Dan
Contributor
Summary
This is a liveaboard diving trip (23-29 October, 2021) to Tiger Beach, Bahamas, with M/Y Dolphin Dream. The itinerary, as shown in Table 1, includes 5 days of shark diving, 1st diving day is without bait. We did a total of 13 dives.
Figure 1 shows the M/Y Dolphin Dream ~80 mile (130 km) cruising route (marked by red arrow) from West Palm Beach to Tiger Beach, Bahamas, which took about 5 hours of crossing. We saw 6 kinds of sharks (Bull, Great Hammerhead, Lemon, Nurse, Reef, & Tiger), some typical Caribbean fishes (Gray Anglefish, French Anglefish, Squirrelfish, Yellowtail Snapper, Spotted Eel, Black Grouper, Spadefish, Stingray, etc.) and a Loggerhead Sea Turtle.
Figure 1: M/Y Dolphin Dream route to Tiger Beach, Bahamas (courtesy of Google Earth)
Here is a short video of the highlight of what I saw during the 5 days of shark diving in Tiger Beach, Bahamas:
Background
Tiger Beach, Bahamas is about about 80 miles (130 km) east off West Palm Beach, Florida, as shown in Figure 1, above.. It would take about 5-hour voyage from West Palm Beach to Tiger Beach.
Since I live near Houston, Texas, it was an easy 2.5-hour nonstop flight to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, which is great way in minimizing exposure to strangers in the airport during this pandemic period.
This is my first time to do shark diving. The original trip was supposed to be in November last year. It was rescheduled to this October, 2021 due to the pandemic. The water temperatures in Tiger Beach are reported to about 80-84 °F (27-29 °C). I brought a 5mm full wetsuit with hood. The water temperature turned out to be as reported and I was comfortable with the wetsuit.
The Liveaboard
M/Y Dolphin Deam, as shown in Figure 2, is 86-foot (26m) ship with 6 cabins, catering for up to 12 guests, see Tiger Beach live Aboard. (sharkexpedition.com) for more detail info.
Figure 2: M/Y Dolphin Deam (courtesy of Dolphin Dream Team)
It runs by 4-5 crews (a captain, 2-3 deck diving crew and a cook) for 12 guests on this trip. So, they work very hard to maintain day-to-day operation of the boat and to serve the guests.
The boat layout is very functional for divers. Galley, dinning, and entertainment areas are on the main deck. Camera station and dive deck are outside on the back of the main deck. Six cabins are in lower deck. The upper deck is a sundeck with open air sitting area for people to relax in between diving, where people can spread out and keep social distancing.
Setting up our dive gears and handling them are typical day-boat diving. Since we would be staying on sandy bottom in most of the dives, we want to be over weighted. They recommend to add 6-8 lbs (3-4 kg). I normally dive with 10 lb dive weight with AL80 tank and 5mm wetsuit. On this trip, I put 18 lbs (9 kg) dive weight. We also need to wear dark-color hood and gloves to avoid exposed white skin and blonde hair to be mistaken as fish food to the sharks, especially those beginner divers who like to use hands to swim or balance themselves while diving.
The meals (breakfast, lunch & dinner) were buffet type. Continental breakfast started at 7am. Hot breakfast started at 9:30am. Lunch started at 12:30pm. Dinner started at 7:30pm. The food were excellent. Special dietary meal were served to those who asked for it.
Everyone is fully COVID-19 vaccinated and none wearing mask during the trip.
The diving
On the first day of diving we dove without bait. So, it’s just a normal, easy diving, in clear-blue water. The shark diving started on the 2nd day of diving. Water entry is done by a giant stride. If you have camera, it’ll be handed to you after you get in the water. Then descend on the downline one diver at a time, especially when the current is strong. We meet at the bottom.
When you reach 1000 psig air pressure in your tank, it’s time to head back to the boat to make sure you still have 500 psig when you return ack to the boat.
On the way back to the boat, when the current is strong, crawl on the sand passing the downline, then inflate the BCD, ascend to the downline without too much finning effort. There would be a maximum of 3 divers on the downline. One diver at a time swimming to the ladder. Count 15 after the diver in front of you disappear from the surface, before you swim up to the ladder. Don’t swim at the surface. Don’t splash.
No DECO diving. Dive time is 45 to 90 minutes.
When a Tiger shark bumps you, push it away
We saw 6 kinds of sharks (Bull, Great Hammerhead, Lemon, Nurse, Reef, & Tiger), some typical Caribbean fishes (Gray Anglefish, French Anglefish, Squirrelfish, Yellowtail Snapper, Spotted Eel, Black Grouper, Spadefish, Stingray, etc.) and a Loggerhead Sea Turtle. On the last dive we saw 4 Tiger sharks and quite a few of Lemmon Sharks and Reef Sharks. They made quite a spectacle sand clouds, as you see in the last few minutes of the trip video.
Conclusions
My impression of the Tiger Shark diving and the trip are very positive. If you want to see Tiger e Shark in a clear blue water up close, Tiger Beach, Bahamas, is the right place to go. Dolphin Dream Team is top notch in keeping us safe, handling the Sharks and showing us the incredible close encounter of the Tiger Shark kind.
