Sharks: Bahamas or Belize ?

[scubamax]

Just got back from Belize...Saw some big sharks at Blue Hole (before they started to chum), as well as a couple of other dives where you could actually touch "small" nurse sharks. So if you want to see smaller sharks up close and personal, then Belize can deliver, as well as potential for other bigger finds.

Scubamax

 

[luiscb]

Thanks everybody for your sugestions.

Both places seem to have their prons and cons, so its going to be a tough decision.

Forgetting about sharks. Who has the better diving?
Belize or the Bahamas?

 

[diversteve]

Costa Rica's Cocos Island boasts more sharks per cubic yard of water than perhaps any other place on the planet, including whitetip reef sharks, 40-foot whale sharks, and hammerheads that school by the hundreds.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sharks/

 

[vetdiver]

I'd seriously consider Utila, Honduras - my husband and I were there last year, April 2-9, and we had 11 whale shark encounters. We stayed at Laguna Beach resort, which is a bit off the beaten path - and we loved it, but there are many other places to stay. You do not dive with the whale sharks - they go looking for whale sharks during the morning SI, and when the spot one, you hop in with a mask, fins, and snorkel - we had a couple of nondivers with us on the boat who just went for the whale shark viewing.

This was one of the most amazing experiences I've ever had - I would think about it. Better than a couple of nurse sharks any day of the week (and twice on Sunday).

 

[Chris Brown Tech]

I'd seriously consider Utila, Honduras - my husband and I were there last year, April 2-9, and we had 11 whale shark encounters.

11 whale shark encounters?? Thats just damn greedy

 

[peterbj7]

The one place where I've seen the most "big" sharks is the Maldives. I routinely lost count of the oceanic white/black tip sharks, usually in excess of 20 per dive, with quite frequent sightings of hammerheads, tigers, mako and other "serious" sharks. There were also innumerable turtles - my record for one dive was 7 very large ones.

In Belize we have all these types of sharks and I've seen them all, but not very often. Recent sightings at local dive sites include a hammerhead, a whale shark, several tigers, several bulls. Plus lots of nurse sharks - on one dive this morning probably in excess of 40. They come so close they brush against you.

The only place I've seen lots of hammerheads here is in the Blue Hole at around 250', when I was surrounded in three dimensions by a school of them - probably 15 or 20. But I've never heard of them getting up into recreational dive depths there.

Other than nurse sharks, I wouldn't recommend north Belize for predictable large shark encounters.

 

[robint]

if you want to see sharks in their "natural" habitat, the Bahamas outer islands are your best bet. There are lots of sharks in areas where they don't feed. Liveaboards see the most as they get out away from the crowds. We saw sharks on almost every dive site in Cay Sal Bank 2 years ago. There was a feeding at one site but the sharks are always there in that area. People are reporting seeing lots of sharks from the Explorer Ventures liveaboard in Bahamas also, I think several people posted recently seeing hammerheads.
The other place I have heard guarantees of seeing sharks (other than nurse sharks) is going to Turks & Caicos on a liveaboard. A friend told me that they saw sharks every dive there.
check out: Nekton Diving Cruises - Comfort, Stability, Worldclass Diving
and Explorer Ventures: Adventures in Live-Aboard Diving

Now the Pacific is completely different! We saw tons of sharks in Palau, as much as 50+ schooling with us on one particular dive... grey reef, blacktip, whitetip, sharks everywhere.
I have videos of my shark encounters on my website: RnR Scuba (look at the Nekton 2006 and Palau 2007 albums)

robin

 

[Scuba One]

I agree with the response suggesting you start with a place that sharks are for sure going to be, such as Stuart's Cove in the Bahamas. I just got back from Ambergris Caye Belize, staying at Ramons and the divemasters in the area have been feeding the nurse sharks so that is another sure area for seeing, and interacting with the sharks.

The Blue Hole has also been developed into a shark dive but it is expensive and a long way from most resorts in Belize.

Here are photos I took on that trip. Belize Underwater Photos by Scuba One

Utila would be great if you knew for sure you would see whale sharks.

 

[farsidefan1]

Belize has common sightings of nurse sharks and rare sightings of other sharks. Bahamas I have sharks around on most my dives. Also did a shark dive with Stuart Cove. Nice but I preferred seeing them in more natural suroundings which was nearly all the other Bahama dives.

 

[farsidefan1]

Easy to answer, for sharks go to the Bahamas! No question! In Belize you an nearly always find nurse sharks. Blue hole (which is a bit boring) has some other sharks down around 80 feet and on down although they come up when some one starts chumming them - probably when your on your way up and do your safety stop - not cool. In the Bahamas I see sharks on nearly 50% of my dives. I also did the Stuart Cove shark trip which is cool but I much preferrred seeing them in a more natural state.