No-chumming shark diving
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gcarter
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Tigers can be seen at Tiger Beach in the Bahamas - Lemons also. But they chum/feed them to draw them in. Or at least used to - now I think they just show up when they hear the boat. Lots of Tigers. A couple of the FL liveaboards go out there. Becky Kagan Schott shot this there:
Stuart Coves also does a day trip from Old Bahama Bay on Grand Bahama out to Tiger Beach. They do feed them.
It's somewhat of a feed but Cristina Zenato does amazing things with sharks at UNEXSO there also. She's been acknowledged for her research efforts. Google Tonic Immobility in sharks for more. This is Cristina:
You can see reef sharks in a non-baited environment almost anytime off West Caicos or French Cay in the Turks/Caicos. Either via liveaboard or day boat from Provo (Providenciales) At French Cay we saw at least one on every single dive. And some spotted nurse sharks also. The best thing there was that they were mostly oblivious to our presence. Except at night when they fed on the fish attracted by the ship lights.
Lemons are often seen off Bimini - UFL or someone has a Lemon Shark Research facility there. If you saw the Anderson Cooper/60 mins. show a few years ago, that was shot there.
Bahama Divers on Nassau also does a Blue Hole dive where sharks are seen so often it's in the dive description. They don't bait them in.
Stuart Coves does shark feeds at two sites near their location there also. The sharks also hang out between feeds at many of the wreck dives or sites nearby. So you can dive with sharks without participating in the feed although it's the same operator doing both.
I've never been there but there's supposed to be a lot of sharks off Belize also. In early summer you can dive with Whale Sharks there off Gladden Spit. One of few places in the world that's possible.
For sharks of all species get on one of the liveaboards out to the Socorros Islands (south of the Sea of Cortez) in winter. Solmar V produces a weekly trip video of the big animals they've seen - they mention at least a dozen shark species they regularly see on their website. solmar v - YouTube Note - it's not the Guadalupe Island trips, those are caged GWS trips and I believe they're baited/chummed in.
Tigers are frequently seen off Olawalu Beach on Maui. Try not to look like a turtle...
Lahaina Divers also does Hammerhead trips out to Molokai. And the Shark Condos dive site off Molokini is pretty much a sure thing. At one time you could dive with a small Tiger in the tank at the Maui Ocean Center also.
My buddy is just back from a trip to Fiji. They saw a lot of reef sharks at several locations.
And there's the Hammerheads off Cocos/Malpelo Island off Costa Rica. Undersea Hunter is one boat that goes out there. Welcome to the Undersea Hunter Group, Cocos Island
Galapagos trips see sharks of all species also.
Stuart Coves also does a day trip from Old Bahama Bay on Grand Bahama out to Tiger Beach. They do feed them.
It's somewhat of a feed but Cristina Zenato does amazing things with sharks at UNEXSO there also. She's been acknowledged for her research efforts. Google Tonic Immobility in sharks for more. This is Cristina:
You can see reef sharks in a non-baited environment almost anytime off West Caicos or French Cay in the Turks/Caicos. Either via liveaboard or day boat from Provo (Providenciales) At French Cay we saw at least one on every single dive. And some spotted nurse sharks also. The best thing there was that they were mostly oblivious to our presence. Except at night when they fed on the fish attracted by the ship lights.
Lemons are often seen off Bimini - UFL or someone has a Lemon Shark Research facility there. If you saw the Anderson Cooper/60 mins. show a few years ago, that was shot there.
Bahama Divers on Nassau also does a Blue Hole dive where sharks are seen so often it's in the dive description. They don't bait them in.
Stuart Coves does shark feeds at two sites near their location there also. The sharks also hang out between feeds at many of the wreck dives or sites nearby. So you can dive with sharks without participating in the feed although it's the same operator doing both.
I've never been there but there's supposed to be a lot of sharks off Belize also. In early summer you can dive with Whale Sharks there off Gladden Spit. One of few places in the world that's possible.
