auchmeddan

This was our first day in the water with the sharks, and we were both a little nervous. Armed with our 3ft poles to stick in the sand in front of us, we made our initial step/fall off the platform into shark-infested waters. As soon as we got down we put our poles in front of us and started scanning all around for Tiger Sharks - it was impossible to miss the Lemons who were swarming everywhere.

The important thing about all the dives is you have to keep looking around for Tiger Sharks and make sure you are always facing them when they come in close to you. Jim stressed to us that the Tiger should never be able to bump us - it should bump either the pole or your camera, and you should always be looking right at it. You learn quickly to ignore and just admire the Lemon Sharks, which for some reason made me think of Spaniels sniffing around for a biscuit. I’ll admit that the first time I saw a Tiger my heart raced, and the first time it came near me I had to keep telling myself to stay calm. As the Day and Dives progressed I got more and more comfortable and was really able to admire how beautiful the Tigers are. To look a large shark in the eye from only a foot or so away is really a humbling experience.

Oh, and to watch Jim Abernethy wrangle sharks with a crate full of dead fish in one hand and his Camera in the other is an incredible sight. The guy is definately slightly nuts, but in a fantastic way.

Photos below are a Lemon about to pass over my head, and a swarm of Sharks surrounding Jim (a Tiger is in the centre of the photo)

We had a full briefing from Jim while at dock in the Bahamas, then headed out in 6-9ft seas to make our way to Tiger Beach.

While a lot calmer at Tiger Beach, the weather was too rough to dive as the water was a little bumpy and the vis wasn’t that great. The crew still managed to entertain us all though by chumming the water for a while until Lemon Sharks started to show up. When they did, Jim got down on the back step as the crew slapped fish on the water in front of his Camera and attempted to wrangle the sharks onto the swim platform. They did pretty well, and everyone got their first good look at some of the Lemon Sharks and a very brave little Reef Shark that came in for some of the bait.

Jim liked the little Reefie’s spirit so much he asked Ed to let the Reefie take a bit of the fish. It was quite Joyous to see it grab a piece and race off.

The Video below is some Shark Wrangling from Day 2 (much calmer weather) and ends with the little Reefie from Day 1.

We left West Palm Beach tonight and made a crossing in very rough seas to the Bahamas.

In our group the Europeans outnumbered the Americans, which was a surprise. We had Mary Anne, Steve, Bob, and Dave from the USA, and Michael and Nadine (Germany), Mikael (Sweden), and Jules and me.

The Owner and self confessed “shark-aholic” Jim Abernethy asked us all a little about ourselves and how we found out about his trip, as he doesn’t advertise anywhere. After our stories we turned in for the night, although I didn’t get any sleep until we docked in the Bahamas at 3:30AM.

Did some pretty good diving this morning, the highlight being our safety stop hanging out with two Remoras. I hadn’t really noticed them gunning for us so when they abruptly arrived right at my face I nearly had a heart attack. I didn’t know what they were but they were about 2 feet long and looked kinda shark like. Wasn’t too sure about them to start with and when one of them swam right up my body then to my face I actually made a little whimpering noise. I saw Dave laugh at me then give me the “OK” sign, so I figured they couldn’t be that bad if he was laughing.

Our safety stop was long over but as they were still hanging around we stayed down for 10 mins or so. One of them tried to attach itself to Dave’s arm while he was filming. Was so cool having them playing with us and coming in so close. What a great morning diving on Jim Abernethy’s day trip boat, the 6 day shark trip on “Shear Water” should be awesome.

We just did our first Drift dive off West Palm Beach at a site called “South Ledges” this morning. We had a great experience zipping along in the current, but it was hard to stop and take photos. I did get a shot of a large Turtle though, which is below.

On our second dive we had some Remoras come play with us on our safety stop and try and attach themselves to us. I have some video of our playtime with them that I’ll put up later.

This was our last day diving with Blue Water First dive was the Hermes and as we’ve done it a few times we just decided to stay on the boat. Was pretty funny watching as chaos enused with all the divers trying to get themselves in the water and down to the wreck. When they were all eventually away I took another couple of leaps off the boat from the top deck, its not that high up but I still get a wee bit of a rush jumping off.

After we got back wanted a group shot of everyone. While waiting to get them all together Tracy was kind enough to do a cartwheel up the lovely plastic dock, the dock which by the way Dave fell off while exiting the boat one day, ha, ha. Finally got the group shot so I’ve put that photo along with Tracy’s stellar gymnastics below.

We did our last dive at Southwest Breaker yesterday, but it ended on a high thanks to Ondrej telling us about “Charlie”.

Charlie is a Yellow-tailed DamselFish that lives in a spent Artillery shell that the Americans used to fire at Southwest Breaker for target practice. I won’t get into how I feel about the Yanks using a millions of years old formation for target practice…

Anyway, Charlie is a very aggressive (I can attest that he bites) and very houseproud little fish. If you put a small stone on top of his home and make him aware of it, he throws it away into the reef.

The video below shows Jules playing with him on what was her 200th Dive in Bermuda. Thank you Ondrej for drawing us a map so we could find him.

The Diving this weekend was OK, didn’t see as much as we usually do. Just proves Dave’s theory that all the fish work Monday to Friday and not on holidays. I did find some interesting things in the water though.

While out at Darlington on Saturday I came across a US drivers license for a guy called August. Thought he was on the boat but it was only someone that looked like him. I have no idea how it ended up in the water but it was right by the boat so he must have had it on him when he jumped in. Dont think you need a drivers license to dive……

The other item was much better, found that on the Monday afternoon trip. With me being a women I’m attracted to shiny objects so naturally when I see something blinking in the sunlight on the sand I have to go and investigate. To be honest I thought it was the ring part of a keyring but I didnt want to leave it in the water in case a fish or something ate it. When I picked it up I realised that it was someone’s wedding ring, the inscription on the inside read “Your kitten loves you”. Showed Dave and continued our dive with it on my thumb. Got on the boat showed Ondrej who was going to put it in lost and found, didnt think for a minute that it was from one of the divers on the boat. Happened to look at the young couple sitting opposite us and noticed that she had on a wedding ring and engagement ring but he didnt have anything on. Asked him if he’d lost a wedding ring which he had, told him what I’d found and it was his. I’ve never seen anyone suddenly look so happy, you could see him sighing with relief. Him and his wife were so glad that it wasn’t lost, don’t think he’ll be wearing it diving again.

That’s my good deed for the week.

Too vague? OK. It’s The Final Countdown. I only have a few days left at work, and it’s less than 2 weeks until we leave Bermuda.

Jules is boxing items to ship to NZ, selling the TV and Car, and sorting out the clothes we need for Palm Beach/The Bahamas and Scotland (are there two regions on earth with more opposing definitions of Summer?). I closed my savings account today and moved our savings to the bank, copied our passports and Residence visas, and agreed to sell my bike this morning.

It’s getting a bit hectic now, but I can see it coming together. We’ll be gone before we know it.

During our week off together we took a dry day and went to Somerset Bridge to feed the fish. While we were there I got some film of a Scrawled CowFish that lives there. The video is below. I removed the sound as the noise of the traffic crossing the bridge was a bit distracting.