Shark Dive

The Great Shark Encounter

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Text by Al Bozza
Photos by Stephen R. Gagin

We had another great shark dive in June, but this one included a truly exciting encounter for me personally. One of the largest attractions for me on our shark dives is the fact you just really never know what you will encounter spending 8 hours chumming and drifting 35 miles offshore. On this dive after chumming for an hour with nothing sighted I convinced 2-3 divers to do some snorkeling with me around the shark cage (just to see if anything was swimming around). We had been in the water for about 20 minutes when we were pleasantly shocked by approximately 60 white-sided dolphins.

When you are floating with your face in the water looking at nothing but chum and the deep blue ocean below you it is an amazing feeling to instantly have dolphins pop into your vision. For 3-4 minutes we had the pleasure of interacting with them in their environmentóit was great !! They returned two more times within the next 30 minutes.

For two hours we drifted without any sightings before we were finally visited by a couple of blue sharks. They were your normal, graceful, and beautiful typical blue shark. I called to the dive boat that we had sharks around and two divers immediately swam out and entered the cage. One of the divers was still snorkeling with me.

We were then joined by another blue shark that was not acting like the blues I have spent hours swimming with. This shark was circling the cage closer than normal, and every time one of the photographerís strobes flashed he charged and banged directly into the bars. He was definitely more aggressive and not frightened by us at all.

On my shark dives, to make sure the divers taking photos will get some good shots I will take the bait fish (a large fish attached to a rope) and actually pull the shark directly up to the cage while he is trying to swallow/bite the bait fish. Normally, the shark will be drawn to within 1 to 2 feet from the cage before I jerk the fish out of his mouth--normally the fish will go flying past me (yes I'm still snorkeling outside the cage) and the graceful blue gently swims away, still hungry to come back and feed some more. This is the normal routine for blue sharks, but this aggressive blue shark must not have known the routine he was supposed to follow. He allowed the fish to be jerked from his mouth but decided he was not going to lose his meal so darted after the fish (which was heading directly back to me) with his eyes covered and his jaws snapping.

As I brought my shark stick instantly up in front of me I thought for sure I was about to actually know what a shark bite feels like. Everything was happening instantly with only reflexes keeping me from those snapping jaws. I had placed my left hand on the top of my shark stick (which was being held in my right hand), caught the shark inches behind his jaw and shoved him off to the right. I believe the sound of one of the divers screaming into her regulator at the same time I pushed the shark prevented me from getting bitten. My first thought to come to me was thank God Wendy isn't here - she'd never let me do this again. My second thought was, wow two lifetime diving memories on one dive.

We spent the next couple of hours enjoying our aggressive friend (of course the bait fish was pulled out of the water) and two to three other blue sharks. I haven't seen the photos yet but one photographer taking photos said he was actually gazing down the throat of this shark.

We spent the next couple of hours enjoying our aggressive friend (of course the bait fish was pulled out of the water) and two to three other blue sharks. I haven't seen the photos yet but one photographer taking photos said he was actually gazing down the throat of this shark.