For sharks of all species get on one of the liveaboards out to the Socorros Islands (south of the Sea of Cortez) in winter. Solmar V produces a weekly trip video of the big animals they've seen - they mention at least a dozen shark species they regularly see on their website. solmar v - YouTube Note - it's not the Guadalupe Island trips, those are caged GWS trips and I believe they're baited/chummed in.
Tigers are frequently seen off Olawalu Beach on Maui. Try not to look like a turtle...
Lahaina Divers also does Hammerhead trips out to Molokai. And the Shark Condos dive site off Molokini is pretty much a sure thing. At one time you could dive with a small Tiger in the tank at the Maui Ocean Center also. My buddy is just back from a trip to Fiji. They saw a lot of reef sharks at several locations.
And there's the Hammerheads off Cocos/Malpelo Island off Costa Rica. Undersea Hunter is one boat that goes out there. Welcome to the Undersea Hunter Group, Cocos Island
Galapagos trips see sharks of all species also.
fisheater
Contributor
K
KeithG
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Turks & Caicos diving from one of the live aboards will get you lots of sharks. No feeding required.
OP
GLOCKSCUBAG!RL
Registered
It's somewhat of a feed but Cristina Zenato does amazing things with sharks at UNEXSO there also. She's been acknowledged for her research efforts. Google Tonic Immobility in sharks for more. This is Cristina:
Yes I have seen her stuff. She is amazing! I love watching her work with the sharks
*~ Adventurer for life ~*
---------- Post added January 4th, 2014 at 02:32 PM ----------
Wow lots of great useful info! Thanks guys
*~ Adventurer for life ~*
tattooedjeeper
Contributor
The Hyde and Markham are two wrecks off the Wilmington NC coast that are known for sand tigers in the summer. I have yet to dive them (our charter got cancelled) but they're fairly shallow, 70fsw to the sand and 50fsw at the deck of the Hyde. I think the Markham is about the same. There are tons of videos of those wrecks online to give you an idea of what they're like. Aquatic Safaris and Scuba Now run several trips to those wrecks per week in the summer. Maybe I'll see you there
Scared Silly
Contributor
People usually go to Truk for the wrecks. But for one of our dives we requested the cleaning station. Sat my butt in the sand for 60 minutes and watched them come in like a car wash. Definitely one of my top ten dives.
That said for the OP many operations are known for their sharks dives and many (but not all) are chum dives. When an operation decides to chum, we tell them that we will be skipping that dive and do expect to pay for it or if we do dive we will go in the opposite direction (and pay for a regular dive not a shark dive). Never had an operation express any problems with doing that.
One comment regarding whale sharks. In some places like Belize where they come in during the spring that is because of natural feeding. So natural chumming.
That said for the OP many operations are known for their sharks dives and many (but not all) are chum dives. When an operation decides to chum, we tell them that we will be skipping that dive and do expect to pay for it or if we do dive we will go in the opposite direction (and pay for a regular dive not a shark dive). Never had an operation express any problems with doing that.
One comment regarding whale sharks. In some places like Belize where they come in during the spring that is because of natural feeding. So natural chumming.
Tigerman
Contributor
drrich2
Contributor
Scared Silly:
I hear you; the type of thing I was talking about is described here, related to fishermen hand feeding them shrimp in the Philippines to act as a tourist draw and income source. A longer page on the subject.
Not saying this is anywhere near typical for seeing whale sharks, just that they've even found a way to chum a plankton feeder. Previously I wouldn't have thought it was possible. Human ingenuity, I guess.
Richard.
I hear you; the type of thing I was talking about is described here, related to fishermen hand feeding them shrimp in the Philippines to act as a tourist draw and income source. A longer page on the subject.
Not saying this is anywhere near typical for seeing whale sharks, just that they've even found a way to chum a plankton feeder. Previously I wouldn't have thought it was possible. Human ingenuity, I guess.
Richard.
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