My Shark Brief – Cay Sal Banks Bahamas

It has been a few years since I’ve visited Cay Sal Banks, Bahamas. Since Nekton closed it doors, finding a suitable organization that can provide the accommodations and amenities to live comfortably for a week is difficult.
I have visited Cay Sal Banks three times. The Cay Sal Banks contains the highest number of blue holes anywhere in the world.
My first two visits to Cay Sal was just to dive. I was not into UW Video or Photography, as I am today. The last time I visited Cal Sal, 2009 I brought my HD UW Video rig along to film the sharks. The first two visits, the variety and abundance of sharks was impressive. To be in the water with sharks swimming all around you, some skimming over your head by inches was exhilarating. I was hooked on sharks and still today are one of my favorite marine animals to dive with.
Be respectful and cautious, and take the time to study their physique, the shape of their symmetrical body and the ease and speed at which they glide through the water.
During that third visit with my camera, I jump into the water and reach the location I visited a couple of times before. Waiting for the sharks to arrive, they never did, in the abundance they have in the past years. Maybe just a half dozen show up. I was disappointed, yet in my mind I couldn’t stop wondering where they all went. I was fortunate to have one shark find interest in me. She swam up to and past me, then to turn around and begin swimming circles around me. I filmed as she swam around and around, circling me, studying me as I was studying and filming her. Then I left. Down into the blue hole I went. I approached the “arch” at 130’ and proceeded to swim through the arch. In front of me I could see what I coined a few trips back, “The Ski Slope.” Up the slope I slowly made my way to come to rest about 1/2 up and at about 90’ I stop to pause on the sandy, grassy bottom and enjoy the sharks swimming around me. I was alone, just me and the sharks. No one to bother us or scare them away. Together we shared a moment where two creatures interacted, me filming and they passing to my right, to my left and just over my head. I knew at that moment that they have made a friend, for life. At that point, I became a protagonist for their care and protection.

I am in search of a charter that has the equipment to go to Cal Sal Banks and support living and diving for a week. There are only a few that can and I am hoping that your reply with a charter may be one that I was unaware of.

Do not attempt to dive or interact with sharks.  As gentle and docile they may sometimes appear, they are a wild creature and can act spontaneously and in unpredictable ways.

Thanks for your time in reading this. Support your shark community. No shark fin soup for you!

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