This is a liveaboard diving trip (23-29 October, 2021) to Tiger Beach, Bahamas, with M/Y Dolphin Dream. The itinerary, as shown in Table 1, includes 5 days of shark diving, 1st diving day is without bait. We did a total of 13 dives.
Figure 1 shows the M/Y Dolphin Dream ~80 mile (130 km) cruising route (marked by red arrow) from West Palm Beach to Tiger Beach, Bahamas, which took about 5 hours of crossing. We saw 6 kinds of sharks (Bull, Great Hammerhead, Lemon, Nurse, Reef, & Tiger), some typical Caribbean fishes (Gray Anglefish, French Anglefish, Squirrelfish, Yellowtail Snapper, Spotted Eel, Black Grouper, Spadefish, Stingray, etc.) and a Loggerhead Sea Turtle.
Figure 1: M/Y Dolphin Dream route to Tiger Beach, Bahamas (courtesy of Google Earth)
Here is a short video of the highlight of what I saw during the 5 days of shark diving in Tiger Beach, Bahamas:
Background
Tiger Beach, Bahamas is about about 80 miles (130 km) east off West Palm Beach, Florida, as shown in Figure 1, above.. It would take about 5-hour voyage from West Palm Beach to Tiger Beach.
Since I live near Houston, Texas, it was an easy 2.5-hour nonstop flight to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, which is great way in minimizing exposure to strangers in the airport during this pandemic period.
This is my first time to do shark diving. The original trip was supposed to be in November last year. It was rescheduled to this October, 2021 due to the pandemic. The water temperatures in Tiger Beach are reported to about 80-84 °F (27-29 °C). I brought a 5mm full wetsuit with hood. The water temperature turned out to be as reported and I was comfortable with the wetsuit.
The Liveaboard
M/Y Dolphin Deam, as shown in Figure 2, is 86-foot (26m) ship with 6 cabins, catering for up to 12 guests, see Tiger Beach live Aboard. (sharkexpedition.com) for more detail info.
Figure 2: M/Y Dolphin Deam (courtesy of Dolphin Dream Team)
It runs by 4-5 crews (a captain, 2-3 deck diving crew and a cook) for 12 guests on this trip. So, they work very hard to maintain day-to-day operation of the boat and to serve the guests.
The boat layout is very functional for divers. Galley, dinning, and entertainment areas are on the main deck. Camera station and dive deck are outside on the back of the main deck. Six cabins are in lower deck. The upper deck is a sundeck with open air sitting area for people to relax in between diving, where people can spread out and keep social distancing.
Setting up our dive gears and handling them are typical day-boat diving. Since we would be staying on sandy bottom in most of the dives, we want to be over weighted. They recommend to add 6-8 lbs (3-4 kg). I normally dive with 10 lb dive weight with AL80 tank and 5mm wetsuit. On this trip, I put 18 lbs (9 kg) dive weight. We also need to wear dark-color hood and gloves to avoid exposed white skin and blonde hair to be mistaken as fish food to the sharks, especially those beginner divers who like to use hands to swim or balance themselves while diving.
The meals (breakfast, lunch & dinner) were buffet type. Continental breakfast started at 7am. Hot breakfast started at 9:30am. Lunch started at 12:30pm. Dinner started at 7:30pm. The food were excellent. Special dietary meal were served to those who asked for it.
Everyone is fully COVID-19 vaccinated and none wearing mask during the trip.
The diving
On the first day of diving we dove without bait. So, it’s just a normal, easy diving, in clear-blue water. The shark diving started on the 2nd day of diving. Water entry is done by a giant stride. If you have camera, it’ll be handed to you after you get in the water. Then descend on the downline one diver at a time, especially when the current is strong. We meet at the bottom.
When you reach 1000 psig air pressure in your tank, it’s time to head back to the boat to make sure you still have 500 psig when you return ack to the boat.
On the way back to the boat, when the current is strong, crawl on the sand passing the downline, then inflate the BCD, ascend to the downline without too much finning effort. There would be a maximum of 3 divers on the downline. One diver at a time swimming to the ladder. Count 15 after the diver in front of you disappear from the surface, before you swim up to the ladder. Don’t swim at the surface. Don’t splash.
No DECO diving. Dive time is 45 to 90 minutes.
When a Tiger shark bumps you, push it away
We saw 6 kinds of sharks (Bull, Great Hammerhead, Lemon, Nurse, Reef, & Tiger), some typical Caribbean fishes (Gray Anglefish, French Anglefish, Squirrelfish, Yellowtail Snapper, Spotted Eel, Black Grouper, Spadefish, Stingray, etc.) and a Loggerhead Sea Turtle. On the last dive we saw 4 Tiger sharks and quite a few of Lemmon Sharks and Reef Sharks. They made quite a spectacle sand clouds, as you see in the last few minutes of the trip video.
Conclusions
My impression of the Tiger Shark diving and the trip are very positive. If you want to see Tiger e Shark in a clear blue water up close, Tiger Beach, Bahamas, is the right place to go. Dolphin Dream Team is top notch in keeping us safe, handling the Sharks and showing us the incredible close encounter of the Tiger Shark kind.