an SLR (prob a Canon 40D).

 

I may not be able to afford many lenses by that time, but if anyone had to take one lens for underwater use on this trip, what would it be?

 

I'm personally thinking of getting the Tokina 10-17 but would welcome comments / suggestions.

 

Thanks in advance for any feedback.

 

Ben

[loftus 42]

I've been on a JASA trip before (Tiger & Great Hammers trip) and am off again in December. Last time I had a little point & shoot but I'm now looking to upgrade to an SLR (prob a Canon 40D).

 

I may not be able to afford many lenses by that time, but if anyone had to take one lens for underwater use on this trip, what would it be?

 

I'm personally thinking of getting the Tokina 10-17 but would welcome comments / suggestions.

 

Thanks in advance for any feedback.

 

Ben

I agree, if I had to choose one lens, it would be the Tokina 10-17

[DavidScubadiver 0]

Being downstream of the chum is bad for so many reasons. Its just gross to have the chum streaming from your strobe arms. While its good for attracting sharks, you can't help wondering if they are looking to take a bite out of the camera. And, for what it is worth, if >I<wait TOO long to press the shutter release, I wind up with a blurry eye.... I guess I lack the nerve to focus properly.

 

Taken with the Tokina 10-17 at 17mm.

Edited July 31, 2008 by DavidScubadiver

[PRC 2]

10-17 No doubt at all.

 

Also the focus will be an issue with a P&S, with shutter lag etc.

 

These sharks may not look as if they are moving very fast but any shutter speed slower than 1/160 is tempting the blur devil.

 

Paul C

Edited July 31, 2008 by PRC

[crubie 1]

Hi everyone,

 

Just wanted to say a quick word of thanks to Wetpixel and all at JASA for this amazing week.

Back in the office and finding it hard to readapt.

 

Greatly enjoying all the pictures and Alex's extensive report.

 

There is no doubt Jim and his team have been the most professional, welcoming and enthusiastic group I have ever been diving with.

 

I am currently importing all 13h of video to my computer and will be posting edited videos soon.

 

Should have a first taste up tonight for all to view and download.

 

Look forward to diving with some of you again soon.

 

Chris Rubie

[PRC 2]

Hi Chris,

 

Nice to meet you up here.

 

Looking forward to your video - am still downloading my images from the week!

 

Paul C

[crubie 1]

Ok

Here is a short trailer of my videos to come.

Just a quick post with light editing, but does revive memories.

Hope you like it.

 

You can view it on my site in medium quality :

 

http://gallery.me.com/chrisrubie#100096

 

Or on Youtube in low res :

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B721dSwnoLI